A new worldwide initiative run by YouTube and Lenovo was launched this month, called the YouTube Space Lab. The Space Lab initiative is a contest sponsored by Space Adventures, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This global initiative challenges 14- to 18-years-old students to design science experiments which would be able to be performed at the International Space Station (ISS). Of all the submissions, two experiments will be chosen to be carried out at the ISS and streamed live on YouTube. The judge of panels consists of astronauts, scientists, educators and the YouTube community, as well as the highly respected Stephen Hawking. The contest will be split in to two age categories; 14-16-years-old and 17-18-years-old. Each application can consist of a group of up to three people; each application submits a two-minute YouTube video describing their experiment. The entrants are allowed to submit up to three experiments in one of the two disciplines; biological or physical sciences. The end of the submission period is set for December 7. According to the YouTube admissions requisites, every video must explain the experiment question, a hypothesis, method and results. The top 60 finalists are to be announced in January of next year, when public voting and judging begins. BM The two groups/individuals that are chosen will be announced in March 2012. There are 13 languages in which the project can be submitted, unfortunately however Arabic is not one of them. Six regional finalists will gather in Washington D.C., in March to experience a Zero Gravity flight, as well as to receive a Lenovo IdeaPad laptop. Once the two winners are announced, they are allowed to choose between flights to the Japanese island of Tanegashima to watch their experiment get launched in a rocket to the ISS, or a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in the Russian training center for Cosmonauts, Star City. The latter prize can be claimed by the participants only after their 18th birthday. In a press conference held by the manager of the ISS National Laboratory Education Projects for Nasa, Dr. Regina Blue, she said that the crew of the ISS has always welcomed the opportunity to conduct educational activities onboard the ISS. “As part of the overall ISS education effort, we are constantly seeking innovative ways to use this engineering marvel (the ISS) that provides a unique microgravity environment and the sheer excitement of space to promote science, technology, engineering and the mathematics of STEM careers,” said Blue. “The ability for students to develop and experiment from the theoretical to the practical experience we believe will develop the key creative and analytical abilities they will need as a future member f the STEM workforce. What better place to run a global competition than on the ISS, which in fact was built and operates as a true global partnership.” Lenovo is a computer company which has worked alongside the ISS, with 62 of the 64 laptops onboard the ISS being their design. In commemoration of their role in Space Lab, Lenovo has announced a new tablet, the Space Lab Special Edition ThinkPad. The tablet is preloaded with space and education related applications, an international Space Station mission badge, a Space Lab decal for the tablet as well as a bad and noise cancelling headphones. Space Lab itself is the brainchild of Zahaan Bharmal, Google's Head of Marketing Operations, who proposed the initiative in a marketing brainstorm session three years back. “As a company committed to the next generation of scientists, YouTube launched Space Lab to allow ordinary students the extraordinary opportunity of having their experiment carried out in space,” said Bharmal. “The Space Lab channel will serve as a home base on YouTube for creating, sharing, and discovering the best space and science-related videos in the world.” BM
