The (semi)Grand Unboxing

Well, the semester is finally over, and Julius and I are still breathing. Today, we were finally able to open the samples from the air balloon! Firstly, let's take a look at the control.

Like several of our samples, the research balloon control was plagued by mold, and is completely dried out and irrecoverable. Keep this in mind when viewing the rest of our results.

Now, on to the experiment!

When we opened the cube we were met with two things: mold and, surprisingly, slime. Yes, slime.

Interestingly similar to our sounding rocket cube, one sample was destroyed by mold, while the other seems to be mold-free. The moldy sample, on the left, was completely dried out, and there appeared to be some sort of black mold on one end. This was relatively expected, but the second sample was what truly surprised us. It appeared to be unaffected by mold, but the pad was rotten. There were remnants of the interior structure and skin, but the meat had turned to a slime-like consistency. Due to the fact that it was unaffected by mold, and the that it was still in the early stages of decomposition and still retaining some moisture, We hypothesize that the pad could have been killed by the radiation it was exposed to during its flight in space, but there are several other factors that could have caused its decomposition.

Since both of our samples are irrecoverable, the research balloon experiment ends here. However, we have learned that mold is more prevalent of a problem than we had earlier anticipated, killing  half of our samples, and that although hardy, Texas prickly pear cactus cannot survive radiation.

The Massive Update Post

Weekly Update #5,6,7,8

We have had a few very eventful weeks here in Cactus land, and there is both good and bad news.

Firstly, the bad news:

Rocket Sample#1 is officially dead. We did our best to revive it, but the rot took too great of a toll.

Now for the good news!

The Rocket Control sample has started to grow new pads! They are extremely tiny right now, but you can see them on the bottom right tip of the sample. YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Also, the research balloon has launched form New Mexico, and landed somewhere in Texas. We are extremely excited to see how our second set of samples handled the trip!

P.S. Whew! The new semester has arrived, and with it comes a mountain of homework! Julius and I will update the blog as we can!

Research Balloons are Awsome! (and cacti are cool too)

This week was full of rescuing the cacti from sudden downpours, constantly checking the weather in New Mexico, and being amazed at the sheer amount of helium that will be going into the research balloon.

Weekly Update #4

What a week! One minute the sun is shining, the next it is raining cats and dogs! Julius and I were stumped as to whether we should put the samples out in the sun, or hide them from the rain. In the end, we did a bit of both, and we may-or-may-not have run out into a downpour yelling "Save the cactus!".

The first sample seems to be doing the best,

as it is getting steadily greener.

The second sample is still trying to recover from rot.

And the Control cactus is somewhere in-between the two.

Also, Julius and I have been waiting for the research balloon to launch, but so far we have not had any luck. (Annoying rain!) In the meantime, Cubes in Space has been posting some awesome photos of NASA's preparations for launch.

Look at the size of those Helium tanks! We can hardly wait to see the balloon launch, and then see how our experiment survived space travel!

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

So Far, So Good

Weekly Update #3

This week has been relatively uneventful. All of the samples are doing well, and we have started giving them a little bit more water. Also, sometime next week we will move them to a sunnier location.
Make sure to mark your calendars, because the research balloon launch is this Monday! It appears that there will not be a livestream of the launch, but I will keep y'all updated on the experiment's progress.

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

Our First Week with the Cactus from Space

Weekly Update #1

The past week has been chock- full of excitement, and Julius and I are very exited to see how our experiment will progress from here.

This week we:

Received our Cactus experiment form our teacher,

and were thrilled to see how well the cactus samples survived space travel.

This warranted a celebration!

Two days later, we put the cacti into pots...

...with a special potting mix for cactus.

Then, we slowly started introducing them to light,

and began to water them.

Finally, Julius and I received a letter from the Governor of Texas!

The cacti samples seem to be recovering well, and are barely phased by the Texas heat. We will keep y'all updated to any major events, and I will be writing posts like this once a week with lots of photos  to show the cactus' progress.

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

Good Morning, Cactus!

