Pittsburgh college students' experiment to launch on SpaceX rocket
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An experiment created by a team of Community College of Allegheny County students is going to space.
The experiment is set to launch Monday at 9:29 p.m. from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX rocket heading to the International Space Station, the college said in a news release.
CCAC said students Maya Burns, Faith Dunn and Connor McDonagh submitted their experiment as part of the international Student Spaceflight Experiments competition last year.
Their experiment will test how microgravity affects the ability of the fungus Penicillium chrysogenum to degrade a sample of polyester-polyurethane. The hope is that information learned can help "facilitate the transition to circular production/waste economies, both on Earth and in space exploration," the college said.
Of the 360 million tons of plastic, or polyurethane, produced every year, CCAC says about 80% of it is reduced to pollution.
Without intervention, CCAC said already existing plastic pollution is likely to remain indefinitely. But according to the college, several organisms have been found to be capable of reducing plastic polyurethane into smaller, recyclable chemical compounds.
The experiment, titled "The Effect of Microgravity on the Enzymatic Degradation of Polyurethane by Penicillium chrysogenum," was selected by a national review board. It'll be on a payload with other experiments.
SpaceX said it's targeting Monday night for Falcon 9's launch of Dragon's 31st Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. A backup launch is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:06 p.m. if needed.
