The Fluids and Combustion Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kundu, Sampa

2004-01-01

Microgravity is an environment with very weak gravitational effects. The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) on the International Space Station (ISS) will support the study of fluid physics and combustion science in a long-duration microgravity environment. The Fluid Combustion Facility's design will permit both independent and remote control operations from the Telescience Support Center. The crew of the International Space Station will continue to insert and remove the experiment module, store and reload removable data storage and media data tapes, and reconfigure diagnostics on either side of the optics benches. Upon completion of the Fluids Combustion Facility, about ten experiments will be conducted within a ten-year period. Several different areas of fluid physics will be studied in the Fluids Combustion Facility. These areas include complex fluids, interfacial phenomena, dynamics and instabilities, and multiphase flows and phase change. Recently, emphasis has been placed in areas that relate directly to NASA missions including life support, power, propulsion, and thermal control systems. By 2006 or 2007, a Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) and a Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) will be installed inside the International Space Station. The Fluids Integrated Rack will contain all the hardware and software necessary to perform experiments in fluid physics. A wide range of experiments that meet the requirements of the international space station, including research from other specialties, will be considered. Experiments will be contained in subsystems such as the international standard payload rack, the active rack isolation system, the optics bench, environmental subsystem, electrical power control unit, the gas interface subsystem, and the command and data management subsystem. In conclusion, the Fluids and Combustion Facility will allow researchers to study fluid physics and combustion science in a long-duration microgravity environment. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

New findings and instrumentation from the NASA Lewis microgravity facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, Howard D.; Greenberg, Paul S.

1990-01-01

The study of fundamental combustion and fluid physics in a microgravity environment is a relatively new scientific endeavor. The microgravity environment enables a new range of experiments to be performed since: buoyancy-induced flows are nearly eliminated; normally obscured forces and flows may be isolated; gravitational settling or sedimentation is nearly eliminated; and larger time or length scales in experiments become permissible. Unexpected phenomena have been observed, with surprising frequency, in microgravity experiments, raising questions about the degree of accuracy and completeness of the classical understanding. An overview is provided of some new phenomena found through ground-based, microgravity research, the instrumentation used in this research, and plans for new instrumentation.

Materials Science Experiments Under Microgravity - A Review of History, Facilities, and Future Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stenzel, Ch.

2012-01-01

Materials science experiments have been a key issue already since the early days of research under microgravity conditions. A microgravity environment facilitates processing of metallic and semiconductor melts without buoyancy driven convection and sedimentation. Hence, crystal growth of semiconductors, solidification of metallic alloys, and the measurement of thermo-physical parameters are the major applications in the field of materials science making use of these dedicated conditions in space. In the last three decades a large number of successful experiments have been performed, mainly in international collaborations. In parallel, the development of high-performance research facilities and the technological upgrade of diagnostic and stimuli elements have also contributed to providing optimum conditions to perform such experiments. A review of the history of materials science experiments in space focussing on the development of research facilities is given. Furthermore, current opportunities to perform such experiments onboard ISS are described and potential future options are outlined.

European Microgravity Facilities for ZEOLITE Experiments on the International Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pletser, V.; Minster, O.; Kremer, S.; Kirschhock, C.; Martens, J.; Jacobs, P.

2002-01-01

Synthetic zeolites are complex porous silicates. Zeolites are applied as catalysts, adsorbents and sensors. Whereas the traditional applications are situated in the petrochemical area, zeolite catalysis and related zeolite-based technologies have a growing impact on the economics and sustainability of products and processes in a growing number of industrial sectors, including environmental protection and nanotechnology. A Sounding Rocket microgravity experiment led to significant insight in the physical aggregation patterns of zeolitic nanoscopic particles and the occurrence of self-organisation phenomena when undisturbed by convection. The opportunity of performing longer microgravity duration experiments on zeolite structures was recently offered in the frame of a Taxi-Flight to the ISS in November 2002 organized by Belgium and ESA. Two facilities are currently under development for this flight. One of them will use the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in the US Lab. Destiny to achieve thermal induced self-organization of different types of Zeosil nanoslabs by heating and cooling. The other facility will be flown on the ISS Russian segment and will allow to form Zeogrids at ambient temperature. On the other hand, the European Space Agency (ESA) is studying the possibility of developing a dedicated insert for zeolite experiments to be used with the optical and diagnostic platform of the Protein Crystallisation Diagnostic Facility (PCDF), that will fly integrated in the European Drawer Rack on the Columbus Laboratory starting in 2004. This paper will present the approach followed by ESA to prepare and support zeolite investigations in microgravity and will present the design concept of these three facilities.

Artificial gravity studies and design considerations for Space Station centrifuges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halstead, T. W.; Brown, A. H.; Fuller, C. A.; Oyama, J.

1984-01-01

The requirements to and capabilities of a Space Station biological facility centrifuge are discussed on the basis of an assessment of the objectives and subjects of future microgravity biological experiments. It is argued that the facility should be capable of both acute and extended chronic exposure of test subjects and biological materials to altered-g loading. In addition, the experimental approaches and equipment for microgravity studies on a Space Station are outlined. Finally, the engineering requirements of such a centrifuge are examined, with consideration of radial gravity gradients, size, and physical access to animals.

International Space Station -- Fluids and Combustion Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is a modular, multi-user facility to accommodate microgravity science experiments on board Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module for the International Space Station (ISS). The FCF will be a permanet facility aboard the ISS, and will be capable of accommodating up to ten science investigations per year. It will support the NASA Science and Technology Research Plans for the International Space Station (ISS) which require sustained systematic research of the effects of reduced gravity in the areas of fluid physics and combustion science. From left to right are the Combustion Integrated Rack, the Shared Rack, and the Fluids Integrated Rack. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo Credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Research objectives, opportunities, and facilities for microgravity science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bayuzick, Robert J.

1992-01-01

Microgravity Science in the U.S.A. involves research in fluids science, combustion science, materials science, biotechnology, and fundamental physics. The purpose is to achieve a thorough understanding of the effects of gravitational body forces on physical phenomena relevant to those disciplines. This includes the study of phenomena which are usually overwhelmed by the presence of gravitational body forces and, therefore, chiefly manifested when gravitational forces are weak. In the pragmatic sense, the research involves gravity level as an experimental parameter. Calendar year 1992 is a landmark year for research opportunities in low earth orbit for Microgravity Science. For the first time ever, three Spacelab flights will fly in a single year: IML-1 was launched on January 22; USML-1 was launched on June 25; and, in September, SL-J will be launched. A separate flight involving two cargo bay carriers, USMP-1, will be launched in October. From the beginning of 1993 up to and including the Space Station era (1997), nine flights involving either Spacelab or USMP carriers will be flown. This will be augmented by a number of middeck payloads and get away specials flying on various flights. All of this activity sets the stage for experimentation on Space Station Freedom. Beginning in 1997, experiments in Microgravity Science will be conducted on the Space Station. Facilities for doing experiments in protein crystal growth, solidification, and biotechnology will all be available. These will be joined by middeck-class payloads and the microgravity glove box for conducting additional experiments. In 1998, a new generation protein crystal growth facility and a facility for conducting combustion research will arrive. A fluids science facility and additional capability for conducting research in solidification, as well as an ability to handle small payloads on a quick response basis, will be added in 1999. The year 2000 will see upgrades in the protein crystal growth and fluids science facilities. From the beginning of 1997 to the fall of 1999 (the 'man-tended capability' era), there will be two or three utilization flights per year. Plans call for operations in Microgravity Science during utilization flights and between utilization flights. Experiments conducted during utilization flights will characteristically require crew interaction, short duration, and less sensitivity to perturbations in the acceleration environment. Operations between utilization flights will involve experiments that can be controlled remotely and/or can be automated. Typically, the experiments will require long times and a pristine environment. Beyond the fall of 1999 (the 'permanently-manned capability' era), some payloads will require crew interaction; others will be automated and will make use of telescience.

