One Giant Leap Australia Foundation, the Australian Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have launched the Asian Try Zero-G competition for 2024-2025.
Asian Try Zero-G is an ‘out of this world’ competition where students propose an experiment that may be selected to be conducted by JAXA astronauts in the Kibo module of the ISS.
JAXA created Asian Try Zero-G to promote crewed space experiment activities aboard Kibo. The competition is delivered in Australia by One Giant Leap Australian Foundation, with sponsorship from the Australian Space Agency. It is free and open to high school students, university students, young scientists, and engineers.
Students design and submit proposals for simple microgravity experiments that can be easily performed onboard the ISS. A panel of space professionals reviews the proposals. Once chosen, the students will be guided in preparing their activity for launch.
Shingo Nishimoto, a student studying Aerospace Engineering at The Australian National University, went to Japan and watched his experiment be conducted on the ISS after entering the Asian Try Zero-G competition in 2023.
In February, 30 participants from a previous competition that proposed experiments and 17 escorts from Australia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand visited the Tsukuba Space Center. Participants from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan who could not come to the Tsukuba Space Center participated online.
The students and their escorts toured the exhibition hall, where rockets, satellites, and a model of Kibo are on display. After the tour, the participants moved to the Astronaut Training Facility, where JAXA staff explained equipment used in experiments on the ISS, Closed Environment Simulation Facility, and space suits. They were then moved to a room overlooking Kibo’s Mission Control Room. In this room, they listened to explanations and experiences from Astronaut Kanai.
Students then had the rare experience of seeing Astronaut Furukawa conducting their experiments on Kibo and the ground operation control personnel supporting him in real time.
“The experiment was successful! Thank you to all who were involved in this wonderful opportunity. I am especially grateful to Astronaut Furukawa for his many trials whilst performing my experiment,” said Shingo.
One Giant Leap Australia Foundation was created to provide programmes in space STEM education.
“I want students to think about space, microgravity, and how concepts function in this unique environment,” said Education Outreach Manager Jenna McCarthy. “I am so excited that we can provide this opportunity for all students to further their understanding of space.”
The Asian Try Zero-G competition closes on January 15, 2025.
