Organization Roles and Responsibilities

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) will oversee the Student Space Flight Experiments Program (SSEP), and work with the participating communities to coordinate all activities associated with the Flight Experiment Design Competition and the Community Program. NCESSE is responsible for the creation, update, and delivery of all program resources, and will serve as the formal liaison to all participating communities and to Nanoracks. The Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education administers the program for all international communities.

Nanoracks LLC, is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. Nanoracks enables SSEP access to orbit, and provides the standardized, flight certified microgravity mini-laboratories used for SSEP flight experiments. Nanoracks is the formal liaison to NASA, and is responsible for providing all launch and return to Earth services.

NCESSE is partnering with Nanoracks through a formal Agreement to fully implement the SSEP.

 

Example of Real and Coordinated SSEP Spaceflight Operations

The following video was downloaded from the International Space Station to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, forwarded to Nanoracks, and then on to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education.

The video records on-orbit activations, de-activations and other interactions associated with the SSEP Mission 3b and Mission 4 experiments by assigned astronaut Koichi Wakata (Japan). The video was taken on the scheduled SSEP A+2 Crew Interaction Day (2 days after Arrival at ISS). The Cygnus spacecraft berthed at ISS on January 12, 2014, with the SSEP Mission 3b Falcon II and Mission 4 Orion experiment payloads.

Koichi’s activities were reported to all student flight experiment teams via the SSEP Mission 4 and 3b to ISS: Experiments Log page, so that flight teams could mirror all activities in their vital ground truth experiments.

SSEP On-Orbit Operations, January 15, 2014 (Crew Interaction Day A+2)

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks LLC, which are working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.