Tornillo High School experiment to launch on Blue Origin rocket Thursday

TORNILLO, Texas — Tornillo High School STEM Club is getting ready to make historical past as their experiment is about to launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-35 mission this Thursday.

The faculty is amongst a choose few nationwide collaborating in NASA’s Techrise program, which permits faculties to ship experiments into area.

The Tornillo High School STEM Club developed an experiment centered on testing strategies for watering crops in area.

Dr. Jacob Contreras, the STEM Club sponsor, defined the challenge’s significance. “Watering plants in outer space is extremely technical because a lot of the electrical equipment in space is highly sensitive to watering the plant. So we think the application of what we are finding will be relevant to watering plants using tubes,” he stated.

The college students confronted challenges in designing the experiment, going by seven prototypes with help from NASA professionals.

“Our biggest issue was it being too heavy. So we used steel rods and then we had to go down to plastic and then we had like wooden OSB boards then we took it down to a plastic acrylic plate. And the program is a stepper motor, so we had to make sure it had certain rotations. So the hardest part was the technical part,” stated Dr. Contreras.

The experiment is a part of a payload containing greater than 40 scientific and analysis tasks that will likely be launched with Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-35 mission. This additionally marks a milestone within the faculty’s 100-year historical past.

Once the rocket returns, present STEM Club members will analyze the outcomes. Dr. Contreras emphasised the glory of this chance for a rural faculty, highlighting the importance of their participation within the area mission.