A group of four secondary school students from Limerick are set to be the first Irish teenagers to launch their science experiment to be conducted in space. The lucky transition year students from St Nessan’s Community College in Limerick were announced as winners of ‘The Only Way is Up’ competition run by The Irish Centre for Composites Research (IComp) at the University of Limerick, through its partnership with NanoRacks LLC.  The competition, which is the first of it’s kind in Ireland, gave students across the country the opportunity to submit experiments to be flown to, and carried out on, the International Space Station. 

The winning project will investigate the effects that microgravity has on the solidification of reinforced concrete and will spend 30 days orbiting the Earth. The microgravity experiment is scheduled to blast off on the Orbital Sciences Orb-2 mission to the ISS from NASA Wallops this coming May. The space experiment will be returned to the students post spaceflight and will allow them to directly compare the results to a ground controlled experiment.

The competition is co-ordinated by Dr. Norah Patten, Communications and Outreach manager for the Irish Centre for Composites Research (IComp) at the University of Limerick. Dr. Patten said: “Space provides an ideal platform to foster interest and enthusiasm in young minds in Ireland. This project has allowed Irish students the opportunity to develop an actual space experiment and for the first time launch it to the space station. It is a clear indication of where space is at – through our partnership with NanoRacks LLC, Irish students can finally put their research into space.”

Picture: Jamie O'Connell, Jonathon Roche, Kevin Hanley and Jason Hannon

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