Page 213 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

submits its results to the project website to be shared
with scientists who are studying horticulture and
environmental biology. JAXA runs the Try Zero-G
The project’s baseline experiment investigates the educational program that is
germination of the seeds; however, supporting
materials have been developed to allow educators intended to help young people
from Kindergarten to Grade 12 to build on student and educators learn about the
understanding of a variety of topics, including the
science of plants, nutrition, and ecosystems. space station and the research
This hands-on approach to learning gives students conducted there.
a taste of science and space research. In addition
to being rewarded with their very own “space
tomatoes” to bring home, students participating
in Tomatosphere™ today know that they have each
made a personal contribution to assisting space
exploration in the future. Perhaps one day, an astronaut on Kibo. Once the press conference began, and with
biting into a fresh, juicy tomato on the surface of the ample enthusiasm reflected in their expressions, these
Red Planet will thank them. young people actively answered a variety of questions
As of 2014, the Tomatosphere™ program operates posed by reporters.
under two organizations: the Canadian-based Let’s Talk JAXA runs the Try Zero-G educational program
Science and the U.S.-based First the Seed Foundation. that is intended to help young people and educators
These two groups provide seeds and education learn about the space station and the research
resources to classrooms throughout Canada and the conducted there. This fundamental physics experiment
United States. First the Seed Foundation collaborated program originally began as a domestic activity that
with the ISS U.S. National Laboratory to send seeds provided a unique opportunity for the public
to the space station in 2017. in Japan to participate in part of a space experiment
Tomatosphere™ partners include the Canadian Space implementation. The activity has drawn public
Agency, First the Seed Foundation, HeinzSeed (http:// attention to utilization of the space environment since
www.heinzseed.com/new/hs_home.html), Let’s Talk the program started in 2009. For the first attempt,
Science, Stokes Seeds (http://www.stokeseeds.com), JAXA selected 16 experiments out of 1,597 candidate
and the University of Guelph (https://www.uoguelph.
ca/). Learn more about Tomatosphere™ at: http://
tomatosphere.letstalkscience.ca/ (Canada) or
https://www.firsttheseedfoundation.org/
tomatosphere/ (United States).

Asian Try Zero-G 2018: Igniting the
Passion of the Next Generation
in the Asia-Pacific Region
Six young, nervous students were gathered in front
of a press conference room at the JAXA Tsukuba Space
Center. The group included Laurentius Christmarines
from Indonesia, Hiroki Fujita and Yoshinori Murakami
from Japan, Justin Parel from the Philippines, Paul
Seow from Singapore, and Swasamon Jaidee from
Thailand as the representatives of students from Asian Press conference after the Asian Try Zero-G
countries visiting Japan to participate in a JAXA space 2018 event at the JAXA Tsukuba Space
educational program. Only an hour had passed since Center in Japan.
they had excitedly observed astronaut Norishige Kanai Image credit: JAXA
conduct space experiments, based on their own ideas,

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