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The Wolf-Sat 1:
Preventing Plastic Pollution in Space
The Problem
Plastic pollution is a growing problem in the world's oceans, causing major environmental damage. In fact, over 10 million tons of plastic are put into our oceans every year. In order to fix this problem and to avoid a similar situation in space, a natural way to get rid of existing plastics is needed.
The Solution
Vibrio natriegens is a bacteria that produces an enzyme called PETase. This enzyme allows the bacteria to decompose PET plastics, the most common variety.
The Experiment
The Wolf-Sat 1 will be testing the Ideonella's ability to decompose PET in microgravity by launching a sample on a film of PET plastic and measuring the degradation over time.
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