Hi, I’m Mary Smith, STEM Educator from the Cosmosphere. We recently sent a payload attached to a balloon to the edge of space above the Armstrong limit. At that altitude, the payload and the contents inside were exposed to frigid temperatures, a near vacuum, and a much higher dose of radiation than we experience on the ground. Before that flight we took a package of Basil seeds and split them into two groups. Half stayed on planet Earth as a control group and the other half went into the payload and soared high above. We want to know if exposure to that extreme environment had an effect on the seeds. So it is your job to grow both seed packets we send you, but when we send you the seeds you won’t know which packet of seeds stayed on Earth and which packet was flown. After you complete the experiment and report the results we will let you know which packet actually flew.
If your class would like to participate in this experiment please contact schools@cosmo.org to request your Basil Seed kits today.
