This year’s Into Orbit project was a challenge for many FLL LEGO teams. How can middle-schoolers do something significant about space research? Simple! Look on sites such as “zooniverse”, where scientific crowdsourcing takes place. This autumn there were almost 22 projects related to space and some were really interesting and age appropriate.
Our team chose to investigate solar storms and space radiation. Astronauts are exposed to radioactive radiation during their mission. This radiation does not come from the radioactive materials on board which are packaged in sealed capsules. It is emitted by the sun where large-scale nuclear fusions take place. During nuclear fusion, light nuclei such as hydrogen fuse to form heavier nuclei. This releases a lot of energy, but also a radioactive radiation.
The biological effects of radiation on an organism are measured in Sieverts. The most common units are milliSievert (mSv = 1/1000 Sv) and microSievert (μSv = 1/1000000 Sv). An astronaut in the ISS (International Space Station) receives an average radiation dose of 5 mSv per week, which corresponds to the annual dose we receive on Earth. Moreover in 4 weeks, an astronaut has absorbed 20 mSv, which is the annual limit for nuclear workers.
First Lego League Robotics 