Search for NASA space cadets

11/05/2010
Two science students will have the chance to join a trip of a lifetime to NASA in California this summer to discover whether life exists at the extreme edge of the atmosphere.

The competition, run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) - the UK's innovation body - is open to students in UK schools or colleges aged 17 and above.

They will join a group of scientists on an astrobiology research trip to America between 14 and 27 July. The group will first travel to California to work in a NASA Laboratory and then to Nevada's Black Rock Desert to launch a device 40 kilometres into the stratosphere using a high altitude rocket.

The research group travelling to California are graduates of NESTA's Crucible Programme which encourages scientists from different disciplines to collaborate on research projects.

NESTA is sponsoring the visit to help the team discover whether life in the form of microbes, exists in this harsh environment.

Their device will detect DNA and will be able to radio the results back to the ground whilst in flight. If microbes can be detected, the team hope to learn more about how these life forms may have adapted to survive and this information may help vital advances in science back on earth.

For a chance to win a place on the trip, students need to submit ideas on how they would design an experiment to detect the number of microbes in the atmosphere at the launch site in order to create a base-level reading.

For further information about the competition and to enter visit www.nesta.org.uk/nasa. The closing date for entries is midnight 24 May 2010.

Notes to editor

For further information, please contact Catherine Anderson on 020 7438 2609 or catherine.anderson@nesta.org.uk

About NESTA
NESTA is the largest independent endowment in the UK. Its mission is to support innovation to drive economic recovery and solve some of the UK's major social challenges.

NESTA is a world leader in its field and is in a unique position to support innovation through a blend of practical programmes, policy and research and investment in early-stage companies.

NESTA Crucible programme
Crucible brings together 30 early-career researchers from different disciplines to help solve complex scientific challenges. Participants take part in four residential weekends where they develop collaborative and innovative cross-disciplinary ideas for future research. Oliver, Melissa and Paul were part of Crucible 2008 and have been working with each other since then.

Dr Oliver de Peyer is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Medical Research in London and is an expert in lab robotics. He also specialises in astrobiology and has worked at NASA in the past. He has planned and built the robot that we'll fly.

Dr Melissa Grant is a biochemist with expertise on microbe detection. She is a post doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham and works on finding new preventative treatments for gum disease. She has figured out what chemistry needs to happen while the robot is up in the stratosphere.

Dr Paul Shepherd is a Research Fellow in the Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering at the University of Bath. He is more used to working out how to design huge structures like sports stadiums so that they can withstand earthquakes and tornados. He has used the same techniques to make sure our experiment can survive being launched into the stratosphere.