ExoLab-11

Astrobotany Initiative

  • Status: Active
  • Location: Global
  • Orgs Involved: Astrobotany.com, Magnitude.io
  • Program Lead: Ted Tagami
  • Focus Area: Astrobotany Education, Citizen Science
  • Dates: 2023 – Present
  • Goal: To have citizen scientists participate in lesson plans in preparation for Magnitude.io’s ExoLab-11 Mission.
ExoLab-11

A Magnitude x Astrobotany Citizen Science Collaboration

Magnitude.io will be sending model legume Medicago truncatula to the International Space Station in Q1 of 2024.  Magnitude.io and astrobotany.com are proud to launch a citizen science curriculum for aspiring astrobotanists to follow along – all the way from pre-launch preparation to post-return transcriptomics.  Additional support and post-flight analysis are provided by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Joint Genome Institute. To get started, click the button below to create a free account on magnitude.io.

Sign-up!

Recent Updates

Magnitude's Work

Magnitude is a company that provides the ExoLab platform– ExoLab is a learning network of science laboratories that connect Schools, Science Centers, Libraries, and Museums around the world to a live mission aboard the International Space Station in Low Earth Orbit.  ExoLab-11’s live mission will be growing Medicago truncatula on board the International Space Station.  A camera inside the ExoLab hardware takes a picture every hour that can be used to compare information to experiments on Earth.

10 Years of Project-Based Education

Magnitude is commemorating 10 years of project-based education.  Their ExoLab missions are at the forefront of NGSS-aligned education and have provided valuable contributions to the field of astrobotany.  Although we didn’t know it at time time, ExoLab-1 began the same month and year that astrobotany.com was founded: February 2017.

Let’s take a look at where ExoLab-11 falls in the timeline of previous ExoLab missions:

Exolab-10 | Date: November 2022 | Mission: SpX-26 | Experiment: M. sativa, M. truncatula, R. leguminosarum 

Exolab-9 | Date: August 2021 | Mission: SpX-23 | Experiment: Trifolium pratense, R. leguminosarum

Exolab-8 | Date: February 2021 | Mission: NG-15/Crew-1 | Experiment: Trifolium pratense, R. leguminosarum

Exolab-7 | Date: February 2020 | Mission: NG-13/SpX-20 | Experiment: Vigna unguiculata, R. leguminosarum

Exolab-6 | Date: July 2019 | Mission: SpX-18 | Experiment: Azotobacter, R. leguminosarum

Exolab-5 | Date: December 2018 | Mission: SpX-16 | Experiment: Amaranthus, B. rapa, P. oleracea, E. japonicum

Exolab-4 | Date: July 2018 | Mission: SpX-15 | Experiment: Amaranthus, B. rapa, P. oleracea, B. vulgaris

Exolab-3 | Date: April 2018 | Mission: SpX-14 | Experiment: Arabidopsis thaliana

Exolab-2 | Date: October 2017 | Mission: OA-8/Spx-13 | Experiment: Arabidopsis thaliana

Exolab-1 | Date: February 2017 | Mission: SpX-10 | Experiment: Arabidopsis thaliana