Mission Discovery is an international education program run for teenagers in many countries around the world. The programme started in 2011 in King's College London, England, and has since expanded to Australia, the US, India and other countries.
Mission discovery is run and directed by ISSET (International Space School Educational Trust), a registered UK charity founded in 1998 by Chris Barber. So far there have been 15 successful programs: one in India, twelve in the UK and two in the US. Each program has given the students the chance to work with space scientists while they work as a team designing experiments. As part of this program, at least one experiment designed by the students is sent to, and carried out on, the International Space Station.
Format Mission Discovery is a week-long event in which the pupils are split into random groups to design an experiment that could be launched into space. During this week the teams are involved in exercises designed to develop their leadership, team building, and personal development skills, while also giving them an insight into scientific fields with a relation to space. The pupils will also hear talks from various astronauts, scientists and people from fields outside of science, covering topics including biomedical and scientific research done by NASA, and the astronaut's experiences in space, as well as topics like public speaking and how to suitably present information. Towards the end of the week, the program is more focused on the design of the students' experiments. The students are given time to design an experiment they believe could work in space and are then tasked with presenting it in both, an informative and interesting way. On the final day, the pupils present their ideas to other colleagues and mentors as well as different scientists, doctors, and professors from universities. The winning idea has their experiment designed and sent to the International Space Station where astronauts there will carry out experiments.
So far there have been twenty different winning experiments. Each is then further designed with help from researchers and scientists. After a lengthy process of designing the experiment, the winning team is invited to watch the rocket launch carrying their experiment to the International Space Station. These experiments are then carried out by the current astronauts on board the ISS. Depending on the complexity and the issues with the experiments, they normally take up three years to be launched and carried out on board the ISS.
Previous programmes + Year Location Winning team Winning Experiment(s) 2012 King's College London, UK - To test the effectiveness of antibiotics on E. coli in space - An experiment to examine if slime mold grows in three dimensions in space 2013 King's College London, UK - An experiment to study Daphnia magna in space - An experiment to examine the effect of plant steroids on plant growth in microgravity 2014 Valparaiso University, USA - Examining the 3D applications of electrowetting in microgravity Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, USA - Effects of microgravity on Luciferase activity Renfrewshire, UK - Treatment of conjunctivitis in space - Carbon dioxide consumption by cacti in microgravity King's College London, UK - An experiment to determine the impact of microgravity on symptoms of Alzheimer's disease - An experiment to compare the rate of Amyloid beta protein aggregation on earth vs in a microgravity environment 2015 Caerphilly, UK Suns of Ananke An experiment to determine if probiotic bacteria is the best antiseptic for use in space King's College London, UK Icarus An experiment to see if electricity generating bacteria will increase either the rate or amount of electricity generated in a microgravity environment, compared with the same process on Earth Merthyr Tydfil, UK Propulsion An experiment looking to see whether symbiotic relationships between plants and bacteria are maintained in a microgravity environment Renfrewshire, UK - An experiment testing the impact of bacterial phages on different types of bacteria Cranfield University, UK Positive Charge An experiment testing whether ionic liquids are effective lubricants in microgravity 2016 Delhi, India - Producing food in space by using cellulase bacteria to convert cellose into glucose King's College London, UK The G.R.E.A.T. A.C. An experiment assessing the ability of the bacterium Chondromyces crocatus to form ‘fruiting bodies’ in microgravity Ayrshire, UK Space Cadets An experiment looking at whether the surface type of a material affects the speed slime mould travels in micro gravity Renfrewshire, UK Defying Gravity An experiment looking at how crops could be grown in space 2017 Gurgaon, India SPACE MONKEY MAFIA Speeding up the process of germination in space King's College London, UK The Kepler 16b Testing electric fields as a method of transporting polar liquids Ayrshire, UK Space Raiders The effect of microgravity on the electricity produced by phytoplankton through photosynthesis Renfrewshire, UK EQUILIBRIUM Investigating whether Aloe Vera gel is effective at stopping the growth of fungi in space Rhondda Valley, UK - Usefulness of heat, mixing, straws and pipetting in separating immiscible liquids neatly into their separate components on the International Space Station 2018 Hyderabad Public School, India Refractive Minds An experiment on the effects of gravity on the qualitative nutritional value of carbohydrates, broken down by the enzyme salivary amylase, in foodKing's