Back in March, Midlands Technical College (MTC) was selected as one of 37 to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 18. Fun fact: MTC is the first and only college in SC chosen to participate in the SSEP + Research done by MTC students will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS).
The research
A team of six — four students, a lab technician, and a faculty advisor — are trying to understand how microgravity affects the production of calcium oxalate crystals in edible greens. Let’s break that down.
Calcium oxalate, produced in plants like spinach, can lead to kidney stones forming more easily in microgravity. The research will help inform what nutritional sources can be grown in space during long-duration spaceflights.
This week, the MTC Mavericks traveled to Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch their project blast into space. Watch the launch.
What happens now?
Over six weeks, astronauts aboard the mission will experiment + then return to Earth. The teams will perform an analysis, comparing the results to their control experiment on Earth, and then present their findings at a conference, likely to be held at The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the mission by visiting the SSEP website or NASA’s website.
