How will Greek honey and olive oil behave under microgravity conditions? What about ouzo and grape juice molasses? Will bubbles grow bigger and last longer? ACS Athens students sealed their experiment within the capsule carried by the groundbreaking Blue Origin’s New Shepard reusable rocket where it will test at an altitude of 100 km! ACS Athens High School students are conducting one complex S.T.E.A.M. experiment, investigating how honey behaves at an altitude of 100 km.


ACS Athens is one of the three non-US-based K-12 schools to have ever sent an experiment with Blue Origin.

spACS 1 experiment investigates the viscosity of honey under microgravity conditions, which is a Physics-based experiment on fluidity. The honey is carried in a 3D-printed container designed, prototyped, and built by an ACS Athens student.

The investigating team, formed in late 2017, is international and consists of 14 students and six ACS Athens faculty members beginning with Dr. A Karampelas (Principal Investigator), Dr. L. Tsigaridi (co- Investigator), Dr. I. Kerkines, Dr. E. Prodromidi, Ms. V. Poulou, and Mr. S Arsenikos.

The student-built electronics of the spACS 1 experiment consist of a microcomputer, temperature and humidity sensors, a motor, LED lights, and a camera. They have researched both the science and mathematics of fluidity and have been conducting extensive relevant experiments since the first phase of the project.

The rocket was successfully launched on Thursday, May 2nd, from Blue Origin's West Texas Facility and the launch was broadcasted live. This payload flew onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle. The New Shepard vertical takeoff and vertical landing vehicle is capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of payloads per flight and will ultimately carry up to six astronauts to altitudes beyond 100 kilometers, also known as the Karman Line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space.

The investigating team was thrilled to watch the rocket launch and is looking forward to proceeding to the next phase of their experiment. “We have been working hard for months on this experiment. It feels like a miracle to watch the successful launch live!” Qi L., a student member of the team, commented.

Dr. Antonis Karampelas congratulated the team and expressed his pride in their work. “This is the students’ achievement; my role was to consult and support their work. We need to show trust to the students and provide them the opportunity to develop their talents. All students can learn!” he highlighted.

The container of the experiment will be returned to ACS Athens a few days after its successful landing so that the students can process and analyze the collected data. Stay tuned for more information! Rocket Launch Photos Courtesy of Blue Origin.

The video launch is available by Blue Origin here! 

More information about the experiment can be found here!

For more information about Blue Origin click here!

* Photo Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Our Easter newsletter is dedicated to our gold partner - e-Fresh - the largest online supermarket. Learn all about the Greek Orthodox Easter, the traditions, the delicious food and a discover a handful of beautiful churches where you can celebrate Easter in Athens!

Set up in 1982 by the historian and academic, John Morrison, naval architect, John Coates, and writer Frank Welsh, the Trireme Trust was created to investigate a centuries-old controversy about the nature of the trireme, the most significant warship of the ancient Mediterranean world. Their collaboration resulted in the building and launch in 1987 by the Hellenic Navy of a full-scale reconstruction, the Olympias, powered by 170 oars arranged over three levels.

A series of six sea-trials between 1987 and 1994 demonstrated that the ship could be rowed efficiently and fast, despite the universal academic opinion that a three-level arrangement of oars was wholly impracticable. In 2004, Olympias was used to carry the Olympic flame across Piraeus harbour shortly before the opening of the Athens Olympic Games.

In September 2004 the Naval Supreme Council decided to designate the trireme as an exhibit in a specially designed space of the Naval Tradition Park. It was also agreed that the trireme should be assigned to the command of the Battleship Averof at the Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park.

Hellenic Maritime Heritage Park
Flisvos 175 10, Paleo Faliro
Telephone: 210 9888211

Operating Hours
Tuesday to Friday: 09:00 - 14:00
Weekends: 10:00 - 17:00

Article Sources: Hellenic Navy & The Trireme Trust

 

Luckily, the Greeks all over the world have managed to keep their culture very much alive, sometimes preserving traditions and customs more than the people in Greece.

Recently, the Pappas Post compiled a list of North America’s Greekest places, neighborhoods, and monuments; the places that make the United States and Canada significant fountains of Greek culture.

1. Nashville Parthenon, Nashville, Tennessee

The Nashville Parthenon was built for the World Fair in 1897 to the exact specifications of the original. It’s quite surreal seeing it in its full glory, even containing inside the golden and ornate statue of Athena — the original left only in literature and long melted away by invaders as victors’ wartime booty.

2. Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Canada

Claiming to be the “largest Greek neighborhood” in North America, Danforth Avenue is a mecca for all things Greek in Toronto. Dozens of restaurants, coffee shops and the Taste of Danforth one of the largest Greek street festivals in the world make this place unique and profoundly Greek.

3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This museum holds the most extensive collection of ancient Greek artefacts outside of Greece. Great effort has been made to collect and preserve ancient Greek relics and Byzantine artefacts, mainly thanks to Greek-American benefactors Mary and Michael Jaharis, who have an entire gallery named after them in the museum.

4. Mt. Olympus Park, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

Mt. Olympus Park is like a big, fat, Greek Disneyland, featuring 44 water slides, seven rollercoasters, a wave pool with nine-foot waves, eight go-kart tracks, and numerous kiddie rides with attractions like a life-size Trojan Horse, roller coasters named after Hades, Cyclops, Pegasus and Zeus, Pan’s animal farm, and Poseidon’s underwater go-kart track.

 

To read the full list of Greekest places in North America, please visit: The Pappas Post

 

Delos is ancient Greece's most sacred island and one of the most visited archaeological sites in the country. The legacy of Delos is inversely proportional to its size; in fact, the tiny island is barely 5km long by 1.5km wide. Apart from being the birthplace of the ancient gods Apollo and Artemis, it was also one of the greatest ancient Greek sanctuaries.

Today, remarkably preserved ancient remains such as votive offerings, sculptures, and temples stand next to relics from the period when Delos was an important commercial center, attracting thousands of visitors each year!

It is on this unspoilt island that Greek authorities have undertaken an exciting and ambitious experiment. Sir Anthony Gormley, the famous British sculptor, has placed 'inhabitants' back on Delos. He has created 29 iron 'bodyforms', that are to be the first artworks to be erected on Delos since it was populated–more than 5,000 years ago!

"If this works, our hope is it will help change how people approach ancient monuments," says Dr Demetrios Athanasoulis, who heads the department of antiquities in the Cyclades. "There is no past without the present, and we live in times where there are any number of windows through which to view the past."

Before visitors even disembark from the ferry from Mykonos, they are greeted by one of Gormley's 'bodyforms'. On a rock at the water's edge stands a mysterious, lonesome figure, gazing toward the horizon. The invitation to exhibit his work in a place where no artist has set foot for thousands of years was both "an amazing privilege and extraordinary responsibility", "It's been a huge challenge but what a place to think about the human project," he says.

For Dr Athanasoulis, only time will tell whether the experiment has worked. "It's only natural that some won't like what they see in Sight," he quips. "It will end in October, and only then will we really know how successful this has been."

 

To read this article in full, please visit: The Guardian

Image Credit: The Guardian