SPOCS: A Nationwide Opportunity to Engage United States Universities, K-12 Students, and the General Public in Space Station Research

摘要

Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS) is a NASA-led competitive initiative, co-designed by Nanoracks, which provides payload integration and training, and its educational sister-company, DreamUp, which provides educational and programmatic support. SPOCS invites teams from accredited institutions of higher education in the United States to submit their own novel research ideas, and through the competitive process, five student teams will be selected to receive funding and support to send their own payloads to conduct research on the International Space Station. These experiments will be in the following research areas: bacteria resistance and sustainability. The student teams must integrate participatory citizen science from K-12 students as part of their research plan, as well as outreach to their communities.