Article
Developed by students from the AGH Space Systems Student Research Club, the GraviTE project was one of the best three student space ventures in the “Direction: Space” competition. This success will provide them with an opportunity for further development of the project and sending it to the International Space Station. The awards were given to the young researchers by Dr Sławosz Uznański, a Polish project astronaut in the European Space Agency (ESA) and the mind behind the competition.
GraviTE (Gravity-free Tissue Engineering) aims to study the behavior of stem cells on polymer scaffolds in microgravity and compare the results to the microgravity simulated on Earth. Cell culture is to be carried out in a bioreactor responsible for maintaining the right conditions, exchanging fluids automatically, and collecting control data. This fascinating project was developed by talented scientists from the Balloon and Rocket Experiment Section.
Among these top three projects were also: HematopoiesISS by students from the Silesian Medical University and Jagiellonian University as well as L(aser) A(mplitude) S(timulated) P(lant) A(griculture) – LASPA by the Warsaw University of Technology.
The Direction: Space competition is an initiative addressed to students and doctoral students from Polish universities. The competition task was to prepare a research project which could be carried out in microgravity on a space station. A jury of space sector experts selected the best projects in terms of scientific integrity and technical preparation of the experiment, as well as team organisation and project management, which are extremely important in the space sector.
The three best teams gained access to mentoring, funding in the amount of PLN 26,000 for the development of an experiment prototype, but also an opportunity to develop the concept of the project during a study trip to the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN, the European Space Research and Technology Centre ESA ESTEC, and the European Astronaut Centre ESA EAC.
The final gala of the competition took place on 10 March 2024, during Space Week, as part of the European City of Science Katowice 2024. Direction: Space is organised by Empiria i Wiedza Foundation and New Space Foundation, in partnership with the Direction Earth/Space initiative by the European Space Agency, CERN, and the Science Now studio.
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