THE PROJECT'S ALL ABOUT TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE EFFECTS
OF MICROGRAVITY IS IMPACTING, HOW BENEFICIAL MICROBES AND
ANIMALS TALK TO EACH OTHER.
WE'RE SENDING THESE TINY SQUID INTO SPACE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE
BACTERIA ARE ACTUALLY COLONIZING AND INITIATING A CONVERSATION
AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL.
WHEN THEY'RE BORN, THEY'RE BORN WITHOUT BACTERIA.
AND SO WHEN THEY FLEW BEFORE WE LEARNED THAT EVEN IN MICROGRAVITY,
YOU CAN HAVE YOUR PROPER SYMBIOTES, YOUR BENEFICIAL MICROBES FIND
WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO GO.
WE'RE GOING AGAIN, AND LOOKING AT A LITTLE BIT MORE DEEPER
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ACTUAL PROCESSES, THE FUNDAMENTAL
PROCESSES OF HOW THE BACTERIA ARE STARTING A CONVERSATION
WITH THE ANIMAL TISSUES.
SO WE'RE BUILDING ON THOSE PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS FROM 10 YEARS AGO.
THE RAMSAT IS A CUBESAT SENT UP BY ROBERTSVILLE MIDDLE
SCHOOL IN OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE.
THIS WILL BE ONE OF THE FIRST SATELLITES EVER TO BE SENT
UP BY A PUBLIC MIDDLE SCHOOL.
SO THE MISSION OF OUR SATELLITE IS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT
THE REGROWTH OF WILDFIRES IN GATLINBURG IN CALIFORNIA.
SO WE CREATED THIS SATELLITE, UH, WITH SCIENTISTS
FROM OUR NATIONAL LAB.
IN THIS CLIP YOU CAN SEE WE'RE PUTTING THE SOLAR PANELS ON AND
THIS SPECIFICALLY IS WHERE WE'RE SOLDERING THE WIRES TOGETHER.
SO ALONG WITH OUR MISSION OF TRACKING THE FOREST FIRE
REGROWN, WE ALSO HOPE TO BUILD CURRICULUM FOR OTHER MIDDLE
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLS AROUND THE GLOBE TO CREATE SATELLITES AND
BECOME MORE INVESTED IN SPACE LIKE ALL OF OUR STUDENTS ARE.
OUR PROJECT IS LOOKING AT HOW THESE TINY LITTLE MICROSCOPIC ANIMALS
CALLED WATER BEARS OR TARDIGRADES ARE ABLE TO COPE WITH THE STRESSES
OF LONG-TERM SPACE FLIGHT.
AND WE'RE USING THESE ANIMALS BECAUSE THEY'RE SOME OF THE
TOUGHEST ANIMALS THAT WE KNOW OF.
THEY CAN SURVIVE BEING DRIED OUT, FROZEN, HEATED UP PAST
THE BOILING POINT OF WATER.
THEY CAN SURVIVE THOUSANDS OF TIMES AS MUCH RADIATION AS YOU OR I CAN.
AND THEY CAN SURVIVE SPACE FLIGHT AND EVEN EXPOSURE TO
THE VACUUM OF OUTER SPACE.
THE SORT OF TWO MAIN STRESSORS, UM, DURING SPACE
FLIGHT ARE MICROGRAVITY AND INCREASED RADIATION.
SO WE'LL BE LOOKING TO SEE WHAT GENES, WHAT PARTS OF THE ANIMALS,
DNA THEY'RE TURNING ON AND OFF.
AND SO BY UNDERSTANDING HOW THESE REALLY TOUGH LITTLE TARDIGRADES
ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE IN THOSE CONDITIONS, WE'RE HOPING TO BE
ABLE TO DEVELOP STRATEGIES OR COUNTERMEASURES TO SAFEGUARD
ASTRONAUTS FROM THOSE STRESSES.