Zero-Gravity Research Facility Drop Test (1/4)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

An experiment vehicle plunges into the deceleration pit at the end of a 5.18-second drop in the Zero-Gravity Research Facility at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The Zero-Gravity Research Facility was developed to support microgravity research and development programs that investigate various physical sciences, materials, fluid physics, and combustion and processing systems. Payloads up to 1 meter in diameter and 455 kg in weight can be accommodated. The facility has a 145-meter evacuated shaft to ensure a disturbance-free drop. This is No.1 of a sequence of 4 images. (Credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center)

Zero-Gravity Research Facility Drop Test (3/4)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

An experiment vehicle plunges into the deceleration at the end of a 5.18-second drop in the Zero-Gravity Research Facility at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The Zero-Gravity Research Facility was developed to support microgravity research and development programs that investigate various physical sciences, materials, fluid physics, and combustion and processing systems. Payloads up to one-meter in diameter and 455 kg in weight can be accommodated. The facility has a 145-meter evacuated shaft to ensure a disturbance-free drop. This is No. 3 of a sequence of 4 images. (Credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center)

Zero-Gravity Research Facility Drop Test (4/4)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

An experiment vehicle plunges into the deceleration pit at the end of a 5.18-second drop in the Zero-Gravity Research Facility at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The Zero-Gravity Research Facility was developed to support microgravity research and development programs that investigate various physical sciences, materials, fluid physics, and combustion and processing systems. Payloads up to one meter in diameter and 455 kg in weight can be accommodated. The facility has a 145-meter evacuated shaft to ensure a disturbance-free drop. This is No. 4 of a sequence of 4 images. (Credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center)

Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, Mary Etta

1999-01-01

MSG is a third generation glovebox for Microgravity Science investigations: SpaceLab Glovebox (GBX); Middeck/MIR Gloveboxes (M/MGBX); and GBX and M/MGBX developed by Bradford Engineering (NL). Previous flights have demonstrated utility of glovebox facilities: Contained environment enables broader range of science experiments; Affords better control of video and photographic imaging (a prime data source); Provides better environmental control than cabin atmosphere; and Useful for contingency operations. MSG developed in response to demands for increased work volume, increased capabilities and additional resources. MSG is multi-user facility to support a wide range of small science and technology investigations: Fluid physics; Combustion science; Material science; Biotechnology (cell culturing and protein crystal growth); Space processing; Fundamental physics; and Technology demonstrations. Topics included in this viewgraph are: MSG capabilities; MSG hardware items; MSG, GSE, and OSE items; MSG development approach; and Science utilization.

Ground-based facilities for simulation of microgravity: organism-specific recommendations for their use, and recommended terminology.

PubMed

Herranz, Raul; Anken, Ralf; Boonstra, Johannes; Braun, Markus; Christianen, Peter C M; de Geest, Maarten; Hauslage, Jens; Hilbig, Reinhard; Hill, Richard J A; Lebert, Michael; Medina, F Javier; Vagt, Nicole; Ullrich, Oliver; van Loon, Jack J W A; Hemmersbach, Ruth

2013-01-01

Research in microgravity is indispensable to disclose the impact of gravity on biological processes and organisms. However, research in the near-Earth orbit is severely constrained by the limited number of flight opportunities. Ground-based simulators of microgravity are valuable tools for preparing spaceflight experiments, but they also facilitate stand-alone studies and thus provide additional and cost-efficient platforms for gravitational research. The various microgravity simulators that are frequently used by gravitational biologists are based on different physical principles. This comparative study gives an overview of the most frequently used microgravity simulators and demonstrates their individual capacities and limitations. The range of applicability of the various ground-based microgravity simulators for biological specimens was carefully evaluated by using organisms that have been studied extensively under the conditions of real microgravity in space. In addition, current heterogeneous terminology is discussed critically, and recommendations are given for appropriate selection of adequate simulators and consistent use of nomenclature.

Microgravity: A New Tool for Basic and Applied Research in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

This brochure highlights selected aspects of the NASA Microgravity Science and Applications program. So that we can expand our understanding and control of physical processes, this program supports basic and applied research in electronic materials, metals, glasses and ceramics, biological materials, combustion and fluids and chemicals. NASA facilities that provide weightless environments on the ground, in the air, and in space are available to U.S. and foreign investigators representing the academic and industrial communities. After a brief history of microgravity research, the text explains the advantages and methods of performing microgravity research. Illustrations follow of equipment used and experiments preformed aboard the Shuttle and of prospects for future research. The brochure concludes be describing the program goals and the opportunities for participation.

Two U.S. Experiments to Fly Aboard European Spacelab Facility in 1996

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

Space provides researchers a way to study the behavior of fluids when the forces of gravity are removed. The studies described here involve international cooperative research projects to study various aspects of fluid behavior in a microgravity environment. These projects utilize the Bubble Droplet Particle Unit (BDPU), which was built by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Technology Center in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. This Spacelab-based multiuser facility flew for the first time in July 1994 on the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2). It is scheduled for reflight on the Life and Microgravity Sciences (LMS) mission in June 1996. This experiment hardware was designed primarily to conduct fluid physics experiments with transparent fluids. LMS will fly both European and U.S. investigations including experiments defined by Professor R.S. Subramanian of Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, and Professor S.A. Saville of Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.

Third Microgravity Fluid Physics Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

The conference's purpose was to inform the fluid physics community of research opportunities in reduced-gravity fluid physics, present the status of the existing and planned reduced gravity fluid physics research programs, and inform participants of the upcoming NASA Research Announcement in this area. The plenary sessions provided an overview of the Microgravity Fluid Physics Program, present and future areas of emphasis, information on NASA's ground-based and space-based flight research facilities-especially use of the International Space Station, and the process by which future investigators enter the program. An international forum offered participants an opportunity to hear from Russian speakers about their microgravity research programs. Three keynote speakers provided broad technical overviews on the history and future development of the moon and on multiphase flow and complex fluids research. One keynote paper and an extended abstract are included in the proceedings. One hundred and thirty-two technical papers were presented in 28 sessions. Presenters briefed their peers on the scientific results of their ground-based and flight research. One hundred and twenty-two papers are included here.

Physics and chemistry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moskovits, Martin; Allamandola, Lou; Becker, Christopher; Freund, Friedemann; Freund, M.; Haff, P.; Tarter, Jill; Walton, Otis; Weitz, David; Werner, Brad

1987-01-01

The following types of experiments for a proposed Space Station Microgravity Particle Research Facility are described: (1) rheology of assemblies of inelastic, frictional particles; (2) grain dynamics in zero gravity; (3) properties of tenuous fractal aggregates; (4) orientation of weakly ferroelectric dust grains; (5) supersonic nozzle beam; and (6) some astrophysical cluster experiments. The required capabilities and desired hardware for the facility are detailed.

Microgravity combustion science: A program overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

The promise of microgravity combustion research is introduced by way of a brief survey of results, the available set of reduced gravity facilities, and plans for experimental capabilities in the Space Station era. The study of fundamental combustion processes in a microgravity environment is a relatively new scientific endeavor. A few simple, precursor experiments were conducted in the early 1970's. Today the advent of the U.S. space shuttle and the anticipation of the Space Station Freedom provide for scientists and engineers a special opportunity, in the form of long duration microgravity laboratories, and need, in the form of spacecraft fire safety and a variety of terrestrial applications, to pursue fresh insight into the basic physics of combustion. The microgravity environment enables a new range of experiments to be performed since buoyancy-induced flows are nearly eliminated, normally obscured forces and flows may be isolated, gravitational settling or sedimentation is nearly eliminated, and larger time or length scales in experiments become permissible. The range of experiments completed to date was not broad, but is growing. Unexpected phenomena have been observed often in microgravity combustion experiments, raising questions about the degree of accuracy and completion of our classical understanding and our ability to estimate spacecraft fire hazards. Because of the field's relative immaturity, instrumentation has been restricted primarily to high-speed photography. To better explain these findings, more sophisticated diagnostic instrumentation, similar to that evolving in terrestrial laboratories, is being developed for use on Space Station Freedom and, along the way, in existing microgravity facilities.

