Space Lab - a joint project of YouTube and Lenovo

Surely many of you have already noticed that the YouTube logo has changed a bit from yesterday and is now equipped with a small helmet from a space suit. The thing is that video hosting launches a fairly large educational project and a special competition aimed at schoolchildren and freshmen around the world. Well, we, at Lenovo, support it to the extent possible.

This competition is very different from the typical “participants will receive valuable prizes” (although they are also planned). To begin with, the winners will have the opportunity to experience a feeling of weightlessness in a special laboratory airplane. Or go through a cosmonaut training program in Russian Star City. Well, or visit the launch of a space truck from the cosmodrome in Japan in 2012. And two scientific experiments in physics or biology, proposed by the participants of the competition, will be carried out directly at the International Space Station. Inside the rules of the competition, as well as a couple of photos of ThinkPad laptops in space.




First, the most important information. The YouTube project Spacelab is being conducted by YouTube video hosting jointly with Lenovo. The official project page is here . Contestants are encouraged to upload a YouTube video of up to two minutes in duration, which offers an experiment for conducting on the International Space Station. The following should be shown in the video clip:

Question of the experiment - The scientific task proposed by the contestant, the solution of which requires an experiment.
Hypothesis - An assumption based on factual material regarding the outcome of an experiment.
Method - A simple explanation of the methods of the experiment, during which the hypothesis is tested in microgravity.
results- The expected results of the experiment.

Each participant can submit up to three applications in two possible disciplines - biology or physics . There is an age limit: applications will be accepted in two groups from participants aged 14-16 years and 17-18 years . Those who are older are not forbidden to help in setting up an experiment and preparing an application, but the main participants in this project are schoolchildren and students.

Applications are accepted on the contest page on YouTube until December 7, 2011. Then, candidates for the victory will be selected, and Stephen Hawking himself, NASA experts, as well as the European and Japanese space centers, will be engaged in this. In March 2012, six finalists will be invited to the United States, and then two winners of the competition will be selected - one from each age group. The experiments they proposed will be conducted on the ISS and will be broadcast live on YouTube. In addition, the winners will have the opportunity to personally attend the launch of a space truck with elements for their own experiment. However, those who are 18 at that time will also get a chance to choose a workout in Star City.

Of course, the finalists and winners of the competition will be equipped with Lenovo laptops in sufficient numbers :) Lenovo's interest in space issues has a long history, and in a sense, was inherited from IBM as well as ThinkPad laptops. One of the first mobile computers of this series went into space in the early 90s. And if you look at the photo of the interior of the International Space Station, it will be quite difficult to find pictures where ThinkPad laptops are not in the frame. For example, two photos from one of the last expeditions:



These are Lenovo ThinkPad W-series laptops, not the most modern (it is quite difficult to send all the latest in the industry to the ISS), but one of the most reliable. When NASA chose a mobile computer vendor, the test samples were tested on Earth for at least a year, and were subjected to the most severe loads. Reliability in general was one of the most important criteria.



You can read about Lenovo laptops in space in a special section of the Lenovo website. You can also watch this inspirational video . We will tell you about the development of the project and the results of the competition. And here I am also ready to answer your questions!