• Question: Which experiment was most interesting from your point of view

    Asked by JOErages :) to Tom, Anne, Beth, COLFlight, Jon on 6 Oct 2015. This question was also asked by Alexander Cochrane, 275trn23, octokoala27136, therazalution.
    • Photo: Anne Visscher

      Anne Visscher answered on 6 Oct 2015:

      Hi JOErages,

      For me, the most interesting experiment in a space station so far has been to see if a plant can grow ‘from seed to seed’. With this I mean if a seed can germinate in a space station, grow into a plant, flower and produce more seeds without gravity.

      Anne

    • Photo: Columbus Flight Directors

      Columbus Flight Directors answered on 6 Oct 2015:

      Sergio:
      Hi Joe, Alex and 275trn23,

      one experiment that I liked a lot and was done recently is the METERON: the astonauts from the Space Station drive a rover located in the Netherlands and make it perform some very difficult tasks.
      This is a technology development from when we will go to Mars, it will allow astronauts from Mars orbit to drive a robot on the surface, so that it can build the station in which the astronauts will then live once they land.
      Tim will also take part to this experiment from the ISS in the beginning of 2016.

      Here you can see a video of the robot in the Netherlands, while it was being driven by Andreas Mogensen directly from the ISS a few weeks ago:

      I find it super cool to drive a robot so precisely while orbiting the Earth at 20 thousands miles per hour! 😮

      And you? Any particular experiment that you read about and that you found fascinating?

    • Photo: Beth Healey

      Beth Healey answered on 8 Oct 2015:

      Hey Alexander,

      One of the most interesting experiments I am doing here is one where we are wearing activity watches (24 hours a day) which detect how we spend our time and who with! It will be interesting to see how our preferences have changed over time. For example it can detect how often I go to the gym, who my friends are and how long I spend sleeping!!

      I think group dynamics and the way we work together as a team is one of the biggest challenges for the success of long duration spaceflight missions so I am really interested in these results!!

      In general though I find all research interesting and it is only together that we can really make advances so all findings (positive and negative) are important!

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