Gas/Liquid Separator Being Developed for Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffmann, Monica I.

2002-01-01

The examination and research of how liquids and gases behave in very low gravity will improve our understanding of the behavior of fluids on Earth. The knowledge of multiphase fluid behavior is applicable to many industries on Earth, including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, and nuclear industries, just to name a few. In addition, this valuable knowledge applies very well to the engineering and design of microgravity materials processing and of life-support systems for extended space flight. Professors Ashok Sangani of Syracuse University and Donald Koch of Cornell University are principal investigators in the Microgravity Fluid Physics Program, which is managed and sponsored by the NASA Glenn Research Center. Their flight experiment entitled "Microgravity Observations of Bubble Interactions" (MOBI) is planned for operation in the Fluids and Combustion Facility aboard the International Space Station.

Ground-Based Facilities for Simulation of Microgravity: Organism-Specific Recommendations for Their Use, and Recommended Terminology

PubMed Central

Anken, Ralf; Boonstra, Johannes; Braun, Markus; Christianen, Peter C.M.; de Geest, Maarten; Hauslage, Jens; Hilbig, Reinhard; Hill, Richard J.A.; Lebert, Michael; Medina, F. Javier; Vagt, Nicole; Ullrich, Oliver

2013-01-01

Abstract Research in microgravity is indispensable to disclose the impact of gravity on biological processes and organisms. However, research in the near-Earth orbit is severely constrained by the limited number of flight opportunities. Ground-based simulators of microgravity are valuable tools for preparing spaceflight experiments, but they also facilitate stand-alone studies and thus provide additional and cost-efficient platforms for gravitational research. The various microgravity simulators that are frequently used by gravitational biologists are based on different physical principles. This comparative study gives an overview of the most frequently used microgravity simulators and demonstrates their individual capacities and limitations. The range of applicability of the various ground-based microgravity simulators for biological specimens was carefully evaluated by using organisms that have been studied extensively under the conditions of real microgravity in space. In addition, current heterogeneous terminology is discussed critically, and recommendations are given for appropriate selection of adequate simulators and consistent use of nomenclature. Key Words: 2-D clinostat—3-D clinostat—Gravity—Magnetic levitation—Random positioning machine—Simulated microgravity—Space biology. Astrobiology 13, 1–17. PMID:23252378

Preparation for microgravity - The role of the Microgravity Material Science Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnston, J. Christopher; Rosenthal, Bruce N.; Meyer, Maryjo B.; Glasgow, Thomas K.

1988-01-01

Experiments at the NASA Lewis Research Center's Microgravity Material Science Laboratory using physical and mathematical models to delineate the effects of gravity on processes of scientific and commercial interest are discussed. Where possible, transparent model systems are used to visually track convection, settling, crystal growth, phase separation, agglomeration, vapor transport, diffusive flow, and polymer reactions. Materials studied include metals, alloys, salts, glasses, ceramics, and polymers. Specific technologies discussed include the General Purpose furnace used in the study of metals and crystal growth, the isothermal dendrite growth apparatus, the electromagnetic levitator/instrumented drop tube, the high temperature directional solidification furnace, the ceramics and polymer laboratories and the center's computing facilities.

Ballistocraft: a novel facility for microgravity research.

PubMed

Mesland, D; Paris, D; Huijser, R; Lammertse, P; Postema, R

1995-05-01

One of ESA's aims is to provide the microgravity research community with various microgravity exposure facilities. Those facilities include drop towers, sounding rockets, and parabolic flights on board aircraft, in addition to orbital spacecraft. Microgravity flights are usually achieved using large aircraft like the French 'Caravelle' that offer a large payload volume and where a person can be present to perform the experiments and to participate as a human test-subject. However, the microgravity community is also very interested in a flexible, complementary facility that would allow frequent and repetitive exposure to microgravity for a laboratory-type of payload. ESA has therefore undertaken a study of the potential of using a 'ballistocraft', a small unmanned aircraft, to provide a low-cost facility for short-duration (30-40 seconds) microgravity experimentation. Fokker Space & Systems performed the study under an ESA contract, supported by Dutch national funding. To assess the ballistocraft, a simple breadboard of the facility was built and flight tests were performed. The ability of the on-board controller to achieve automated parabolic flights was demonstrated, and the performance of the controller in one-g level flights, and in flights with both zero-g and partial-g setpoints, was evaluated. The partial-g flights are a unique and valuable feature of the facility.

ISS Microgravity Research Payload Training Methodology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald; Geveden, Rex (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The NASA Microgravity Research Discipline has multiple categories of science payloads that are being planned and currently under development to operate on various ISS on-orbit increments. The current program includes six subdisciplines; Materials Science, Fluids Physics, Combustion Science, Fundamental Physics, Cellular Biology and Macromolecular Biotechnology. All of these experiment payloads will require the astronaut various degrees of crew interaction and science observation. With the current programs planning to build various facility class science racks, the crew will need to be trained on basic core operations as well as science background. In addition, many disciplines will use the Express Rack and the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) to utilize the accommodations provided by these facilities for smaller and less complex type hardware. The Microgravity disciplines will be responsible to have a training program designed to maximize the experiment and hardware throughput as well as being prepared for various contingencies both with anomalies as well as unexpected experiment observations. The crewmembers will need various levels of training from simple tasks as power on and activate to extensive training on hardware mode change out to observing the cell growth of various types of tissue cultures. Sample replacement will be required for furnaces and combustion type modules. The Fundamental Physics program will need crew EVA support to provide module change out of experiment. Training will take place various research centers and hardware development locations. It is expected that onboard training through various methods and video/digital technology as well as limited telecommunication interaction. Since hardware will be designed to operate from a few weeks to multiple research increments, flexibility must be planned in the training approach and procedure skills to optimize the output as well as the equipment maintainability. Early increment lessons learned will be addressed.

Aerodynamic and engineering design of a 1.5 s high quality microgravity drop tower facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belser, Valentin; Breuninger, Jakob; Reilly, Matthew; Laufer, René; Dropmann, Michael; Herdrich, Georg; Hyde, Truell; Röser, Hans-Peter; Fasoulas, Stefanos

2016-12-01

Microgravity experiments are essential for research in space science, biology, fluid mechanics, combustion, and material sciences. One way to conduct microgravity experiments on Earth is by using drop tower facilities. These facilities combine a high quality of microgravity, adequate payload masses and have the advantage of virtually unlimited repeatability under same experimental conditions, at a low cost. In a collaboration between the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart and Baylor University (BU) in Waco, Texas, a new drop tower is currently under development at the Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER). The design parameters of the drop tower ask for at least 1.5 s in free fall duration while providing a quality of at least 10-5 g. Previously, this quality has only been achieved in vacuum drop tower facilities where the capsule experiences virtually zero aerodynamic drag during its free fall. Since this design comes at high costs, a different drop tower design concept, which does not require an evacuated drop shaft, was chosen. It features a dual-capsule system in which the experiment capsule is shielded from aerodynamic forces by surrounding it with a drag shield during the drop. As no other dual-capsule drop tower has been able to achieve a quality as good as or better than 10-5 g previous work optimized the design with an aerodynamic perspective by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to determine the ideal shape and size of the outer capsule and to specify the aerodynamically crucial dimensions for the overall system. Experiments later demonstrated that the required quality of microgravity can be met with the proposed design. The main focus of this paper is the mechanical realization of the capsule as well as the development and layout of the surrounding components, such as the release mechanism, the deceleration device and the drop shaft. Because the drop tower facility is a complex system with many interdependencies between all of the components, several engineering challenges had to be addressed. For example, initial disturbances that are caused by the release mechanism are a common issue that arises at drop tower facilities. These vibrations may decrease the quality of microgravity during the initial segment of free fall. Because this would reduce the free fall time experiencing high quality microgravity, a mechanism has been developed to provide a soft release. Challenges and proposed solutions for all components are highlighted in this paper.

