Star Child
Her science project will blast into orbit
Space may be the last frontier, but
down here on earth there are some things that already have no frontiers.
Like a child’s imagination.
“First, I thought about all the
factories moving from overseas to China,” says Li Taotao, 11, all matter of fact. 
“And then I thought about how one day
they might all be moving from earth into outer space. So then I got to thinking what kind
of factory would move. It had to be some kind of factory without big, heavy machines.
That’s when it came to me “silkworms.”
But before the executives of Taotao’s
21st century orbital space factories can begin the tedious signing ceremonies,
there’s one galactic glitch.
Nobody, “not even the smartest
scientist in the whole wide world” knows exactly what would happen to the worms,
their cocoons or the silk in microgravity.
“As the growth of the silkworm is
divided into four phases, I began to wonder how each phase might be affected and how that
in turn might affect the quality and quantity of the silk,” she says.
“Maybe new methods would need to be
found to raise the silkworms.”
Her manufacturing concerns will be
addressed in January next year when the US Space Shuttle Columbia conducts her
“Silkworm Spins Cocoon in Space” experiment, winner of a special school science
project contest.
US-based Spacehab and China Time Network
invited applications to the China STARS (Space Technology and Research Students) Program
in October 1999. The experiment designed by a Grade 5 student of Jingshan Primary School
beat 888 others to the rocket.
“He finally chose Li Taotao’s
project because of its Chinese characteristics,” says Dr Bernard Harris, Spacehab
Vice-President for Science and Health Services. “And also because the experiment
concerns the four growing stages of silkworms. We could observe a complete and complicated
process.
“My the last phase, 1,000 schools in
China will have participated in the same experiment on Earth. It is not a competition and
we have no fixed standard. Our main purpose is to attract children all over the world to
the field of scientific exploration.”
Fond of math, science magazines and
cartoons, Taotao does not appear obviously different from any other student her age. The
only reason she entered the non-contest was that on one particular night, she happened to
have no homework. So Taotao jotted down a few lines and finished up her Space Shuttle
proposal in just under an hour.
Three months later, the camera bulbs flash
and reporters shout questions at her in the Great Hall of the People. Taotao smiles
nervously. She says no, she has never seen a silkworm in real life.
“But when I was 3 years old, Mother
told me stories about raising silkworms in her childhood, and I remember regarding the
silkworm as a kind of butterfly family member at the time. I found out what the silkworm
and the cocoon looked like from books at kindergarten later on.
“Once Mother and I were traveling and
we slept at a hotel. Their quilts were so hard and heavy compared with mine at home. I was
curious and Mother told me that my quilt was filled with “Silk cotton” from
worms, so it was warm and light.
“I remember my grandma had some silk
clothes, so soft and beautiful, very comfortable. She also had a small pillow filled with
silkworm secretions, which is a traditional Chinese medicine. She used it for her
headaches.
“Nowadays, I know from TV that people
are trying to extract protein from silk for cosmetics in order to make the skin as soft
and shimmery as silk.”
“One day, when people wear beautiful
clothes made of “Space silk”, they might remember it was all down to a little
Chinese girl,* she says.
Taotao’s space project
dazzled and delighted mother Gu Dan. “Taotao was very happy when she heard she had
won,” she says. “But after a few minutes, she became quiet again and asked Mama,
do you think Grandma will be proud of me? She lives in Heaven now, and that must be very
near to space. |
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