Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Page:

Proposal Title: Observing the change in E. Coli with raw meat in a microgravity environment

The primary focus of this experiment is to observe Escherichia coli’s behavior, DNA mutations, rate of cell division and how it thrives within food in a microgravity environment. The behavior that may be different from earth is the way it handles reproduction and feeding off raw meat. I hypothesize that the e-coli will be affected in terms of mass and cell count. I predict that the mass will be bigger and cell count decreased. The reason the mass of E. coli will be of a larger mass is because there will be a lack of gravitational pressure on the e. Coli. As for the cell count it will decrease because of a higher presence of radiation.. To measure the samples, we will see the amount of carbon dioxide produced, the size and weight of the beef, and seeing differences in DNA.