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In the News Join the New High School Race to
Space for the 2013 Launch! "The sky is not the limit for 21st
century students!"
Valley Christian High School (VCHS) students were the first high school
students to be invited to present at the California Polytechnic State
University Cubesat Annual Conference on April 20-22, 2011 after successfully
putting the first, self-contained, computer-controlled high school CubeLab™
experiment placed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in January, 2011.
You can view VCS' students' 18 minute presentation at http://gallery.me.com/wernervavken#101315 . They describe their project and answer technical questions from some of
the brightest aerospace minds in the world. On January 21,
2010 a team of 22 VCHS Applied Math, Science, and Engineering (AMSE) students
designed, developed, and successfully launched their science experiment to
board the ISS. U.S. Astronauts personally returned their CubeLab™ to earth and to VCS in
Mid-March of 2011, a CubeLab™ first! See news
reports and other information at www.vcs.net/quicklinks/mathscience/iss-project/index.aspx. From the beginning of VCHS' Race to Space, the program was designed as a
model for the benefit of Quest Institute member high schools to replicate and
join this exciting venture. See www.TheQuestInstitute.com. VCHS' faculty
engineers have redesigned the first single CubeLab™ into multiple
CubeLabs™ to reduce flight costs per experiment
from $25,000 (2010-2011) to $10,000 (2011-2012). Dr. Daugherty emphasizes, "As Christians in a Christian school who believe in the Creator of the heavens and the earth we are passionate for our students to learn all they can about His creation. We have a duty to prepare our students to join the great scientists of the past and present to serve as outstanding researchers for the future betterment of mankind and our world." See http://youtu.be/_bpvmChq2c8 Efforts are underway for student teams at Whittier Christian, Fremont
Christian, and Faith Christian Academy to join VCHS and launch their own unique
science projects to the ISS in April of 2012. Their space odyssey began in
August 2011 at the Quest Institute ISS Training Conference for students,
mentors, and educators of participating schools. VCS provided each school with
a kit for their ISS experiment with the needed technical support. Each team of
students is developing their own science experiment. Students design their
computer boards, program their computers, and completely assemble their mini
CubeLab™ to meet NASA ISS flight standards. Power and transmission of data are
provided by the U.S. Astronauts on board the space station lab. All four schools expect to launch again in 2013. Approximately seven schools
plan to join the program for 2013. This past year, creative engineering brought
the cost per experiment down from $25,000 to $10,000 per student team
experiment to pay for the space launch and flight. The pricing for 2012-2013
will be based on a cost recovery "make whole" basis for the Quest Institute. An
annual membership contribution to the Quest Institute in the amount that a participating
school deems to be appropriate for the value of QI services received is requested.
Werner Vavken, VCHS' AMSE Chair, is
assessing potential high school participants for the 2013 launch. Contact
Werner to learn of possible available CubeLab™ slots at wvavken@vcs.net or visit http://www.vcs.net/sitemap/mathscience/index.aspx. For TV News
broadcasts, see http://www.vcs.net/news/detail.aspx?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=691&ModuleID=104&NEWSPID=1 |
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