Microgravity Science and Applications: Program Tasks and Bibliography for Fiscal Year 1996

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) sponsors a program that expands the use of space as a laboratory for the study of important physical, chemical, and biochemical processes. The primary objective of the program is to broaden the value and capabilities of human presence in space by exploiting the unique characteristics of the space environment for research. However, since flight opportunities are rare and flight research development is expensive, a vigorous ground-based research program, from which only the best experiments evolve, is critical to the continuing strength of the program. The microgravity environment affords unique characteristics that allow the investigation of phenomena and processes that are difficult or impossible to study an Earth. The ability to control gravitational effects such as buoyancy driven convection, sedimentation, and hydrostatic pressures make it possible to isolate phenomena and make measurements that have significantly greater accuracy than can be achieved in normal gravity. Space flight gives scientists the opportunity to study the fundamental states of physical matter-solids, liquids and gasses-and the forces that affect those states. Because the orbital environment allows the treatment of gravity as a variable, research in microgravity leads to a greater fundamental understanding of the influence of gravity on the world around us. With appropriate emphasis, the results of space experiments lead to both knowledge and technological advances that have direct applications on Earth. Microgravity research also provides the practical knowledge essential to the development of future space systems. The Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA) is responsible for planning and executing research stimulated by the Agency's broad scientific goals. OLMSA's Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) is responsible for guiding and focusing a comprehensive program, and currently manages its research and development tasks through five major scientific areas: biotechnology, combustion science, fluid physics, fundamental physics, and materials science. FY 1996 was an important year for MSAD. NASA continued to build a solid research community for the coming space station era. During FY 1996, the NASA Microgravity Research Program continued investigations selected from the 1994 combustion science, fluid physics, and materials science NRAS. MSAD also released a NASA Research Announcement in microgravity biotechnology, with more than 130 proposals received in response. Selection of research for funding is expected in early 1997. The principal investigators chosen from these NRAs will form the core of the MSAD research program at the beginning of the space station era. The third United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-3) and the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) missions yielded a wealth of microgravity data in FY 1996. The USMP-3 mission included a fluids facility and three solidification furnaces, each designed to examine a different type of crystal growth.

Microgravity strategic plan, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

The mission of the NASA Microgravity program is to utilize the unique characteristics of the space environment, primarily the near absence of gravity, to understand the role of gravity in materials processing, and to demonstrate the feasibility of space production of improved materials that have high technological, and possible commercial, utility. The following five goals for the Microgravity Program are discussed: (1) Develop a comprehensive research program in fundamental sciences, materials science, and biotechnology for the purpose of attaining a structured understanding of gravity dependent physical phenomena in both Earth and non-Earth environments; (2) Foster the growth of interdisciplinary research community to conduct research in the space environment; (3) Encourage international cooperation for the purpose of conducting research in the space environment; (4) Utilize a permanently manned, multi-facility national microgravity laboratory in low-Earth orbit to provide a long-duration, stable microgravity environment; (5) Promote industrial applications of space research for the development of new, commercially viable products, services, and markets resulting from research in the space environment.

Ground based ISS payload microgravity disturbance assessments.

PubMed

McNelis, Anne M; Heese, John A; Samorezov, Sergey; Moss, Larry A; Just, Marcus L

2005-01-01

In order to verify that the International Space Station (ISS) payload facility racks do not disturb the microgravity environment of neighboring facility racks and that the facility science operations are not compromised, a testing and analytical verification process must be followed. Currently no facility racks have taken this process from start to finish. The authors are participants in implementing this process for the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). To address the testing part of the verification process, the Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL) was developed at GRC. The MEL is a 6 degree of freedom inertial measurement system capable of characterizing inertial response forces (emissions) of components, sub-rack payloads, or rack-level payloads down to 10(-7) g's. The inertial force output data, generated from the steady state or transient operations of the test articles, are utilized in analytical simulations to predict the on-orbit vibratory environment at specific science or rack interface locations. Once the facility payload rack and disturbers are properly modeled an assessment can be made as to whether required microgravity levels are achieved. The modeling is utilized to develop microgravity predictions which lead to the development of microgravity sensitive ISS experiment operations once on-orbit. The on-orbit measurements will be verified by use of the NASA GRC Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS). The major topics to be addressed in this paper are: (1) Microgravity Requirements, (2) Microgravity Disturbers, (3) MEL Testing, (4) Disturbance Control, (5) Microgravity Control Process, and (6) On-Orbit Predictions and Verification. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

ESA Parabolic Flight, Drop Tower and Centrifuge Opportunities for University Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callens, Natacha; Ventura-Traveset, Javier; Zornoza Garcia-Andrade, Eduardo; Gomez-Calero, Carlos; van Loon, Jack J. W. A.; Pletser, Vladimir; Kufner, Ewald; Krause, Jutta; Lindner, Robert; Gai, Frederic; Eigenbrod, Christian

The European Space Agency (ESA) Education Office was established in 1998 with the purpose of motivating young people to study science, engineering and technology subjects and to ensure a qualified workforce for ESA and the European space sector in the future. To this end the ESA Education Office is supporting several hands-on activities including small student satellites and student experiments on sounding rockets, high altitude balloons as well as microgravity and hypergravity platforms. This paper is intended to introduce three new ESA Education Office hands-on activities called "Fly Your Thesis!", "Drop Your Thesis!" and "Spin Your Thesis!". These activities give re-spectively access to aircraft parabolic flight, drop tower and centrifuge campaigns to European students. These educational programmes offer university students the unique opportunity to design, build, and eventually perform, in microgravity or hypergravity, a scientific or techno-logical experiment which is linked to their syllabus. During the "Fly Your Thesis!" campaigns, the students accompany their experiments onboard the A300 Zero-G aircraft, operated by the company Novespace, based in Bordeaux, France, for a series of three flights of 30 parabolas each, with each parabola providing about 20s of microgravity [1]. "Drop Your Thesis!" campaigns are held in the ZARM Drop Tower, in Bremen, Germany. The installation delivers 4.74s of microgravity in dropping mode and 9.3s in the catapulting mode [2]. Research topics such as fluid physics, fundamental physics, combustion, biology, material sciences, heat transfer, astrophysics, chemistry or biochemistry can greatly benefit from using microgravity platforms. "Spin Your Thesis!" campaigns take place in the Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) facility, at ESTEC, Noordwijk, in the Netherlands. This facility offers an acceleration from 1 to 20 times Earth's gravity [3]. The use of hypergravity allows completing the scientific picture of how gravity has an impact on a system over the whole acceleration spectrum, but can address as well specifically problems which require these high g-levels. A wide range of hypergravity exper-iments can be performed in the LDC facility, including biological, biochemical, microbiological, opto-physical, physical, material and fluid sciences, geology or plasma physics. ESA Education Office financially supports the cost of the campaigns, part of the hardware development, as well as necessary travel and accommodation of the student selected teams. An ELGRA (European Low Gravity Research Association) mentor, i.e. a scientist specialized in gravity-related research, support each student team throughout these education programmes. [1] Pletser V., Gharib T., Gai F., Mora C., Rosier P. "The 50 parabolic flight campaigns of the European Space Agency to conduct short duration microgravity research experimentation", Paper IAC-09-A2.5.1, 60th International Astronautical federation Congress, Daejeon, Korea, October 2009. [2] von Kampen P., Kaczmarczik U., Rath H.J. The new Drop Tower catapult system", Acta Astronautica, 59, 1-5, 278-283, 2006. [3] van Loon J. W. A. , Krause J., Cunha H., Goncalves J., Almeida H., Schiller P. "The Large Diameter Centrifuge, LDC, for life and physical sciences and technology", Proc. of the 'Life in Space for Life on Earth Symposium', Angers, France, 22-27 June 2008. (ESA SP-663, December 2008)

Light Microscopy Module: On-Orbit Microscope Planned for the Fluids Integrated Rack on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motil, Susan M.

