MANILA — A series of experiments performed by a Japanese astronaut at the International Space Station (ISS) last February included two conceptualized by Filipino students, the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) said.

Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) threw an object manufactured in the Philippines and exercised with an elastic resistance band, both in zero-gravity at the ISS Kibo module, coming from proposals by the Filipinos, the PhilSA said in a release Tuesday.

This is part of the 2023 Asian Try Zero-G competition, which selected 14 proposals out of 245 submissions from countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Furukawa observed the movement of an oloid—a 3-dimensional curved geometric object— released repeatedly with and without rotation, based on a physics experiment proposed by Rizal Technical University student Paul Anton Mahinay.

Mahinay proposed that while an oloid’s center of gravity stays at a constant distance to produce smooth movements in earth gravity, this will be affected in microgravity or zero gravity.

The oloid was manufactured by PhilSA and the Advanced Manufacturing Center of the Department of Science and Technology.

In the other Filipino-proposed experiment, Furukawa performed resistance band arm exercises and squats with a looped exercise band.

The space exercise was submitted by senior high school students from Bataan National High School: Gabriel John Guila, Dianne Cristine Cabiedes, Sean Matthew Castaneda, Franz Joshua Corpuz, Jose Ernest Guila, Arniel Kurt Macalla, Lee Andrew Medina, Giorgione Parrera, and Ace Gabriel Pega.

The exercise aims to strengthen targeted muscles of astronauts who are prone to atrophy coming from space conditions.

Both proponents of the experiments will present their analysis and results at the competition’s wrap-up session later this year.

SPACE-EXPOSED SEEDS

Meanwhile, the PhilSA this March awarded junior high school Filipino students and educators with space-exposed coriander or wansoy seeds via the Asian Herb in Space activity with JAXA.

Under the activity, seeds from various Asia-Pacific countries were exposed to outer space conditions for 7 months and taken back to earth to be tested.

Ten schools in Metro Manila were picked to receive the seeds after their students won a comic strip contest organized by PhilSA.

The schools are expected to germinate them in controlled and treatment groups, which will then be analyzed for presentation to PhilSA.

The experiments that will be performed are important for long-term space missions and studies to help make outer space activities sustainable, PhilSA Director General Joel Joseph Marciano, Jr. said.

The space-exposed seeds were also sent to the University of the Philippines Manila, University of Santo Tomas, and De La Salle University for research purposes.