They all look like normal cactus cuttings, but two of them have been to SPACE!

Yesterday, Julius and I put our cactus samples into pots! With the help of  Mr. Ryan C. from our local Lowes, we settled on some special potting soil, and these adorable terra cotta pots!

In our original proposal we had planned to use some soil from the area around the "Mother Cactus," but we amended this plan for several reasons, the main reason being that we have no clue what is in our local soil, and when we send our research to NASA it would be better if we can point them to something that has a well documented composition. That being said, there is another reason. A very scaly, scary, venomous reason.
When Julius and I were packing the cubes in May, we decided to get some extra pictures of the mother cactus for the blog. After a while I looked up from my camera to see Julius nearly step back onto a long tan "thing." That thing promptly MOVED, coiled up under a tree, and started RATTLING. Ah, Texas is just full of friendly critters! Needless to say, we ran one way, and the rattlesnake ran (slithered?) in the other.
After that, Julius, our teacher, and I decided that stomping through tall grass to dig underneath a giant cactus in the middle of the summer was not the best idea I had ever had...

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

E.T. Cactus

Yesterday, Julius and I unpacked, measured, weighed and photographed the cactus that went to space! We had loads of fun, and we were surprised how well the cactus stood up to space travel.

First, we sterilized a plate, scale, and two pairs of tweezers with rubbing alcohol, and put down some paper towels to protect our work-surface.

Then, we admired the awesome NASA logo on the experiment cube, and weighed the cube. It was 3 grams lighter than when we shipped it off!

Next, we got to crack it open!

We proceeded to slowly extricate the pieces of cactus from the gravel. I can hardly believe that this gravel, which came from my backyard, has been to space! COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Enter a frowning Julius)

"Edith, this is a serious science project! We need to act professional."

Ahem... right. ANYWAY,

The first piece of cactus we pulled out surprised us. Part of it was, as we had been dreading, rotten. But the rest of the piece was in good condition, and we are confident that this piece can be salvaged. However, the second piece of cactus blew us away.

This piece of cactus is in near PERFECT condition! After three months, over 3,000 miles of travel, and a trip to space, this piece of cactus looks almost exactly the same as when we shipped it.

A picture of this piece of cactus from 3 months ago.

A picture of this piece of cactus from YESTERDAY.

  Julius and I are thoroughly exited about how well this piece of cactus handled space travel, and there may or may not have been a declaration of "It Liiiiiives!" that would rival any Frankenstein movie.

The two cactus samples are now stored in a dark box, so we can slowly reintroduce them to light, and we are looking forward to the next phase of our experiment!
 Until then, we can celebrate the successful return of our Texas Prickly Pear cactus!

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

We Haz The Precious!

*The above use of "Teen Grammar" haz has been approved by our teacher ;-)

A really cool sticker that CiS sent us along with our experiment cube.

Today Julius and I went to get our experiment cube! It is finally here! We don't have enough time to open it today, but we will get to it as soon as possible, and there will be MANY pictures!

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I decided to stop by the school closet where our control cubes are housed, and discovered that the rocket control is growing mold! The good news is that the research balloon control seems to be mold-free, but this does make me wonder how our experiments are doing...

Thank you for reading!

-Edith

And They're Off!

The two experiment cubes have been given to our teacher for shipping, and the control cubes are stored safely in our school closet. Now, we wait!

Thank you for reading!

-Edith 

Packing the Cubes

Today Julius and I packed the experiments, and we will give them to our teacher tomorrow.

Firstly, we gathered all of our materials.

Then we got to work cutting the cactus.

First cut!

Trimming the spines.

This piece is so light!

 On to the next one!

After that, we tried to pack the first cube, but the rice we used to weigh it down was too light, so we had to switch to gravel.

We collected the smallest gravel we could find, sterilized it with boiling water,

and then dried it on a paper towel.

Finally, we packed the first cube!

We then repeated the process for the sounding rocket cube and the control cubes.

 

All done!

Thank you for reading!

-Edith