2002-01-01

The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) is planned as a remotely controllable, automated, on-orbit facility, allowing flexible scheduling and control of physical science and biological science experiments within the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) on the International Space Station. Initially four fluid physics experiments in the FIR will use the LMM the Constrained Vapor Bubble, the Physics of Hard Spheres Experiment-2, Physics of Colloids in Space-2, and Low Volume Fraction Entropically Driven Colloidal Assembly. The first experiment will investigate heat conductance in microgravity as a function of liquid volume and heat flow rate to determine, in detail, the transport process characteristics in a curved liquid film. The other three experiments will investigate various complementary aspects of the nucleation, growth, structure, and properties of colloidal crystals in microgravity and the effects of micromanipulation upon their properties.

The Microgravity Isolation Mount (MGIM): A Columbus facility for improving the microgravity quality of payloads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Owen, R. G.; Jones, D. I.; Owens, A. R.; Roberts, G.; Hadfield, P.

1992-01-01

The Microgravity Isolation Mount (MGIM) is a facility for providing active vibration isolation for sensitive experiments on the Columbus Attached Laboratory and the Columbus Free-Flying Laboratory. The facility is designed to be accommodated in a standard Columbus rack, and it iterfaces with existing rack utility services. The design is based on a non-contact strategy, whereby the payload 'floats' inside the rack, and its position is controlled by a number of magnetic actuators. The main advantage of using this non-contact strategy is the improved microgravity quality available. The overall design of the facility and a description of its elements are given.

XRMON-GF: A novel facility for solidification of metallic alloys with in situ and time-resolved X-ray radiographic characterization in microgravity conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen-Thi, H.; Reinhart, G.; Salloum Abou Jaoude, G.; Mathiesen, R. H.; Zimmermann, G.; Houltz, Y.; Voss, D.; Verga, A.; Browne, D. J.; Murphy, A. G.

2013-07-01

As most of the phenomena involved during the growth of metallic alloys from the melt are dynamic, in situ and time-resolved X-ray imaging should be retained as the method of choice for investigating the solidification front evolution. On Earth, the gravity force is the major source of various disturbing effects (natural convection, buoyancy/sedimentation, and hydrostatic pressure) which can significantly modify or mask certain physical mechanisms. Therefore solidification under microgravity is an efficient way to eliminate such perturbations to provide unique benchmark data for the validation of models and numerical simulations. Up to now, in situ observation during microgravity solidification experiments were limited to the investigations on transparent organic alloys, using optical methods. On the other hand, in situ observation on metallic alloys generally required synchrotron facilities. This paper reports on a novel facility we have designed and developed to investigate directional solidification on metallic alloys in microgravity conditions with in situ X-ray radiography observation. The facility consists of a Bridgman furnace and an X-ray radiography device specifically devoted to the study of Al-based alloys. An unprecedented experiment was recently performed on board a sounding rocket, with a 6 min period of microgravity. Radiographs were successfully recorded during the entire experiment including the melting and solidification phases of the sample, with a Field-of-View of about 5 mm×5 mm, a spatial resolution of about 4 µm and a frequency of 2 frames per second. Some preliminary results are presented on the solidification of the Al-20 wt% Cu sample, which validate the apparatus and confirm the potential of in situ X-ray characterization for the investigation of dynamical phenomena in materials processing, and particularly for the studying of metallic alloys solidification.

Microgravity Combustion Science and Fluid Physics Experiments and Facilities for the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lauver, Richard W.; Kohl, Fred J.; Weiland, Karen J.; Zurawski, Robert L.; Hill, Myron E.; Corban, Robert R.

2001-01-01

At the NASA Glenn Research Center, the Microgravity Science Program supports both ground-based and flight experiment research in the disciplines of Combustion Science and Fluid Physics. Combustion Science research includes the areas of gas jet diffusion flames, laminar flames, burning of droplets and misting fuels, solids and materials flammability, fire and fire suppressants, turbulent combustion, reaction kinetics, materials synthesis, and other combustion systems. The Fluid Physics discipline includes the areas of complex fluids (colloids, gels, foams, magneto-rheological fluids, non-Newtonian fluids, suspensions, granular materials), dynamics and instabilities (bubble and drop dynamics, magneto/electrohydrodynamics, electrochemical transport, geophysical flows), interfacial phenomena (wetting, capillarity, contact line hydrodynamics), and multiphase flows and phase changes (boiling and condensation, heat transfer, flow instabilities). A specialized International Space Station (ISS) facility that provides sophisticated research capabilities for these disciplines is the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). The FCF consists of the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) and the Shared Accommodations Rack and is designed to accomplish a large number of science investigations over the life of the ISS. The modular, multiuser facility is designed to optimize the science return within the available resources of on-orbit power, uplink/downlink capacity, crew time, upmass/downmass, volume, etc. A suite of diagnostics capabilities, with emphasis on optical techniques, will be provided to complement the capabilities of the subsystem multiuser or principal investigator-specific experiment modules. The paper will discuss the systems concept, technical capabilities, functionality, and the initial science investigations in each discipline.

Light Microscopy Module: An On-Orbit Microscope Planned for the Fluids and Combustion Facility on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doherty, Michael P.; Motil, Susan M.; Snead, John H.; Griffin, DeVon W.

2001-01-01

The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) is planned as a fully remotely controllable on-orbit microscope subrack facility, allowing flexible scheduling and control of fluids and biology experiments within NASA Glenn Research Center's Fluids and Combustion Facility on the International Space Station. Within the Fluids and Combustion Facility, four fluids physics experiments will utilize an instrument built around a light microscope. These experiments are the Constrained Vapor Bubble experiment (Peter C. Wayner of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), the Physics of Hard Spheres Experiment-2 (Paul M. Chaikin of Princeton University), the Physics of Colloids in Space-2 experiment (David A. Weitz of Harvard University), and the Low Volume Fraction Colloidal Assembly experiment (Arjun G. Yodh of the University of Pennsylvania). The first experiment investigates heat conductance in microgravity as a function of liquid volume and heat flow rate to determine, in detail, the transport process characteristics in a curved liquid film. The other three experiments investigate various complementary aspects of the nucleation, growth, structure, and properties of colloidal crystals in microgravity and the effects of micromanipulation upon their properties. Key diagnostic capabilities for meeting the science requirements of the four experiments include video microscopy to observe sample features including basic structures and dynamics, interferometry to measure vapor bubble thin film thickness, laser tweezers for colloidal particle manipulation and patterning, confocal microscopy to provide enhanced three-dimensional visualization of colloidal structures, and spectrophotometry to measure colloidal crystal photonic properties.

Potential pressurized payloads: Fluid and thermal experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swanson, Theodore D.

