This document provides an update on the M.B.T.S. tardigrade habitat design project. It summarizes that the group has not found an efficient way to count the tardigrades, discusses improvements to the design for use on the ISS, and notes that most supplies have been purchased with donations from group members and their families. It also previews plans to take microscope photos of the tardigrades, develop a method to automate counting, and contact organizations about testing the design in microgravity environments. Overall, group members felt positively about the progress made in the short second week, though wished for more time to fully test the design.

2. Round 2, Week 2
M.B.T.S.

3. Photos taken with new digital
microscope

4. Supplies
All supplies have come in except for:
- Micro pipette
- Micro pipette tip holder

5. Counting Tardigrades
We have not found a method to efficiently and accurately count the tardigrade and egg
population in the petri dishes.
Our idea of taking many photos of each section of the dish will not work because we
would have to take tons of photos for each petri dish and then put them together. This
is very time consuming and would not be accurate because the tardigrades will move
around the petri dish.
Dr. Miller suggested that we count them by moving them from one dish to another.
This is very time consuming because our petri dish is filled with water and we do not
yet have our micro-pipette.
I have sent an email to Dr. Birgit asking for advice and she that the method she used
was to define a section of the plate, count the tardigrades in that section, and
extrapolate that to the entire plate.

6. Tardigrade habitat Design
We are almost done with the
design. We have put everything
together and we have all the
supplies needed for the design. The
only thing we haven’t done is
tested the design together as a
whole. A problem we think that we
will encounter is the battery life of
the 9V battery. This is because the
battery will always be on.

7. Parts of Design Some of the parts of the design are 3D printed: the
petri dish cap, the turbines (for pumps), and the
extention tube.

8. Tools we use

9. How we can change our Earth design to
an ISS Design
The turbine pumps will be switched out with pressure pumps and the system will
be completely waterproof and airtight.
There will also be check valves to keep the water and algae from floating back
into the bags.

10. Bank Account
Created by: Christina
Christina and her mom are the two people the the bank account (Christina is
primary, her mom is secondary).
Bank: Bank of America
All the money ($500.00) will be fully added to the account by next week on
Thursday (January 19th).

11. Money
Christina’s mom decided to donate the $306.51 that was used to buy the supplies
on Amazon.
Drew ($5.19), Remy ($15.31), and Mark ($16) have also decided to donate the
supplies they bought.
Current Balance: $500.00

12. New/updated Materials Bought list
- Digital Microscope: AM SCOPE - prime $139.98
- Pipettes (plastic): KINGLAKE Plastic Transfer Pipettes - prime ($6.99)
- Advanced pipette: pipette ($24.50), pipette tip ($6.23), pipette tip holder ($4.99) = $35.72
- Tubes (for ISS tardigrade design): Tubes ($5.19) (Drew bought)
- Laboratory film (for tardigrade transport): Parafilm ($23.99) - prime
- (x2) Arduino UNO rev 3 (arduino uno r3 ($16.06 x 2 = $32.12)) - prime
- USB cable (AmazonBasics USB 2.0 Cable, 6ft ($4.99)) - prime
- Motor (for the making the pump): $5.00 (Mark bought)
- Gear (for pump): $11.00 (Mark bought)
- Indented slides: depression slides, pack of 6 - prime ($4.95)
- Pouches to hold water and algae: aluminum foil pouches ($5.99 + $4.49 shipping = $10.48)
- Sugru (moldable glue): black, pack of 8 - prime ($18.75)
- Sonline 50x Through Hole Carbon Film Resistors 220 Ohm: (Resistors for motors ($5.66)
- 9v Battery Connectors (3 pack): $1.69 (Remy bought)
- Alligator Clips (x4): $3.99 (Remy bought)
- 2-in PVC Test Cap (x4): 3.12 (Remy bought)
- 3v-9v Motor: $6.51 (Remy bought)
- Pack of 9v batteries: 7.90 (Drew bought)
- Alligator clips: $15.99 (Drew bought)
- Power jack: $1.49 (Drew bought) x2
- Transistor: $1.99 (Drew bought) x2
- 9 volt flat: $0.50 (Drew bought) x2
Total Cost:
$348

13. Plan/Notes for Next Round
- Taking tardigrade petri dish scan pictures on microscope
- x-y stage (Thingverse) → how to build, 3D print
- Code arduino
- Places to contact
- Valley Christian → ISS
- Nanorack → technology, crowdfunding
- Blue Origin → Microgravity
- Moon Express → Moon
- Place to go to for buying supplies
- ElectroSalvage

14. How we feel about this
week…(1-10)
Christina - 9 We were able to get the design done and the supplies
ordered. We also started to use the 3D printer. I wish that we had more time
to test out the design as a whole and I wish that the supplies came earlier.
Andrew - 9 We were able to finish the earth prototype. I think that we
got a lot of work done. I wish that we had a full two weeks, there would of
been a lot less stress.
Remy - 9 We were able to create the entire system and start testing it. I
only wish we could have tested it more and had some more supplies.
Jake - 8 I was able to do so much more than I thought I would
accomplish. However I felt extremely stressed out.
Mark - 9 We were able to actually start building our design.