Inviting the media

Much media attention has been generated by the Tomatosphere project; journalists have shown in interest in writing, photographing and reporting on participating classrooms. Students in these classrooms, and their reaction to the project are most appealing to journalists. If you wish to generate publicity for your school's Tomatosphere experiment, the sample news release attached may be modified and sent to your local newspaper, radio and television stations.

If you are approached by the media, you may wish to refer journalists to the Tomatosphere web site for basic information and suggest that they visit the Media Room and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of the web site. There are also excellent videos available on the website from the Project Manager (robertmorrow@sympatico.ca). This will allow the journalist to gain some background information before coming to your classroom. With the basics about the project, the journalist can then focus on the experiment in your classroom in which the students are involved.

Sample news release

Tomatosphere - Seeding the Way; it's in their hands via [your school's name]

[Town/City, Date] - More than 9000 classrooms of students from grade 2-10 across Canada and many parts of the United States will have the opportunity to be a part of the Tomatosphere Project. Tomatosphere is a Canadian-based science and space investigation being conducted this year for the sixth time. The project gives students the opportunity to learn more about plants, space flight, nutrition and the environment and assists with the development of research skills and an understanding of scientific methodology.

"I expect in twenty years time, astronauts will be flying on missions to Mars - and these future astronauts are in our schools right now", noted Marc Garneau, former Canadian Astronaut and formerly president of the Canadian Space Agency. Since the proposed Mars journey will take a minimum of two years, growing plants aboard the space vehicle will help replenish the food supply, improve the quality of air and water, and teach us more about the space environment. as well as applications of space-related technologies to Earth. In the Tomatosphere Project in 2008, students will be dealing with two different types of seeds. One type of seed is a control group which will be used as a basis for comparison with the second set of seeds. The control group consists of Heinz H9478 seeds which have had no exposure to any extraneous conditions. The second set of seeds - also Heinz H9478 - has been exposed to conditions which simulate the space maneuver of aerocapture; the seeds were placed in a centrifuge to simulate the g-load that would be experienced as the seeds entered the Mars atmosphere; the seeds were placed under this pressure for seven minutes, similar to what would be experienced en route to Mars as the space vehicle was slowing down. In addition, the simulator also involved higher than normal temperatures.

Tomatosphere is sponsored by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Space Agency, Heinz Canada, H.J. Heinz Company Foundation, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Stokes Seeds and the University of Guelph.

Here at [school name], we will begin our Tomatosphere experiment on [date of the beginning of the experiment]. At the conclusion of the experiment, students will prepare reports describing their results and the germination results will be sent to the project coordinator to contribute to the national and international results.

You may wish to insert a paragraph about your school and a quote from a school official or teacher (e.g. "The students are excited to be involved in a real space science experiment; they are learning much about the scientific method, teamwork, and the Canadian Space Program).

Tomato seeds were chosen for this experiment because tomatoes are a highly nutritious food source. The plants could be grown in space to provide food, oxygen and water as well as facilitating the removal of carbon dioxide from the air.

For more information, media may contact [Name of school official to contact - principal or teacher - and a telephone number] or visit the Tomatosphere web site at www.tomatosphere.org

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