DEAR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

my name is markus paul. i teach astronomy part-time at the hector academy for gifted and talented students at the state level.

i would like to submit a special project.

Would that be something for your project moon camp?

It's about automating robots for nutrient delivery, algae mixing for propagation during cultivation, and solar alignment.

that would be an idea, that one could cultivate plants and algae on a moon - or mars base, without the human with possibly spacesuit must intervene.

plants and algae could be used for oxygen production and food for astronauts.

i have already done a project with my students on the topic of "plants in space" for 5 months.

the highlight was that our algae samples arrived in august this year in a weather balloon at 35000 meters. the algae were exposed to gamma radiation and we were able to analyze the algae under a microscope afterward.

this already gave my students an insight into algae and plant science, which we had exposed to extreme conditions such as permanent light, cold, darkness and even meteorite dust. Just like the conditions that prevail in outer space.

in their project "moon camp", the students would now be challenged to

to handle and program a robot.

i have a small school robot "mbot", which the students could now program in such a way that algae and plant samples automatically improve the living conditions for cultivation.

elementary school students can learn programming via the "scrach" program.

using a gripper arm, the robot could grab and mix algae in a test tube. the robot could be programmed to go to the algae samples in the test tube and add nutrients for cultivation.

for the moon camp project i would have at least two elementary school students who would participate.

I could start with their project from the beginning of 2014. the project would be about 10x1,5 hours.

would there be interest and can I submit this project to you?

with the project "plants in space" we have a kelines book of 103 pages. if you want to see it, i can send it to you via wetransfer.

attached you will find a publication in the newspaper from the project plants in space

I look forward to receiving your reply.

greetings markus paul

excellent lecturer hector academy for gifted and talented students at the state level