Microgravity University Teams Will Flip, Float, And Fly For Science

NASA has announced their newest batch of student teams participating in the Microgravity University program.  The fourteen university teams will each get a chance to fly an experiment aboard a parabolic aircraft during 2010.

The selection by NASA does not guarantee a flight for these students; they must earn their wings.  Although their experiment proposals were selected for the program, the students must still build, test, and certify their equipment to rigorous NASA standards. 

Typical requirements include substantiation of 9-G forward crashloading and triple containment of any liquids.  Size and weight constraints ensure the experiments can be safely loaded and flown on either the C-9B or 727 NASA uses for parabolic flights.

The students also have training requirements that give them a taste of what astronauts and other NASA pilots must endure.  Because they are flying in a public-use aircraft, the participants must have a clean bill of health (no asthma or physical disabilities), undergo a full day of training, and take a ride in an altitude chamber.

Although the cost of their training and flight for University teams is covered by NASA, they still have to find a way to pay for their other expenses such as food, travel to Houston, lodging for the week, and the experiment equipment itself.  Usually a university or state agency funds the trip, though most teams also get help from corporate sponsors.

NASA flies the students through 32 parabolic arcs during each flight, producing 20-30 seconds of reduced weight.  The aircraft can modify their free-fall trajectories to simulate Lunar or Martian gravity in addition to providing microgravity. This is the same method NASA has used to train astronauts for over 40 years.
 

The 2010 teams and experiments are:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (AZ) - Preliminary Research for Inertia Matrix Estimation (PRIME) Satellite
• Yale University - Crystalline Structure Transformation in Complex Plasma
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (FL) - Project HORIZONS (Harmonic Oscillations Resulting in Zero-G On-axis Nutation of Spacecraft)
• Purdue University - Effect of Textured Surfaces on Bubble Detachment and Contact Area in Microgravity
• University of Michigan - Evaluating the Extendable Solar Array System in a Microgravity Environment
• University of Michigan - Exploring the Design Space of the Dry Configuration of the Nanoparticle Field Extraction Thruster in Microgravity
• The College of New Jersey - Analysis of Dust Particle Dynamics in a Varying Gravitational Field Part III
• State University of New York at Buffalo Relative Attitude Determination for Satellite Formation Flying
• Austin Community College (TX) SRED - Smart Resistive Exercise Device For Free Weight Simulation In Microgravity
• San Jacinto College North (TX) Further Evaluation of the Effects of Short Term Reduced Gravity on Prothrombin Time of Plasma
• Utah State University FUNBOE Follow-Up Nucleate Boiling On-flight Experiment 
• University of Washington Rotational Damping of Slosh in Microgravity
• University of Wisconsin @ Madison The Influence of Frequency on the Performance of Ultrasonic Enhancement of Liquid Convection Cooling in Variable Gravity
• West Virginia University Controlling Fuel Sloshing Through the Use of a Ferromagnetic Solvent Manipulated via an Electromagnetic Field

 FMI: http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov