Florida Tech has signed on as a participating community for Mission 20 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, which means that Florida Tech students now have the exciting opportunity to develop a scientific experiment that could be selected to fly to space and be conducted on board the International Space Station (ISS).
The design competition – from program start, through experiment design, to submission of proposals by student teams – spans 9 weeks from January 6 to March 10, 2025. Interested? Form your team and get started now!
In brief, Florida Tech student teams are invited to submit a 5-page research experiment proposal for review by an internal committee. From that group, three projects will be selected for review by a SSEP review board. Then, one team's project will be chosen and their project will fly to the ISS in Fall 2025.
Experiments must be kept simple, limited to the addition of liquids from two tubes, at different times, into a single tube. Projects are not limited to biology research and any project that be conducted within program parameters will be considered. This is a great opportunity to learn experimental design, scientific communication, and the challenges of performing research in space.
Student teams can arise out of faculty research groups/labs or be independent and will be assigned a faculty advisor/mentor.
Review the resources listed for more information about this exciting opportunity or contact Dr. Palmer for more details.
The Student Space Flight Experiments Program [or just “SSEP”] is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education Internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.
SSEP Mission Patch Art & Design Competition
As a participating community for Mission 20 of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, Florida Tech is not only sending a student-designed scientific experiment to space. We are also sending a pair of student-designed mission patches!
Our SSEP Mission Patch Art & Design Competition is open to two groups, and one winner will be selected from each group:
- All Florida Tech students
- All Brevard County K-12 students (public, private or home school)
That's right—your mission patch artwork could could fly to space and spend time on board the ISS with real astronauts!
Competition Parameters
Design a mission patch that commemorates Florida Tech's participation in Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, Mission 20.
Mission Patch Design Parameters:
- May be hand-drawn or digitally designed
- May include text but should not be "text-heavy"
- Must reference Florida Tech in some way (school colors, mascot, mission, history, theme, symbolism, etc.)
- Must reflect the broader themes of STEM education and space science
- Must not incorporate any protected trademarks (no logos, Florida Tech or otherwise)
In addition to your mission patch design, you must include a brief artist's statement.
Artist's Statement Parameters:
- Keep it brief, just a paragraph or two
- Describe your patch, the choices you made, and why you made them
- You can even tell us why you think your patch should win
While typed artist statements are preferred, we will accept photographs or scans of hand-written artist's statements (particularly from our younger K-12 participants).
Judging and Winners
A small panel of volunteer judges from Florida Tech and the local community will evaluate all submissions. Entries will be reviewed and ranked based on:
- Overall strength and effectiveness as a mission patch (50%)
- Creativity and artistry of design (40%)
- Thoughtfulness as demonstrated by artist's statement (10%)
The top ranked patch design submitted by a Florida Tech student and the top ranked patch design submitted by a local K-12 student will be printed on 3.5"x3.5" paper and fly, alongside our winning student science project, to space! The winners will also receive a commemorative certificate and Florida Tech swag.
For the K-12 part of the competition, judges will also select one runner-up per grade. Each runner-up will receive a commemorative certificate and Florida Tech swag. All winners will be also be featured by name in a press release from Florida Tech.
Entry Forms
Entries are due by May 2, 2025.