TC West participates in national science program

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Traverse City West High School Physics and Chemistry teacher Patrick Gillespie will have 650 biology and chemistry students competing in groups to devise an experiment on microgravity that could be chosen to be performed on the International Space Station in May 2013. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

September 16, 2012

TC West participates in national science program

BY GLENN PUIT gpuit@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sun Sep 16, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Hundreds of students make their way through science classes at Traverse City West Senior High School every year, but this year is shaping up to be particularly special.

Patrick Gillespie, a physics and chemistry teacher at the school, said TC West was selected to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Mission 3. The program asks more than 600 students at the school to produce a "low or no-gravity" science experiment, and the very best experiment will be flown into space and tested on the International Space Station in May 2013.

"There are so many cool possibilities; it's just amazing," Gillespie said. "One of our teams is sending an experiment up into space no matter what this year, and it's all happening at TC West."

The International Space Station is nearly 12 years old and has more than 57,000 orbits around Earth. It's manned by an international team of astronauts who carry out various biology, physics and astronomy experiments.

Gillespie said students will work in teams of four to five to develop their experiments. The sky's the limit, he said, on what type of experiments they carry out.

One rule: the experiment must center around "real microgravity experiments," such as how a material, object or entity functions and reacts in limited gravity. Other than that, creativity rules, and students are encouraged to test the limits of their imagination.

"The kids devise these and it will be a very competitive process," Gillespie said. "We want them to explore some type of phenomena, some sort of question about science. For example, how does this material react in space? Does it grow in space?"

The program continues a strong science and space curriculum at TC West that's produced students like TC West graduate Marc Allen, who works as a software engineer on the Mars Curiosity Rover mission. The spacecraft landed on the red planet in August and produces captivating, real-time images of the Mars landscape.

Gillespie said curriculum and implementation of the new program will cost the school $20,000 and will be underwritten primarily by public and private donors. Fundraising is ongoing. Donors already committed to the project include the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Dow, DTE, and Dan Edson of B&E Enterprises.

The student work is expected to produce between 125 and 155 experiments. The top three experiments will be sent to Washington, D.C. where a team of judges will pick the best experiment. That experiment will be flown to the space station by a privately contracted mission.

Students at TC West Senior High and West Middle School also will participate in two related competitions to design and produce a sleeve patch that will travel to the space station.

Gillespie said he hopes to expand the microgravity experiment program throughout the Traverse City Area Public Schools district.

"This is a wonderful project for the entire community," he said.