Bethel Student Experiments Heading to Space

BETHEL, CT — A team of five homeschool students from Bethel and Redding will be sending two science experiments into space. Ellie Hunter, David Hunter, Max Singleton, Madeleine Valentino, and Mason Valentino won a global competition with Cubes in Space, an idoodlEdu inc. program in collaboration with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - Wallops Flight Facility, NASA's Langley Research Center, and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium.

The first experiment, "The Effects of Space Radiation Upon the Energy Output of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells," will fly above the stratosphere on a high altitude balloon scheduled to take off from New Mexico on August 28. Another panel will remain on Earth to be analyzed as a control.

The students theorize that dye-sensitized solar cells can be used to supply natural, non-toxic energy for space exploration and habitation. In order to prove the viability of their solar cells, they must determine whether the organic components will be degraded by cosmic radiation.

Despite lockdown delays, the students continued to meet virtually. When restrictions were lifted, they met, masked and socially distanced, to finalize their experiment together. The team also has another experiment scheduled to launch on a NASA rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia in 2021.