Black Rock Desert Blog

NESTA Expedition to the Black Rock Desert Nevada

Our names are Joe and Rainbow and this is our log of our expedition to America with the High Altitude Bioprospecting team (HAB) formed from the NESTA Crucible program. The members of the team include: 

• Rachel Brazil: NESTA  and Crucible Project Manager
• Melissa Grant: Biochemist
• Paul Shepherd: Architect and Computer Programmer
• Oliver de Payer: Lab Robotics expert and Astrobiologist

The HAB aims to see if there is any life in the upper atmosphere and the nature of the organisms that live there. The team devised a robot which would take a sample of air whilst in flight on a balloon or rocket. This sample would them be passed into a reaction chamber where the DNA of any organisms would be amplified by Twist DX DNA recombinase technology. The DNA can then be detected by a fluorimeter by mixing it with Pico Green, a dye which fluoresces in the presence of DNA.

To do this experiment we headed into the Black Rock Desert, Nevada with the Rocket Mavericks, a group of rocket enthusiasts who would be flying the experiments.

• Days 1-3
• Days 4-6
• Days 7-8
• Days 9-10
• Days 11-12