Agnirva Space Premier League - Expedition #31583: Rotting Veggies in Space? A Student-Led Inquiry into Decomposition in Microgravity

What happens to rotting vegetables when gravity is out of the equation? That's the intriguing question that students at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, set out to answer with their space-based experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Sponsored by NASA and developed with the support of the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology, this student-led investigation brings science class into orbit.

The concept is both simple and profound: observe how vegetable matter decays in the unique environment of microgravity. Back on Earth, we know that decomposition involves bacteria, fungi, temperature, humidity, and oxygen. These microbes work efficiently to break down organic material. But in microgravity, many of those physical dynamics change. Fluids behave differently, convection doesn’t occur in the same way, and microbial activity might be slowed or altered altogether.

The students prepared sealed containers with vegetable matter and sent them to the ISS. Over the course of Expeditions 39/40 and 41/42, astronauts onboard monitored the decay. Upon return, scientists compared the space samples to those that had decomposed on Earth under identical conditions.

This experiment offered invaluable insights into microbiology, closed-loop life support systems, and waste management in future space habitats. It's also a stellar example of how student curiosity and classroom science can reach orbit and deliver real-world learning.

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