Rocket carries school experiments into space

The successful liftoff of the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft sets the stage for a group of Hong Kong students to make space history.

Experiments designed by the three winning teams from the Space Science Experiment Design Competition for Hong Kong secondary school students last year have rocketed aloft and will be carried out in space.

Wong Yeung, a teacher from Po Leung Kuk Laws Foundation College, was one of a 17-member delegation from the three Hong Kong teams to observe with what must have been a spine-tingling thrill, as Shenzhou XI blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province.

"We were all basking in the glory of having our pupils' creations carried into space to be tested," Wong said.

The experiments were to see whether saturated saline water could form a porous, waterproof membrane in microgravity, watching the transformation of silkworms and silk production in space, and examining Chaos Theory by a comparative study of oscillating pendulums in space and on earth.

Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong will carry out a series of experiments, including the three designed by Hong Kong students, after Shenzhou XI docks with the Tiangong II space laboratory.

Mak Tang Pik-yee, executive director of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, who led the Hong Kong delegation in Jiuquan, said designing experiments that would actually be carried out in space is a dream come true for the students.

Mak said that the students had achieved something remarkable in terms of their inventiveness, originality of vision and also coming up with ideas that were workable. The winning entry, she said, once tested and proven successful, was expected to contribute to making artificial skin for medical use.

"We hope that the test results will be in line with our expectations," said Tang Chi-yi, a student at Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School, and the project designer of the runner-up team. "But even if it doesn't, our team can learn from the failure. Scientific failures, anyhow, are the basic steps toward success."

Wong Yeung, who was adviser to the bronze-winning team, said their pitch might be useful in robotic arm applications.

"The experiment is meant to verify if gravity is the main driving force behind Chaos Theory," added Wong. "The concept is hard to grasp, especially for secondary school students. The students of our team, after going through a lengthy research process, managed to forge their own experimental model at last," Wong said.