College London, UK Apol10 Measuring the rate of cell division in space using GFP TITAN pHive Planarian Flatworm Regeneration in Microgravity University of Melbourne, Australia Star Sailors The effectiveness of antibacterials produced by flies on E. Coli in microgravity University of the West of Scotland, UK Orbit Vitamin C deterioration in space Ajmer, India Orion Looking at wax worms and their consumption of plastic in the hope to find a more efficient way to dispose of plastic on the International Space Station Aravali, India NOZK2AS The effectiveness of natural antibacterials in inhibiting the growth of Escherichia Coli (E.coli) DH5-Alpha in microgravity Ayrshire, Scotland Lunartics The effect of Phospholipase a2 (venom) on Staphylococcus Aureus in microgravity 2019 SAIS, Singapore Covalent Investigating Urease activity in microgravity Curtin University, Australia Mission Force 28 Sending earthworms to the ISS to test whether they can keep soil stable in a micro-gravity environment King's College London, UK Chimera investigating the effects of micro-gravity on the biomass and PHA production of Haloarchaea University of the West of Scotland, UK Interstellar Intellectuals Determining whether increasing root pressure in microgravity would improve the effectiveness of plant growth Tonbridge School, UK The Argonauts Determining whether yeast is able to undergo sexual reproduction in a microgravity environment 2021 Newcastle, UK Mission Waterfall Exploring Biofilm - Biofilms on bacteria will degrade at an increased rate in microgravity than on earth King's College London, UK Nebula 21 To determine the effect of microgravity and varying pressure on the efficiency of a ferrofluid energy harvester 2022 Singapore A*SSET-12 To determine if zero gravity affects the epigenetics of Dictyostelium discoideum, specifically whether the individual amoeba cells are able to come together to form a multicellular slug when resources are depleted, as they do on Earth King's College London TBD TBD
People involved Scientists involved in the program have included:
Astronauts Michael Foale
Space time : ~ 374 days in space
Area of study : Astrophysicist
Mission discoveries attended: 2014 - 2016 King’s College London, England, 2016 Renfrewshire, Scotland, 2016 Ayrshire, Scotland
Steven Swanson
Space time : ~ 196 days in space
Area of study : Engineer
Mission discoveries attended: 2016 Shiv Nadar School, India
Scott Kelly
Space time : ~ 570 days in space
Kenneth Ham
Space time : ~ 25 days in space
Area of study : Test pilot
Mission discoveries attended: 2012 - 2014 King’s College London, England, 2014 Renfrewshire, Scotland, 2014 Valparaiso University
Stephen G. Bowen
Space time : ~ 40 days in space
Area of study : Engineer
Mission discoveries attended: 2015 Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK
Jean-Jacques Favier
Space time : ~ 16 days in space
Nicole Stott
Space time : ~ 106 days in space
Area of study : Engineer
Mission discoveries attended: 2014 Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, US
Yi So-Yeon
Space Time : ~ 10 days in space
Area of study : Naval aviator, Test pilot, Engineer
Michael J. McCulley
Space time : ~ 4 days in space
Area of study : Researcher
Jerry L. Ross
Space time : ~ 58 days in space
Area of study : Flight Engineer
Ken Bowersox
Space Time : ~ 211 days in space
Area of study : Test pilot
'Mission discoveries attended: 2015 Caerphilly, Wales
Nasa personnel Sarah Murray, Assistant chief of EVA, Robotics and Crew Systems Jay F. Honeycutt, former director of Kennedy Space Center
Scientists Dr. Julie Keeble, Pharmacology, King's College London Prof. Steve Harridge, Human and Applied Physiology, King's College London Dr. James Clarke, Human and Applied Physiology, King's College London Dr. David Green, Human and Aerospace Physiology, King's College London
Completion
On completion of the program, the winning team then has to wait and go through the process of their experiment idea being built from only their design. This is a process which involves the team working with a scientist who helps them make their experiment suitable for the space station, because what the students choose, meaning the specifics, isn't always the best way for it to be done.
An example of this process in the team which won the program in Renfrewshire in 2014. For this group, the process of their ideas becoming the real thing lasted two years. This is because the experiment wasn't launched until the summer of 2016. During these two years, the team met up on a few occasions for events as well as experiment discussion sessions. The main experiment discussion session was held in 2014 when the team met with pharmacology lecturer from King's College London, Julie Keeble, who was the main scientist involved in the development of their experiment. This session took place at the University of the West of Scotland, where they spend time in the labs finding out how their experiment would be built and any changes that would need to be made to it. During the period between the first meeting and the launch, the students were also invited to an event which involved astronaut Mike Foale. The students took part in the day which involved meeting with Foale and listening to the talk he gave to the prospectus students for the 2015 program. These two above events were the main two events the students were involved in before their launch in the summer of 2016.
This example is similar to most programs run by ISSET.
See also
Australian Space Agency
References
External links ISSET Homepage ISSET Blog