1992-01-01

Space Station Freedom (SSF) presents the opportunity to perform long term fluid and thermal experiments in a microgravity environment. This presentation provides perspective on the need for fluids/thermal experimentation in a microgravity environment, addresses previous efforts, identifies possible experiments, and discusses the capabilities of a proposed fluid physics/dynamics test facility. Numerous spacecraft systems use fluids for their operation. Thermal control, propulsion, waste management, and various operational processes are examples of such systems. However, effective ground testing is very difficult. This is because the effect of gravity induced phenomena, such as hydrostatic pressure, buoyant convection, and stratification, overcome such forces as surface tension, diffusion, electric potential, etc., which normally dominate in a microgravity environment. Hence, space experimentation is necessary to develop and validate a new fluid based technology. Two broad types of experiments may be performed on SSF: basic research and applied research. Basic research might include experiments focusing on capillary phenomena (with or without thermal and/or solutal gradients), thermal/solutal convection, phase transitions, and multiphase flow. Representative examples of applied research might include two-phase pressure drop, two-phase flow instabilities, heat transfer coefficients, fluid tank fill/drain, tank slosh dynamics, condensate removal enhancement, and void formation within thermal energy storage materials. In order to better support such fluid/thermal experiments on board SSF, OSSA has developed a conceptual design for a proposed Fluid Physics/Dynamics Facility (FP/DF). The proposed facility consists of one facility rack permanently located on SSF and one experimenter rack which is changed out as needed to support specific experiments. This approach will minimize the on-board integration/deintegration required for specific experiments. The FP/DF will have acceleration/vibration compensation, power and thermal interfaces, computer command/data collection, a video imaging system, and a portable glove box for operations. This facility will allow real-time astronaut interaction with the testing.

Zero-Gravity Research Facility Drop Test (2/4)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

An experiment vehicle plunges into the deceleration pit at the end of a 5.18-second drop in the Zero-Gravity Research Facility at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The Zero-Gravity Research Facility was developed to support microgravity research and development programs that investigate various physical sciences, materials, fluid physcis, and combustion and processing systems. Payloads up to 1 meter in diameter and 455 kg in weight can be accommodated. The facility has a 145-meter evacuated shaft to ensure a disturbance-free drop. This is No. 2 of a sequence of 4 images. (Credit: NASA/Glenn Research Center)

Microscope-Based Fluid Physics Experiments in the Fluids and Combustion Facility on ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doherty, Michael P.; Motil, Susan M.; Snead, John H.; Malarik, Diane C.

2000-01-01

At the NASA Glenn Research Center, the Microgravity Science Program is planning to conduct a large number of experiments on the International Space Station in both the Fluid Physics and Combustion Science disciplines, and is developing flight experiment hardware for use within the International Space Station's Fluids and Combustion Facility. Four fluids physics experiments that require an optical microscope will be sequentially conducted within a subrack payload to the Fluids Integrated Rack of the Fluids and Combustion Facility called the Light Microscopy Module, which will provide the containment, changeout, and diagnostic capabilities to perform the experiments. The Light Microscopy Module is planned as a fully remotely controllable on-orbit microscope facility, allowing flexible scheduling and control of experiments within International Space Station resources. This paper will focus on the four microscope-based experiments, specifically, their objectives and the sample cell and instrument hardware to accommodate their requirements.

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox is a facility for performing microgravity research in the areas of materials, combustion, fluids and biotechnology science. The facility occupies a full ISPR, consisting of: the ISPR rack and infrastructure for the rack, the glovebox core facility, data handling, rack stowage, outfitting equipment, and a video subsystem. MSG core facility provides the experiment developers a chamber with air filtering and recycling, up to two levels of containment, an airlock for transfer of payload equipment to/from the main volume, interface resources for the payload inside the core facility, resources inside the airlock, and storage drawers for MSG support equipment and consumables.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-05-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox is a facility for performing microgravity research in the areas of materials, combustion, fluids and biotechnology science. The facility occupies a full ISPR, consisting of: the ISPR rack and infrastructure for the rack, the glovebox core facility, data handling, rack stowage, outfitting equipment, and a video subsystem. MSG core facility provides the experiment developers a chamber with air filtering and recycling, up to two levels of containment, an airlock for transfer of payload equipment to/from the main volume, interface resources for the payload inside the core facility, resources inside the airlock, and storage drawers for MSG support equipment and consumables.

Evaluation of Simulated Microgravity Environments Induced by Diamagnetic Levitation of Plant Cell Suspension Cultures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamal, Khaled Y.; Herranz, Raúl; van Loon, Jack J. W. A.; Christianen, Peter C. M.; Medina, F. Javier

2016-06-01

Ground-Based Facilities (GBF) are essetial tools to understand the physical and biological effects of the absence of gravity and they are necessary to prepare and complement space experiments. It has been shown previously that a real microgravity environment induces the dissociation of cell proliferation from cell growth in seedling root meristems, which are limited populations of proliferating cells. Plant cell cultures are large and homogeneous populations of proliferating cells, so that they are a convenient model to study the effects of altered gravity on cellular mechanisms regulating cell proliferation and associated cell growth. Cell suspension cultures of the Arabidopsis thaliana cell line MM2d were exposed to four altered gravity and magnetic field environments in a magnetic levitation facility for 3 hours, including two simulated microgravity and Mars-like gravity levels obtained with different magnetic field intensities. Samples were processed either by quick freezing, to be used in flow cytometry for cell cycle studies, or by chemical fixation for microscopy techniques to measure parameters of the nucleolus. Although the trend of the results was the same as those obtained in real microgravity on meristems (increased cell proliferation and decreased cell growth), we provide a technical discussion in the context of validation of proper conditions to achieve true cell levitation inside a levitating droplet. We conclude that the use of magnetic levitation as a simulated microgravity GBF for cell suspension cultures is not recommended.

An investigation of flame spread over shallow liquid pools in microgravity and nonair environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, Howard D.; Sotos, Raymond G.

1991-01-01

Experiments of interest to combustion fundamentals and spacecraft fire safety investigated flame spread of alcohol fuels over shallow, 15 cm diameter pools in a 5.2 sec free-fall, microgravity facility. Results showed that, independent O2 concentrations, alcohol fuel, and diluent types, microgravity flame spread rates were nearly identical to those corresponding normal-gravity flames for conditions where the normal gravity flames spread uniformly. This similarity indicated buoyancy-related convection in either phase does not affect flame spread, at least for the physical scale of the experiments. However, microgravity extinction coincided with the onset conditions for pulsating spread in normal gravity, implicating gas phase, buoyant flow as a requirement for pulsating spread. When the atmospheric nitrogen was replaced with argon, the conditions for the onset of normal-gravity pulsating flame spread and microgravity flame extinction were changed, in agreement with the expected lowering of the flash point through the thermal properties of the diluent. Helium-diluted flames, however, showed unexpected results with a shift to apparently higher flash-point temperatures and high normal gravity pulsation amplitudes.

An Investigation of Flame Spread over Shallow Liquid Pools in Microgravity and Nonair Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, Howard D.; Sotos, Raymond G.

1989-01-01

Experiments of interest to combustion fundamentals and spacecraft fire safety investigated flame spread of alcohol fuels over shallow, 15 cm diameter pools in a 5.2 sec free-fall, microgravity facility. Results showed that, independent O2 concentration, alcohol fuel, and diluent types, microgravity flame spread rates were nearly identical to those corresponding normal-gravity flames for conditions where the normal gravity flames spread uniformly. This similarity indicated buoyancy-related convection in either phase does not affect flame spread, at least for the physical scale of the experiments. However, microgravity extinction coincided with the onset conditions for pulsating spread in normal gravity, implicating gas phase, buoyant flow as a requirement for pulsating spread. When the atmospheric nitrogen was replaced with argon, the conditions for the onset of normal-gravity pulsating flame spread and microgravity flame extinction were changed, in agreement with the expected lowering of the flash point through the thermal properties of the diluent. Helium-diluted flames, however, showed unexpected results with a shift to apparently higher flash-point temperatures and high normal gravity pulsation amplitudes.

