MORETON school pupils from Dormer House and Kitebrook House schools are entering the world of rocket science as they nurture salad seeds which have been circling the Earth for the past six months.
The schools are two of thousands in the country who are taking part in an experiment by growing 100 rocket salad seeds which have been in space alongside 100 ordinary seeds.
The experiment is part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the Royal Horticultural Society’sCampaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency.
They were sent up to the International Space Station in September where they were in the care of British astronaut Tim Peake.
The seeds arrived back to Earth in March and pupils from each school have planted out two batches.
Over the next six weeks, they will be investigating when germination starts, the number of plants that germinate and the height of the plants at different intervals. This will be fed back to a central database and results analysed by professional biostatisticians. The children will then find out which set of seeds went to space in June and can compare any difference with the terrestrial seedlings.
The out-of-this-world, nationwide science experiment will enable children to think more about how to preserve human life on another planet in the future, what astronauts need to survive long-term missions in space and the difficulties surrounding growing fresh food in challenging climates.
Phoebe Saxon
Teddy Bamford, Harry Ward, Charles Astor
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here