An entry of a student from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños was among the six experiments chosen to be performed in the International Space Station (ISS) for the Asian Try Zero-G (ATZG) 2022, the Philippine Space Agency said on Monday, June 27.

William Kevin L. Abran's experiment proposal was one of the 24 international finalists of the ATZG competition.

Asian Try Zero-G 2022 is an international cooperation experiment launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), targeting the youth in the Asia-Pacific region to expand the use of the ISS and the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” and contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through human resource development.

For this year, JAXA Astronaut Wakata will conduct the selected experiments in orbit.

Eight Asian Beneficial Collaboration through "Kibo" Utilization (Kibo-ABC)-participating countries/regions were called for the ATZG 2022, where a total of 201 submissions were received from 480 students and young engineers/researchers.

Proposals were evaluated based on scientific significance, novelty, safety, resource requirement, and feasibility. Astronaut Koichi Wakata will perform the experiments beginning Fall 2022.

PhilSA led and organized the local call for proposals for this year’s ATZG Philippines. PhilSA accepted and screened proposals from May 9 to May 29 for the preliminary round, and selected five experiments, including Mr. Abran’s, to enter the final round of evaluation by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

ATZG is one of the activities of the Kibo-ABC program that aims to expand the use of the Kibo module on ISS and develop the youth’s understanding of space environments. PhilSA Deputy Director General Dr. Gay Jane Perez is the country’s point of contact for all Kibo-ABC activities.