Angelus News | September 22, 2023, Vol. 8, Issue No. 19

TAKING UP SPACE
A unique project with NASA allowed five
Serra High School students to rocket their
seed experiment into the heavens.
BY GREG HARDESTY
Junipero Serra High School students Henry Toler,
Anderson Pecot, Travis Leonard, Christopher Holbert,
and Isaiah Dunn — along with their science teacher,
Kenneth Irvine (fifth from left) — participated in a
special NASA project where their experiment was sent
to the International Space Station. | PHOTO COURTESY
OF SERRA HIGH SCHOOL
Students won’t get the full results of
their experiment until the astronauts
return, but the belief is the seed in
space will grow at a rate comparable
to the rate in a parallel experiment on
Earth — if the seed receives enough
water.
Getting a seed to grow in space
requires a pump, water, fans, wicking
materials, LED grow lights, and a
nutrient solution.
The pump delivers water to the seed,
which is covered in a wicking material
— an absorbent cloth — for the seed
to consistently receive water.
Fans move oxygen and carbon dioxide
around the chamber, and light is
needed for taking photos and growing
the plant.
By using grow lights, the plant would
be able to carry out photosynthesis and
flourish once germinated — or so the
theory goes. Things are different in
space.
The students used a variety of the
Wisconsin Fast Plant due to it being
able to grow in the timeframe of the
experiment.
So, what’s the point of trying to grow
a seed in space?
Plants and food would be necessary
for potentially living in space, as well
as for medicinal use for the potential
treatment of diseases. The experiment
also may help design systems for
removing carbon dioxide from a sealed
environment while contributing oxygen
back to the surroundings, which
could be helpful in long-term space
flight and living situations.
Finally, the experiment also could
yield information that could contribute
to the development of agricultural
systems on Earth.
and Dunn were the only remaining
students to see the project to its completion.
“It was a process, with deadline after
deadline,” Irvine said. “We had two
to three weeks to come up with the
experiment. At first, it kind of felt like
‘Looney Tunes,’ where the train is going
off the cliff and they’re still laying
down the track below.”
Pecot, who handled many of the
electrical duties involved in the experiment,
said he thought the project
— conducted in collaboration with
the Quest Institute, an educational
nonprofit organization that develops
and markets STEM educational programs
and materials for K-12 schools
— was far-fetched when he first heard
about it.
“When people say they want to grow
up and be an astronaut, that’s far in the
future,” Pecot said. “To be able to be
doing this in high school didn’t seem
possible. But this experience has been
amazing.”
Meanwhile, on Earth
As the students await word on how
their experiment went, they recall a
process that was a lot of work — they
each toiled on it a total of about 120
hours — but very rewarding.
“It was definitely an experience,”
said Toler, who with Leonard handled
the mechanical engineering aspect
of the project. Dunn was the software
engineer and Holbert also tackled
electrical and mechanical engineering
duties. “We all have a lot of other
things going on as high school students.
Being able to do this shows our
dedication, grit, and motivation.”
The ISSP program also sent the
students to the USC Viterbi School of
Engineering to stoke their interest in
engineering.
“During their visit, the students
participated in a Broader Impact
workshop, which is part of a multi-university
(National Science Foundation)
superconducting workshop that USC
Viterbi is a part of,” said Darin Gray,
Ed.D., co-director of the USC Viterbi
K-12 STEM Center, which hosted the
students.
During the visit, the students conceptualized
the societal impacts of
their research and toured the school’s
innovative Baum Family Maker Space.
Irvine said that in addition to his
students, the experience was rewarding
for him, too.
“My biggest goal was teaching the
team the skills and how to use the
tools, without giving them the answer
to the problems they were trying to
solve,” he said. “And they all did an
excellent job.”
Greg Hardesty was a journalist for the
Orange County Register for 17 years,
and is a longtime contributing writer to
the Orange County Catholic newspaper.
On the night of Aug. 1, Christopher
Holbert did something
unusual.
To the sound of crickets, he put
a blanket down in his backyard in
Torrance, laid on his back, and gazed
at the sky.
“Thankfully no one peeked over the
fence,” Holbert said with a laugh.
Henry Toler, Holbert’s fellow senior
at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena,
also started exhibiting uncharacteristic
behavior beginning Aug. 1.
“Every night,” said Toler of Carson, “I
sat on the roof and just looked up.”
Holbert and Toler hadn’t suddenly
become UFO nuts.
Rather, they and three other Serra
seniors — Anderson Pecot, Travis
Leonard, and Isaiah Dunn — were
focused on the skies because a science
project they worked on for months had
been launched Aug. 1 on a SpaceX
rocket as part of NASA’s “International
Space Station Program.” Serra was
one of nine high schools nationwide
picked to participate in the elite student
initiative.
Growing a seed in space
The program began last year when
they were juniors. After weeks of the
students tossing around ideas, they
settled on “Automated Germination of
Wisconsin Fast Plants in Microgravity.”
The experiment? Trying to get a seed
to germinate and grow, potentially for
food, plants, and medicine in space.
For the month of August, astronauts
aboard the International Space Station
monitored the students’ experiment
and downloaded data to them weekly.
Preparing for liftoff
Kenneth Irvine, science teacher and
Science Department chair at Serra,
worked closely with the students
during their junior year to ensure the
project would, well, get off the ground.
Many students who initially got involved
in the project were members of
the chapter of the National Society of
Black Engineers (NSBE) that had just
opened at the school.
But juggling athletics, classes, and
other demands of high school isn’t
easy. Holbert, Toler, Pecot, Leonard,
Christopher Holbert, Travis Leonard, Henry Toler, Anderson Pecot, and Isaiah Dunn watched live on Aug. 1 as their
experiment of growing a seed in space was sent to the International Space Station. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SERRA
HIGH SCHOOL
14 • ANGELUS • September 22, 2023 September 22, 2023 • ANGELUS • 15