Sam Dondapati, a freshman from New Tech High @ Coppell was selected to send his experiment about spirulina, a type of algae, to the International Space Station. He was chosen through a program called the Student Space Flight Experiment Program. 2,261 experiments were proposed with 12,859 students working in total. Sam placed 12th, with the top 37 being sent to the International Space Station on SSEP Mission 17. Sam Dondapati, at the time in 7th grade in Lake Charles, Louisiana had to pay a fee of $25,000 to participate, paid in full by his school district at the time.
$25,000 for what? Sam’s experiment was to see if spirulina, a type of algae, would grow more or less on Earth compared to space. Spirulina has many practical uses. It has many good health effects, such as promoting digestion for astronauts. In fact, it has been used in the Congo to combat malnutrition. Additionally, the water used to grow the algae could easily be reused again. According to Sam, “It is basically infinite food.” To test his experiment, he had a control on Earth that he tested regularly using a machine called a Venier color-o-meter. You put a special file you put in a machine with a sample of the spirulina, which tells you how opaque the tube of spirulina is. The higher the reading given by the machine, the more spirulina in the tube. It is compared to Sam’s spirulina which was sent to space on the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket.
Watching the rocket take off in Florida, questions passed through Sam’s head. Will this miraculous spirulina prove to be an infinite food source? Well, only time will tell, thanks to the contributions and hard work done by Sam Dondapati.
