February 15, 2000
Media Contact: Mario Aguilera, (858) 822-0660, [email protected]
UCSD STUDENTS TO FLY HIGH IN NASA MICRO-GRAVITY PROGRAM
It's not exactly the feeling of floating in the weightlessness of space, it will just feel like it. Two teams of undergraduate students from the University of California, San Diego, have been selected to explore the unique world of weightlessness as part of a program developed by NASA and the Texas Space Grant Consortium.
NASA's Johnson Space Center and Space Grant Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program sends teams of students up more than 30,000 feet aboard a KC-135A turbojet transport aircraft. Students capitalize on the reduced-gravity environment inside the aircraft to conduct scientific experiments.
"The opportunity to conduct an experiment in zero gravity has given us, as undergraduates, a unique medium for novel experimentation," said UCSD Senior Kai Miller. "Because of the scarcity of zero gravity environments, we can conduct cutting edge, publishable research -- something not conventionally available to individuals in our positions."
The UCSD teams of juniors and seniors, working in conjunction with the California Space Institute (CalSpace) and the California Space Grant Consortium at UCSD, are two of 48 teams selected by NASA on the basis of a series of criteria, including the scientific merit of their experiment.
On February 26, the teams will travel to Houston for two weeks of preparation and training. The program includes brief astronaut training, including the experience of sitting in a chamber that simulates the effect of running out of oxygen at 25,000 feet.
During the flights, the KC-135 rapidly rises to 32,000 feet and quickly descends to 24,000 feet and repeats this cycle some 20 to 40 times. At the top of each of these cycles, or "parabolas," passengers experience 20 to 30 seconds of weightlessness.
UCSD students Gerhardt Konig, Bhavin Patel, Jason Nathanson and Gaurav Abbi have worked with Dr. John Frangos of the Department of Bioengineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering to design an experiment that involves modeling fluid shifts that occur when the body enters a reduced-gravity environment. Such a model may prove beneficial for the development of countermeasures for this fluid shift, which may impact the bone loss and cardiovascular problems associated with space flight.
Jason Arcand, Stephen Lynch and Miller of the Department of Physics, along with Thomas Carolan of Cognitive Sciences, have developed an experiment with Dr. Michael Wiskerchen of CalSpace. They have designed an experiment that analyzes "dust plasmas," collections of particles important in physics investigations, semiconductor manufacturing and astrophysics. Their experiment will explore condensed forms of dust plasma in states inaccessible to experiments conducted in the presence of gravity.
"Projects like this give us the opportunity to apply the concepts we learn in class by actually creating a working device from scratch," said Konig, a UCSD senior. "Designing is a major component of coursework in most of our classes, but when someone asks me in five or six years about my experiences at UCSD, I can guarantee you I'll tell them about projects like these."
Editor's note: Interviews with the students are available until February 25. Limited photos and B-roll available of previous flights, call (858) 822-0660 for more information.
# # #
RSS