[AstroNet] SA learners invited to participate in YouTube/SpaceLab competition

[Ina Roos]

YouTube/Space Lab - chance of a lifetime for SA learners
YouTube and Lenovo, in cooperation with Space Adventures and space agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), announced YouTube Space Lab<http://www.youtube.com/spacelab?feature=inp-pr-space>, a worldwide initiative that challenges 14-18 year-old students to design a science experiment that can be performed in space. The two winning experiments will be conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and live streamed on YouTube.

South Africa's Professor Tshilidzi Marwala of the University of Johannesburg will join the prestigious panel of scientists, astronauts, and educators, including renowned professor Stephen Hawking to judge the entries, with input from the YouTube community. Students in two age categories, 14-16 years old and 17-18 years old, either alone or in groups of up to three, may submit a YouTube video describing their experiment to YouTube.com/SpaceLab<http://www.youtube.com/spacelab?feature=inp-pr-space>.

Six regional finalists will gather in Washington, D.C., in March 2012 to experience a ZERO-G flight and receive other prizes. From them, two global winners, one from each age group, will be announced and later have their experiments performed 400 km above Earth and live streamed on YouTube. Additionally, the global winners will get to choose a unique space experience as a prize: either a trip to Tanegashima Island, Japan, to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS, or once they are 18 years old, a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts.

Details and timeline:
Students may submit a two-minute video now through Dec. 7, 2011. The video can be as simple as an explanation on a blackboard or the demonstration of a mock-up in the classroom. Every video must, however, explain the following:

  *   Experiment Question: The scientific question the entrant wants to test.
  *   Hypothesis: An educated guess at answering the experiment question.
  *   Method: A simple explanation of the methods used to conduct the experiment testing the hypothesis in microgravity.
  *   Results: The expected results of the experiment.
Entrants may submit up to three experiments in one of two scientific disciplines -- either biological or physical sciences. Submissions will be grouped by region (the Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia Pacific).The top 60 finalists (10 from each of the two age groups, 20 total per each of the three regions) will be announced on Jan. 3, 2011, at which time judging and public voting will begin on YouTube. Six regional winners (one from each age group, from each of the three regions) will then be selected to fly to the U.S. where the global winners (two individuals/teams chosen from the regional winners, one in each age category) will be announced in March 2012.

Visit Visit www.youtube.com/spacelab<http://www.youtube.com/spacelab> and https://sites.google.com/site/ytspacelab/ for all the information.

Even though the timing is bad for South African schools, please encourage any interested learners to enter for this exciting competition.

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[cid:142462910 at 27102011-182F]Ina Roos
Editor, Corporate Communication
South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA)
Tel: 012 392 9317
Fax: 012 320 7803
Email: roosi at saasta.ac.za<mailto:roosi at saasta.ac.za>
Web: http://www.saasta.ac.za<http://www.saasta.ac.za/>
SAASTA is a business unit of the National Research Foundation (NRF)

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