The Fluids And Combustion Facility Combustion Integrated Rack And The Multi-User Droplet Combustion Apparatus: Microgravity Combustion Science Using Modular Multi-User Hardware

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

OMalley, Terence F.; Myhre, Craig A.

2000-01-01

The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is a multi-rack payload planned for the International Space Station (ISS) that will enable the study of fluid physics and combustion science in a microgravity environment. The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) is one of two International Standard Payload Racks of the FCF and is being designed primarily to support combustion science experiments. The Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) is a multi-user apparatus designed to accommodate four different droplet combustion science experiments and is the first payload for CIR. The CIR will function independently until the later launch of the Fluids Integrated Rack component of the FCF. This paper provides an overview of the capabilities and the development status of the CIR and MDCA.

Programmable multi-zone furnace for microgravity research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenthal, Bruce N.; Krolikowski, Cathryn R.

1991-01-01

In order to provide new furnace technology to accommodate microgravity research studies and commercial applications in material processes, research has been initiated on the development of the Programmable-Multi-zone Furnace (PMZF). The PMZF is described as a multi-user materials processing furnace facility that is composed of thirty or more heater elements in series on a muffle tube or in a stacked ring-type configuration and independently controlled by a computer. One of the aims of the PMZF project is to allow furnace thermal gradient profiles to be reconfigured without physical modification of the hardware by creating the capability of reconfiguring thermal profiles in response to investigators' requests. The future location of the PMZF facility is discussed; the preliminary science survey results and preliminary conceptual designs for the PMZF are presented; and a review of multi-zone furnace technology is given.

Atom Interferometry with Ultracold Quantum Gases in a Microgravity Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Jason; D'Incao, Jose; Chiow, Sheng-Wey; Yu, Nan

2015-05-01

Precision atom interferometers (AI) in space promise exciting technical capabilities for fundamental physics research, with proposals including unprecedented tests of the weak equivalence principle, precision measurements of the fine structure and gravitational constants, and detection of gravity waves and dark energy. Consequently, multiple AI-based missions have been proposed to NASA, including a dual-atomic-species interferometer that is to be integrated into the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) onboard the International Space Station. In this talk, I will discuss our plans and preparation at JPL for the proposed flight experiments to use the CAL facility to study the leading-order systematics expected to corrupt future high-precision measurements of fundamental physics with AIs in microgravity. The project centers on the physics of pairwise interactions and molecular dynamics in these quantum systems as a means to overcome uncontrolled shifts associated with the gravity gradient and few-particle collisions. We will further utilize the CAL AI for proof-of-principle tests of systematic mitigation and phase-readout techniques for use in the next-generation of precision metrology experiments based on AIs in microgravity. This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1981-03-30

Composite of Marshall Space Flight Center's Low-Gravity Free Fall Facilities.These facilities include a 100-meter drop tower and a 100-meter drop tube. The drop tower simulates in-flight microgravity conditions for up to 4.2 seconds for containerless processing experiments, immiscible fluids and materials research, pre-flight hardware design test and flight experiment simulation. The drop tube simulates in-flight microgravity conditions for up to 4.6 seconds and is used extensively for ground-based microgravity convection research in which extremely small samples are studied. The facility can provide deep undercooling for containerless processing experiments that require materials to remain in a liquid phase when cooled below the normal solidification temperature.

Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J.B.; Vogt, Gregory L.; Wargo, Michael J.

1997-01-01

Microgravity is the subject of this teacher's guide. This publication identifies the underlying mathematics, physics, and technology principles that apply to microgravity. The topics included in this publication are: 1) Microgravity Science Primer; 2) The Microgravity Environment of Orbiting Spacecraft; 3) Biotechnology; 4) Combustion Science; 5) Fluid Physics; 6) Fundamental Physics; and 7) Materials Science; 8) Microgravity Research and Exploration; and 9) Microgravity Science Space Flights. This publication also contains a glossary of selected terms.

Combustion Research Aboard the ISS Utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and Microgravity Science Glovebox

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutliff, Thomas J.; Otero, Angel M.; Urban, David L.

2002-01-01

The Physical Sciences Research Program of NASA sponsors a broad suite of peer-reviewed research investigating fundamental combustion phenomena and applied combustion research topics. This research is performed through both ground-based and on-orbit research capabilities. The International Space Station (ISS) and two facilities, the Combustion Integrated Rack and the Microgravity Science Glovebox, are key elements in the execution of microgravity combustion flight research planned for the foreseeable future. This paper reviews the Microgravity Combustion Science research planned for the International Space Station implemented from 2003 through 2012. Examples of selected research topics, expected outcomes, and potential benefits will be provided. This paper also summarizes a multi-user hardware development approach, recapping the progress made in preparing these research hardware systems. Within the description of this approach, an operational strategy is presented that illustrates how utilization of constrained ISS resources may be maximized dynamically to increase science through design decisions made during hardware development.

Absolute And Convective Instability and Splitting of a Liquid Jet at Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, S. P.

2001-01-01

The objective is to establish a definitive role of the capillary, viscous, and inertial forces at a liquid-gas interface in the absence of gravity by using the fluid dynamics problem of the stability of a liquid jet as a vehicle. The objective is achieved by reexamining known theories and new theories that can be verified completely only in microgravity. The experiments performed in the microgravity facility at NASA Glenn Research Center enable the verification of the theory with experimental data. Of particular interest are (1) to capture for the first time the image of absolute instability, (2) to elucidate the fundamental difference in the physical mechanism of the drop and spray formation from a liquid jet, and (3) to find the origin of the newly discovered phenomenon of jet splitting on earth and in space.

The FCF Fluids Integrated Rack: Microgravity Fluid Physics Experimentation on Board the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gati, Frank G.; Hill, Myron E.; SaintOnge, Tom (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) is a modular, multi-user scientific research facility that will fly in the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, of the International Space Station (ISS). The FIR will be one of the racks that will constitute the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). The ISS will provide the FCF and therefore the FIR with the necessary resources, such as power and cooling, so that the FIR can carry out its primary mission of accommodating fluid physics science experiments. This paper discusses the mission, design, and the capabilities of the FIR in carrying out research on the ISS.

Light Microscopy Module Fan Disturbance Characterized Through Microgravity Emissions Laboratory Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNelis, Anne M.; Motil, Susan M.

2003-01-01

A Light Microscopy Module (LMM) is being engineered, designed, and developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The LMM is planned as a remotely controllable on-orbit microscope subrack facility, allowing flexible scheduling and control of physical science and biological science experiments within Glenn s Fluids Integrated Rack on the International Space Station. The LMM concept is a modified commercial research imaging light microscope with powerful laser-diagnostic hardware and interfaces, creating a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art microscopic research facility. The microscope will house several different objectives, corresponding to magnifications of 10, 40, 50, 63, and 100. Features of the LMM include high-resolution color video microscopy, brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, differential interference contrast, spectrophotometry, and confocal microscopy combined in a single configuration. Also, laser tweezers are integrated with the diagnostics as a sample manipulation technique. As part of the development phase of the LMM, it was necessary to quantify the microgravity disturbances generated by the control box fan. Isolating the fan was deemed necessary to reduce the fan speed harmonic amplitudes and to eliminate any broadband disturbances across the 60- to 70-Hz and 160- to 170-Hz frequency ranges. The accelerations generated by a control box fan component of the LMM were measured in the Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL). The MEL is a low-frequency measurement system developed to simulate and verify the on-orbit International Space Station (ISS) microgravity environment. The accelerations generated by various operating components of the ISS, if too large, could hinder the science performed onboard by disturbing the microgravity environment. The MEL facility gives customers a test-verified way of measuring their compliance with ISS limitations on vibratory disturbance levels. The facility is unique in that inertial forces in 6 degrees of freedom can be characterized simultaneously for an operating test article. Vibratory disturbance levels are measured for engineering or flight-level hardware following development from component to subassembly through the rack-level configuration. The MEL can measure accelerations as small as 10-7g, the accuracy needed to confirm compliance with ISS requirements.

