29 June 2017

A group of students from the Singapore American School (SAS) have successfully installed a science experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their experiment aims to find out the effects of melanin on bacteria growth in space.

The experiment was carried to the ISS on June 4 via a rocket launched at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. It arrived at the ISS last Monday, Singapore time, where it will run for a month.

The project comes under the Quest-ISS programme. Only about a dozen school experiments are sent to the ISS every year via this programme.

The $55,000 cost of the SAS project, which includes mechanical and biological materials for the experiment and transport on the rocket, was sponsored by the SAS Foundation.

If the hypothesis that melanin can aid the growth of bacteria in space is proven true, scientists may be able to genetically modify plants to produce more melanin, which could make it easier to grow plants in space.