Winging it in space
This is just such a cool science experiment to get kids involved in science.
U. COLORADO—When NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis launches for the International Space Station on Nov. 16 it will carry a butterfly experiment that will be monitored by thousands of K-12 students across the nation. The public, too, can view images and keep tabs on the project at http://bioedonline.org and www.monarchwatch.org/space.
The butterfly payload was designed and built by BioServe Space Technologies in University of Colorado at Boulder’s aerospace engineering department and will carry two butterfly habitats containing monarch and painted lady butterfly larvae and enough nectar and other food to support them as they develop.
CU-Boulder, with the help of elementary and middle school students, will compare the growth and development of butterfly larvae in the weightless environment of the International Space Station with butterfly larvae being raised simultaneously in participating classrooms on Earth.
Dubbed “CSI 03: Butterflies in Space,” the project is the fourth K-12 educational experiment to be flown by CU-Boulder on ISS, says BioServe director Louis Stodieck, principal investigator on the project. “One of the most exciting things about this project is that we can use the International Space Station to bring spaceflight experiments into classrooms around the country,” he says. “Our continuing goal is to inspire K-12 students around the country in science, technology, engineering, and math.”
I think it will most interesting to see how they fly in zero g and having adapted to flight there will they re-adapt back on earth (depending on time of year they are born monarchs have a lifespan between 2 and 7 months)
Continue reading the whole article at Futurity.org
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