News Release

Area school children, Washington University send experiments up on Sept. 8 shuttle

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, Sept. 1, 2000 -- When Space Shuttle STS 106 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center this Sept. 8, it will be carrying the hopes and experiments of more than 300 St. Louis area K-12 students, courtesy of a School of Engineering outreach program involving Washington University undergraduate students and engineers.

Carefully packaged inside a 60-pound Get-Away-Special (GAS) can will be an array of items, ranging from bubblegum and moldy bread from Glenridge Elementary School in Clayton to a 3.5" computer floppy disk from Mary Institute Country Day School to student hair samples and rotting hamburger from Sacred Heart Elementary School of Florissant. Forty-five different experiments in all will be contained in the GAS canister G-782, also known as the Aria-1 This past year, Washington University undergraduates, under the supervision of Keith Bennett, affiliate assistant professor of computer science, and Michael Swartwout, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, designed the GAS can and assembled it at NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Project Aria-1.is an educational project allowing K-12 students in the St. Louis area to design, build, and fly experiments in space.

The K-12 students, under the guidance of their teachers, prepared hypotheses, designed experiments, collected the materials, prepare the flight articles, and will analysis the results after flight. All experiments are "fly and compare" experiments. Each experiment involves a sample that will fly on-board STS-106 as well as an identical sample that will be kept on the ground. After flight, students will compare the flight samples to the ground samples to determine effects caused by micro gravity, radiation,temperature changes, and other possible circumstances experienced in a low earth orbit environment

The purpose of the Aria-1 is to encourage students in science, engineering, and technology by allowing them the opportunity to be involved in hands-on space science before they make long-term career decisions. The exact form of student organization and participation was under local school control. Some schools organized as clubs, others incorporated the effort into their curriculum.

The Aria-1 project is sponsored by Washington University in St. Louis' School of Engineering and Applied Science. Aria-1 engineering and manufacturing is the responsibility of more than twenty undergraduate Washington University students from a wide range of departments under the guidance of Bennett and Swarthout. The project is co-sponsored by the St. Louis Area Cooperating School Districts who aided in the communication with the schools.

"I'm having lots of fun with Project Aria and feeling gratified that the project is getting kids involved and they're having fun," said Bennett, who for 12 years worked in aviation and space research with McDonnell Douglas Corporation. "And it's not just the K-12 students. Our undergraduates have been excited by the project , too. They're able to get involved in a real-life project from start to finish, and they like that."

Washington University students working in Project Aria-1 (there are two more Aria projects in the works) take EN 190, a one-hour, pass-fail space engineering workshop. While most of the Project Aria undergraduate students are engineering majors, the class is open to all Washington University students.

Bennett began the program in the spring of 1998 with the first undergraduate student involvement starting in the fall of that year.

Jason Minier, a senior mechanical engineering major from Grand Rapids Mich., and a defensive tackle on the Bears football team, was one of the first Washington University students involved in the project. He and several other students will be traveling to Kennedy Space Center to watch the liftoff.

"This has been just a great experience,," said Minier. "It's a chance to put your engineering skills to work in a real project. And that's so much different than explaining things in a paper. I've never seen a shuttle launch in person and can't wait.

###

A second GAS canister, the Aria-2, will go up on STS 102, scheduled for the spring of '01. Bennett said he is counting on 80 experiments for that mission and more schools to come on board. Aria-2 and Aria-3 are co-sponsored by the Boeing Corporation.

The schools participating in Aria-1 are: Bristol Elementary School, Webster Groves; Marissa Junior/Senior High School, Marissa, Il.; Glenridge Elementary School,,Clayton; Ladue Junior High School, Ladue; Hazlewood West High School, Hazlewood School District; Mary Institute Country Day School; Center for Creative Learning, Rockwood School District; and Sacred Heart Elementary School of Florissant.

Add'l contact: Keith Bennett (314) 935-6648;bennett@seas.wustl.edu



Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.