Two Spanish high school students are part of the European finalist team in the SpaceLab contest, co-financed by ESA, whose winners will be able to send their experiment proposals to the International Space Station (ISS) during the summer of 2012. In addition, the experiments will be carried out by astronauts will be broadcast globally on YouTube.
Laura Calvo and María Vilas proposed an experiment called “Surfactants in microgravity” to study what happens when water, soap and oil mix in space. His idea was the winner in the regional phase of the contest in the 14-16 year old category and now it must be chosen by the jury from among the three finalist teams.
The students will travel to Washington DC in March where they will participate in a series of events including a parabolic flight in which they can experience the lack of gravity and a visit to the Udvar-Hazy Aerospace Museum in Dulles. On March 22, the winning teams will be announced, one per category, whose experiments will be carried out on the ISS.
Thomas Reiter, Director of Manned Flights and Operations at ESA, highlighted the importance of such initiatives: “This campaign aims to demonstrate the value of space science and reach out to future scientists. Two intelligently designed experiments will be carried out on the ISS. by students, who will join the large number of basic and applied science experiments already being carried out at the ISS, in areas such as life sciences, physics, technology and education, all of which are essential for research on the ground. “
