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Micro labs made by Indonesian students arrive at space station

Robotic microlabs created by 20 Indonesian high school students will soon be operated at the International Space Station (ISS), which will contribute to research on how to grow food in outer space

Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, March 29, 2016

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Micro labs made by Indonesian students arrive at space station

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obotic microlabs created by 20 Indonesian high school students will soon be operated at the International Space Station (ISS), which will contribute to research on how to grow food in outer space.

After successfully passing the first round of flight tests in January and finally docking at the ISS on Saturday after arriving in a Cygnus cargo ship on an Atlas 5 rocket, the micro labs '€” aimed at studying how alcohol can be made and paddy cultivated in a zero-gravity environment '€” will be put to use in one or two weeks from now.

One of the project tutors, Syselin '€œElin'€ Bawekes, said the micro labs would be in operation for one month, while being monitored from the earth in real time. The results would be useful for future research into the production of wine and other alcoholic substances as well as into growing paddy in space.

'€œThe students learn much applicable science from the project. The results can potentially be used for [US space agency] NASA projects in the future,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

'€œIf our hypothesis is proven that yeast turns into alcohol faster in space, the technology may be used to manufacture wine or antiseptics for astronauts to use at the ISS at much lower cost,'€ she went on saying.

ISS is shared by 16 countries, including the US, Russia and Japan, and home to astronauts conducting research projects.

Sending items to the station is expensive depending on the weight, thus the lighter - the cheaper. '€œIf they only need to bring light yeast rather than bottles of wine, for example, it will be cheaper,'€ Elin said.

The robotic micro labs '€” less than 9,000 cubic centimeters in size '€” are created in such a way that they can operate themselves and send readable reports to earth.

'€œThe obvious challenge during the making of [the labs] was that most of the components cannot be found locally. Only the cables we have from here, but other things, like pumps, we imported from Germany,'€ Elin explained.

Elin, a biology teacher, and Desianti Parawi, a physics teacher, lead the alcohol research team. The team, comprising 10 students from the SMA Unggul Del high school in Laguboti near Lake Toba in North Sumatra, was founded by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan.

The students are Anisa Auvira, Fredy Simanjuntak, Gomos Manalu, Gilbert Nadapdap, Junita Sirait, Hagai R. Sinulingga, Jonatan Sitorus, Rudini Silitonga, Martin Siahaan and Joy Gultom.

The project on paddy seeds, meanwhile, comprises 10 of the best students from various schools: SMA Advent Doyo Baru and SMAN 1 Sentani, both in Jayapura, Papua; BPK Penabur 2 in Bandung, West Java; Pelita Harapan in Lippo Village, Banten; and Binus School in Simprug, South Jakarta.

They are Bob RS Kaway, Thinus L. Yewi, Anastasya Womsiwor, Stefince IC Yocku, Marie F. Surya, Gisella Austine, Jason Reysan, Bennett J. Krisno, Derrick A. Harianto and Natasha A. Harianto.

Project assistant Syailendra Harahap said that while it was the schools that applied for participation in the project, the students were chosen based on whether their labs passed the flight test in the very first round.

The program, organized by Silicon Valley'€™s Quest Institute for Quality Education and Nanoracks and funded by the US government and participants themselves, for the first time provided slots for Indonesians last year.

Indonesian scientists have joined various international astronomical research projects, including some on growing tomatoes and garden jewelweed in space.

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