Sixteen Experiments And Payloads Slated For Flight
Opportunities Program
NASA has selected 16 payloads for
flights on the commercial Zero-G parabolic aircraft and two
suborbital reusable launch vehicles as part of the agency's Flight
Opportunities Program. The flights provide opportunities for space
technologies to be demonstrated and validated in relevant
environments. In addition, these flights foster the development of
the nation's commercial reusable suborbital transportation
industry.
The payloads and teams from ten states and the District of
Columbia were selected from applications received in response to a
NASA call issued last December. Of the payloads, 12 will ride on
parabolic aircraft flights; two on suborbital reusable launch
vehicle test flights; and two on both platforms.
"Through our Flight Opportunities Program, NASA is able to align
research and technology payloads with commercially-available
flights to mature technologies that will benefit America's future
in space," said Bobby Braun, NASA chief technologist at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "This program allows researchers,
technologists and innovators to help NASA meet our future mission
needs while infusing new knowledge and capabilities into our
nation's universities, laboratories and space industry."
The commercial Zero-G aircraft payloads will fly during a
weeklong campaign from Houston's Ellington Field in mid-July. The
suborbital reusable launch vehicle payloads will fly on the Xaero,
developed by Masten Space Systems of Mojave, CA, and the Super Mod,
developed by Armadillo Aerospace of Heath, Texas. These selected
payloads will fly on test flights scheduled throughout 2011.
Selected payloads to fly on both platforms:
- "Investigation to Determine Rotational Stability of On-Orbit
Propellant Storage and Transfer Systems Undergoing Operational Fuel
Transfer Scenarios" from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University,
Daytona Beach, FL, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, and United
Launch Alliance, Centennial, CO; Sathya Gangadharan, project
manager (PM).
- "Printing the Space Future" from Made In Space Inc., Moffett
Field, CA; Jason Dunn, principal investigator (PI).
Selected suborbital reusable launch vehicle
payloads:
- "Electromagnetic Field Measurements on Suborbital Launch
Vehicles" from Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab,
Laurel, D; Todd Smith and Lars Dyrud, co-PI
- "Precision Landing Exploration Technology (PLANET)
Demonstration" from Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.,
Cambridge, MA, and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston; Douglas
Zimpfer, PM; Tye Brady, PI.
Selected parabolic payloads:
- Crew-Autonomous Biological Telemetric experiment from the
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Robert Ferl and Anna-Lisa
Paul, co-PIs
- Advanced, Two-Phase, Space Heat Exchangers Design Tools
experiment from the University of Maryland, College Park; Jungho
Kim and Serguei Dessiatoun, co-PIs.
- Thermosyphon Array with Controlled Operation experiment from
NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland. Donald Jawaorske, PI.
- Radio Frequency Mass Gauge experiment from Glenn; Gregory
Zimmerli, PI.
- Grey Water Purification using Control Moment Gyroscopes from
Kennedy, Glenn and the ASRC Aerospace Corp., Greenbelt, MD; Walt
Turner, PM.
- Indexing Media Filtration experiment from Glenn, Aerfil LLC,
Filtration Group Inc, Joliet, IL, and ASRC Aerospace; Gary Ruff,
PM.
- Autonomous Robotic Capture from NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, MD; West Virginia University, Morgantown; the
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington and Yasakawa America
Inc., Waukegan, IL; Thomas Evans, PM.
- Validation of Atomization Mechanism and Droplet Transport for a
Portable Fire Extinguisher from Glenn, ADA Technologies Inc,
Littleton, CO, and the Colorado School of Mines, Golden; Jim Butz,
PM.
- Cryocooler Vibrational Characterization from Ad Astra Rocket
Co. Webster, Texas; Benjamin Longmier, PI.
- Monitoring Radiation-Induced DNA Degradation from Kennedy;
Howard Levine, PI.
- EHD-Pumped Two-Phase Loops experiment from the Air Force
Research Laboratory and Kirtland Air Force Base, NM; Greg Busch,
Sam Sinnamon and Andrew Williams, co-PIs.
- Electric Field Effects on Pool Boiling Heat Transfer
experiments from the University of Maryland and University of Pisa,
Italy; Jungho Kim and Paolo DiMarco, co-PIs.
NASA will continue to accept Flight Opportunities Program
proposals until Dec. 31, 2014. NASA's Office of the Chief
Technologist directs the Flight Opportunities Program, which is
managed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA.
NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA, manages the
payload activities for the program.