The members of the winning Cosmic Critters entry, whose experiment concept will be built and launched onto the International Space Station. Submitted photo

A shoebox-sized science experiment conceived at a Mars space camp last year is headed to deep space.

The “Cosmic Critters” — a group of five local high school students, including one student from the Butler Area School District — will see its contest-winning experiment concept be turned into a reality and launched onto the International Space Station.

Former NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence speaks to students at the Go For Launch space STEM camp held in Mars in summer 2024. Submitted photo

The team entered its project in a contest as part of the Go for Launch space camp program held last June in Mars. The Cosmic Critters entry, along with all other entries, was overseen by retired astronaut Wendy Lawrence.

After winning the local Mars contest, the Cosmic Critters experiment was placed against the winning experiments from other Go for Launch programs across the country, held in such locations as Cape Canaveral, Fla., Huntsville, Ala., and Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Once again, the Cosmic Critters came out on top, as they tweaked the experiment to make it suitable to fly on the International Space Station.

The purpose of the experiment is to study physarum polycephalum — better known as slime mold — and how it would behave in a zero-gravity environment.

“On Earth, it will only grow in two dimensions,” said Jeff Beckstead, president of the Mars Robotics Association, which helped coordinate and financially support the contest. “It's very efficient in planning its paths between different food sources. So we're trying to figure out what how it would behave in microgravity.”

According to Beckstead, the experiment is expected to fly onto the International Space Station during a supply mission in August or September.

The Cosmic Critters team consists of one student from Butler Senior High School, as well as two from North Hills High School and two from Hampton High School. The identities of the students have been withheld for privacy reasons.

While the Cosmic Critters put together the concept for the experiment, the actual project will be built by Kentucky-based aerospace company Space Tango to be loaded onto the International Space Station.

This year, another group of Western Pennsylvania students will have the opportunity to have its project launched into space. The Go for Launch program is returning to Mars on Friday and Saturday, June 27 and 28, and will feature another experiment contest.