Student Spaceflight Experiments Program

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) provides an opportunity for student groups from upper elementary school through university to design and fly microgravity experiments in low Earth orbit (LEO).[2] SSEP is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE, a project of the Tides Center), the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, and the private space hardware company NanoRacks.[3] SSEP operates under a Space Act Agreement between the sponsoring organizations and NASA, allowing the International Space Station (ISS) to be utilized as a national laboratory.[4]

Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
Founder(s)Jeff Goldstein, director, NCESSE
EstablishedJune 2010
MissionSTEM student outreach
HeadJeff Goldstein
Key peopleStacy Hamel, Senior Flight Operations Manager
John Hamel, Flight Operations Manager
Kirsten Weimer, Education Program Coordinator
Drew Roman, Technology Manager
Harri Vanhala, Science Advisor
Tim Livengood, Science Advisor
Michael Hulslander, Education Advisor[1]
Websitehttp://ssep.ncesse.org/

History

The program was launched in June 2010, by NCESSE in the U.S. and by the Clarke Institute internationally.[3] As of 2018, SSEP has sponsored fourteen missions to LEO – two on board the Space Shuttle, and twelve to the ISS – with a thirteenth mission to the ISS announced in March 2018, and expected to fly in the spring/summer of 2019.[5][6][7]

In the first fourteen SSEP flight opportunities, 86,800 students in grades 5 through 16 (senior undergraduate in the U.S. higher education system) participated in experiment design and proposal writing. Of 18,759 proposals received, a total of 240 experiments were selected for flight, with one from each community participating in each flight opportunity. As of 14 August 2017, 206 of these experiments have been successfully launched.[8] The 18 experiments comprising Mission 6 to the ISS were lost when the Cygnus CRS Orb-3 vehicle exploded shortly after launch on 28 October 2014.[9]

Key dates
DateEvent
Jun 1, 2010Program start
May 16, 2011STS-134 launch (Endeavour)
Jul 8, 2011STS-135 launch (Atlantis)
May 22, 2012M1 launch (SpaceX-D1)
Oct 7, 2012M2 launch (Space X-1)
Sep 18, 2013M3a launch (Orb-D1)
Jan 9, 2014M3b/M4 launch (Orb-1)
Jul 13, 2014M5 launch (Orb-2)
Oct 28, 2014M6 launch (Cygnus CRS Orb-3 failure)
Jan 10, 2015M6 launch (SpaceX-5)
Jun 28, 2015M7 launch (SpaceX CRS-7 failure)
Apr 8, 2016M7 launch (SpaceX-8)
Jul 18, 2016M8 launch (SpaceX-9)
Feb 19, 2017 M9 launch (SpaceX-10)
Jun 3, 2017 M10 launch (SpaceX-11)
Aug 14, 2017 M11 launch (SpaceX-12)
Jun 29, 2018 M12 launch (SpaceX-15)
Spring/Summer 2019 M13 launch planned

Process

The competition to select student projects for flight is designed to resemble a standard research proposal process. Interested groups must submit proposals in response to announced criteria; these proposals are then peer-reviewed against the criteria in a two-stage selection process, with the vast majority of proposals rejected.[10]

Each selected experiment is provided with one mini-laboratory, which is flown on the ISS and then returned to Earth for analysis.[6] Experiments selected for flight have included research into crystal growth, composting, cell division, seed germination, and calcium metabolism.[11][12][13] The cost of each experiment is on the order of US$24,500, which must be raised by the community developing the experiment.[14]

Students have an opportunity to share their research at a national conference sponsored by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, NCESSE, and the Clarke Institute.[3] Students participating in the program have also been given the chance to participate in a videoconference with space station astronauts.[15]

References
  1. "Key Individuals". ssep.ncesse.org. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  2. "Student Spaceflight Experiments Program". ncesse.org. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. October 30, 2012.
  3. Gaskill, Melissa (August 6, 2014). "Student Scientists Present Unexpected Results from Space Station Research". Space Station: Research & Technology. NASA.
  4. "Student Spaceflight Experiments Program – Mission 6 to the International Space Station". spaceref.com. SpaceRef Interactive Inc. October 30, 2013.
  5. "SSEP in the News". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Community Network Hubsite. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  6. Goldstein, Jeff (April 21, 2014). "New Flight Opportunity for School Districts: Announcing Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 7 to the International Space Station for 2014-15 Academic Year". ncesse.org. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  7. "New Flight Opportunity for School Districts: Announcing Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 13 to the International Space Station, Starting September 2018". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. "Experiments Selected for Flight". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Community Network Hubsite. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  9. Bever, Lindsey (October 29, 2014). "Students lost science experiments in Antares explosion". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  10. "The Flight Experiment Design Competition". ncesse.org. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  11. "Selected Experiments on SSEP Mission 4 to ISS". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Community Network Hubsite. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  12. "Selected Experiments on SSEP Mission 5 to ISS". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Community Network Hubsite. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  13. "Selected Experiments on SSEP Mission 6 to ISS". Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Community Network Hubsite. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  14. "SSEP Program costs". ncesse.org. National Center for Earth and Space Science Education.
  15. Grove, Tim (April 26, 2013). "An Out-of-This-World Program". nasm.si.edu. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
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