This month, Junipero Serra Excessive College in Gardena had a pep rally to rejoice the achievements of what could be its least standard workforce: its cutting-edge area squad.
Seniors Isaiah Dunn, Christopher Holbert, Travis Leonard, Anderson Pecot and Henry Toler, junior Keith Davie and freshman Jonathan Cruz walked their classmates by means of the 3D-printing experiment they despatched into orbit on the Worldwide Area Station. Their classmates, in the meantime, did what they often do at pep rallies — they cheered, they requested questions and, as a result of it’s a Catholic faculty, they prayed.
The workforce members intention to do extra than simply develop the frontier of information. They’re additionally hoping to make the college right into a prime place to review science.
“We get to be the pioneers,” Leonard, 17, mentioned. “We get to be the founders who began a brand new path for Serra college students.”
The workforce is on its second experiment performed within the microgravity circumstances of the area station. The present one was launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS-30 Rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Area Heart on March 21 and docked with the Worldwide Area Station two days later.
The Serra Excessive College area workforce, from left, Jonathan Cruz, 15; Henry Toler, 18, proven talking; Travis Leonard, 17; Isaiah Dunn, 17; and Andersen Pecot, 17, take turns speaking about their participation in The Worldwide Area Station program after watching a video of their challenge being launched on the Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
The experiment entails injecting a light-activated resin right into a 3D printed mould of a Lego brick. The resin is then uncovered to UV gentle to trigger it to harden. The objective is to check the bodily and chemical properties of the item created in area with these of an similar object created on the bottom.
Kenneth Irvine, the college’s science division chair and the workforce’s adviser, mentioned the group used a 3D printer on campus to print the elements for the printer despatched into area. “As our experiment is going down in area, we’re going to be operating a parallel experiment down right here.”
The purpose of the challenge, mentioned Holbert, is to sooner or later allow the area station to 3D-print replacements for issues that break on board, such a fasteners or instruments, quite than having to ship them from earth.
“The objective is to get to a degree the place we are able to reliably 3D-print in area, which might save 1000’s of {dollars} per half,” Holbert mentioned.
The fee to launch an merchandise on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has dropped from $10,000 per kilogram in 2009 to someplace between $1,520 and $2,500 now, in accordance with Georgetown College. However that’s nonetheless costly — even sending a pair of bolts weighing a tenth of a pound every would price between $138 and $227 to fly into area. Therefore the curiosity in making replacements in orbit.
“What’s so thrilling is that this can be a 100% student-driven challenge that we consider will assist NASA and personal industries higher perceive area,” Serra President John Moran mentioned. “There aren’t many different faculties, not to mention excessive faculties, including to our data of area.”
Serra is one in every of 9 nationwide excessive faculties, together with Santa Ana Calvary Chapel, collaborating within the Worldwide Area Area Station program run by means of the Quest Institute for High quality Training of San José.
The varsity has obtained $50,000 in grants from the Ahmanson Basis to take part in this system, Moran mentioned. The varsity has additionally benefited from using the Makers Area, labs, supplies {and professional} steerage from engineers on the USC Viterbi College of Engineering, provided that a lot of the workforce members are a part of the Nationwide Society of Black Engineers junior chapter there.
Final yr, the area workforce studied germination charges of Wisconsin Quick Vegetation in area.
Up to now, there was no phrase from NASA on how the 3D-printing experiment goes.
“We’re all going to be ready for updates,” mentioned Toler, whose function is to ensure the experiment can survive the trials of area journey. “I simply assume to have one thing up in area proper now’s superb, although.”
What has impressed Irvine and Moran in regards to the workforce is the members’ skill to stability area work with a full slate of educational and extracurricular duties.
Holbert, who’s headed to Loyola Marymount within the fall, is chess membership president, a member of the college’s soccer and gardening groups and is on the robotics and engineering golf equipment.
Leonard, who’s deciding between USC and Howard College, performs soccer and is a member of the Grace, gardening and robotic and coding golf equipment. He’s additionally a faculty ambassador.
Toler performs basketball and golf, whereas Dunn, who will probably be enjoying American soccer in Italy subsequent yr, is concerned within the faculty’s literary assessment, is the writing membership president and performs soccer, soccer and rugby.
Cruz, the lone freshman, is concerned in coding and robotics.
“It’s simply an unbelievable group that could be very devoted to themselves and the work,” Irvine mentioned.
On Monday, the area workforce was honored on the California Senate ground in Sacramento by state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena).
Bradford famous that Serra is the primary inner-city faculty whose college students are predominantly non-white to take part within the Worldwide Area Station program.
“That is a part of the college’s ongoing efforts to strengthen STEM schooling for all college students, particularly underserved college students in South Los Angeles,” Bradford mentioned in a press release. “These college students I’m honoring are extremely gifted students, and it’s a privilege to have them acknowledged by the California State Senate.”
Whereas the workforce members are pleased with their accomplishments in area, they’ve every talked about the joy understanding that they’ve piqued curiosity in STEM and areas research at Serra and in surrounding communities.
“We now have some freshmen coming in subsequent yr simply due to this program,” Dunn mentioned. “That was only for soccer and sports activities. Now now we have college students desirous to be a part of our area program. It’s unbelievable.”
