WESTLEIGH STUDENTS TAKE PART IN THE ROCKET SCIENCE EXPERIMENT

British astronaut Tim Peake has asked schoolchildren to help him with one of his scientific experiments and students from Westleigh have accepted the challenge. Tim Peake has asked students to plant rocket seeds that have been in orbit with him, and compare their growth with rocket plants that have stayed on Earth.  The study will help find ways to grow food in space which will be essential if humans travel to distant planets.  

“This experiment will aim to see if microgravity can affect the growth mechanisms in seeds," Tim Peake states.  "This will be genuinely useful science," "There will be impacts from zero gravity and from cosmic radiation and no one really knows what those will be.  "So the results really will contribute to the science of how to grow plants in space".

The experiment, called Rocket Science, could help researchers to develop hardier varieties of crops to be grown in space.  "With the Rocket Science project, young people across the UK can help us prepare for the next stage of human exploration."

The seeds have not arrived at school yet - we are expecting them to reach us after Easter when the experiment can begin!  Watch this space!