Combustion, Complex Fluids, and Fluid Physics Experiments on the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motil, Brian; Urban, David

2012-01-01

From the very early days of human spaceflight, NASA has been conducting experiments in space to understand the effect of weightlessness on physical and chemically reacting systems. NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio has been at the forefront of this research looking at both fundamental studies in microgravity as well as experiments targeted at reducing the risks to long duration human missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. In the current International Space Station (ISS) era, we now have an orbiting laboratory that provides the highly desired condition of long-duration microgravity. This allows continuous and interactive research similar to Earth-based laboratories. Because of these capabilities, the ISS is an indispensible laboratory for low gravity research. NASA GRC has been actively involved in developing and operating facilities and experiments on the ISS since the beginning of a permanent human presence on November 2, 2000. As the lead Center for combustion, complex fluids, and fluid physics; GRC has led the successful implementation of the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) and the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) as well as the continued use of other facilities on the ISS. These facilities have supported combustion experiments in fundamental droplet combustion; fire detection; fire extinguishment; soot phenomena; flame liftoff and stability; and material flammability. The fluids experiments have studied capillary flow; magneto-rheological fluids; colloidal systems; extensional rheology; pool and nucleate boiling phenomena. In this paper, we provide an overview of the experiments conducted on the ISS over the past 12 years.

Microgravity Simulation Facility (MSF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richards, Stephanie E. (Compiler); Levine, Howard G.; Zhang, Ye

2016-01-01

The Microgravity Simulator Facility (MSF) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was established to support visiting scientists for short duration studies utilizing a variety of microgravity simulator devices that negate the directional influence of the "g" vector (providing simulated conditions of micro or partial gravity). KSC gravity simulators can be accommodated within controlled environment chambers allowing investigators to customize and monitor environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, CO2, and light exposure.

Low Gravity Freefall Facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Composite of Marshall Space Flight Center's Low-Gravity Free Fall Facilities.These facilities include a 100-meter drop tower and a 100-meter drop tube. The drop tower simulates in-flight microgravity conditions for up to 4.2 seconds for containerless processing experiments, immiscible fluids and materials research, pre-flight hardware design test and flight experiment simulation. The drop tube simulates in-flight microgravity conditions for up to 4.6 seconds and is used extensively for ground-based microgravity convection research in which extremely small samples are studied. The facility can provide deep undercooling for containerless processing experiments that require materials to remain in a liquid phase when cooled below the normal solidification temperature.

Material Science

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-01-22

One of the first materials science experiments on the International Space Station -- the Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) -- will be conducted during Expedition Five inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The glovebox is the first dedicated facility delivered to the Station for microgravity physical science research, and this experiment will be the first one operated inside the glovebox. The glovebox's sealed work environment makes it an ideal place for the furnace that will be used to melt semiconductor crystals. Astronauts can change out samples and manipulate the experiment by inserting their hands into a pair of gloves that reach inside the sealed box. Dr. Aleksandar Ostrogorsky, a materials scientist from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and the principal investigator for the SUBSA experiment, uses the gloves to examine an ampoule like the ones used for his experiment inside the glovebox's work area. The Microgravity Science Glovebox and the SUBSA experiment are managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Physical and digital simulations for IVA robotics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinman, Elaine; Workman, Gary L.

1992-01-01

Space based materials processing experiments can be enhanced through the use of IVA robotic systems. A program to determine requirements for the implementation of robotic systems in a microgravity environment and to develop some preliminary concepts for acceleration control of small, lightweight arms has been initiated with the development of physical and digital simulation capabilities. The physical simulation facilities incorporate a robotic workcell containing a Zymark Zymate II robot instrumented for acceleration measurements, which is able to perform materials transfer functions while flying on NASA's KC-135 aircraft during parabolic manuevers to simulate reduced gravity. Measurements of accelerations occurring during the reduced gravity periods will be used to characterize impacts of robotic accelerations in a microgravity environment in space. Digital simulations are being performed with TREETOPS, a NASA developed software package which is used for the dynamic analysis of systems with a tree topology. Extensive use of both simulation tools will enable the design of robotic systems with enhanced acceleration control for use in the space manufacturing environment.

International Microgravity Plasma Facility IMPF: A Multi-User Modular Research Facility for Complex Plasma Research on ISS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seurig, R.; Burfeindt, J.; Castegini, R.; Griethe, W.; Hofmann, P.

2002-01-01

On March 03, 2001, the PKE-Nefedov plasma experiment was successfully put into operation on board ISS. This complex plasma experiment is the predecessor for the semi-autonomous multi-user facility IMPF (International Microgravity Plasma Facility) to be flown in 2006 with an expected operational lifetime of 10 years. IMPF is envisioned to be an international research facility for investigators in the field of multi-component plasmas containing ions, electrons, and charged microparticles. This research filed is often referred to as "complex plasmas". The actual location of IMPF on ISS is not decided yet; potential infrastructure under consideration are EXPRESS Rack, Standard Interface Rack SIR, European Drawer Rack EDR, or a to be designed custom rack infrastructure on the Russian Segment. The actual development status of the DLR funded Pre-phase B Study for IMPF will be presented. For this phase, IMPF was assumed to be integrated in an EXPRESS Rack requiring four middeck lockers with two 4-PU ISIS drawers for accommodation. Technical and operational challenges, like a 240 Mbytes/sec continuous experimental data stream for 60 minutes, will be addressed. The project was funded by the German Space Agency (DLR) and was performed in close cooperation with scientists from the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestical Physics in Munich, Germany.

Acceleration Environment of the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McPherson, Kevin; Kelly, Eric; Keller, Jennifer

2009-01-01

Measurement of the microgravity acceleration environment on the International Space Station has been accomplished by two accelerometer systems since 2001. The Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System records the quasi-steady microgravity environment, including the influences of aerodynamic drag, vehicle rotation, and venting effects. Measurement of the vibratory/transient regime, comprised of vehicle, crew, and equipment disturbances, has been accomplished by the Space Acceleration Measurement System-II. Until the arrival of the Columbus Orbital Facility and the Japanese Experiment Module, the location of these sensors, and therefore, the measurement of the microgravity acceleration environment, has been limited to within the United States Laboratory. Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency has developed a vibratory acceleration measurement system called the Microgravity Measurement Apparatus which will be deployed within the Japanese Experiment Module to make distributed measurements of the Japanese Experiment Module's vibratory acceleration environment. Two Space Acceleration Measurement System sensors from the United States Laboratory will be re-deployed to support vibratory acceleration data measurement within the Columbus Orbital Facility. The additional measurement opportunities resulting from the arrival of these new laboratories allows Principal Investigators with facilities located in these International Space Station research laboratories to obtain microgravity acceleration data in support of their sensitive experiments. The Principal Investigator Microgravity Services project, at NASA Glenn Research Center, in Cleveland, Ohio, has supported acceleration measurement systems and the microgravity scientific community through the processing, characterization, distribution, and archival of the microgravity acceleration data obtained from the International Space Station acceleration measurement systems. This paper summarizes the PIMS capabilities available to the International Space Station scientific community, introduces plans for extending microgravity analysis results to the newly arrived scientific laboratories, and provides summary information for known microgravity environment disturbers.

Gravity-Dependent Combustion and Fluids Research - From Drop Towers to Aircraft to the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, David L.; Singh, Bhim S.; Kohl, Fred J.

2007-01-01

Driven by the need for knowledge related to the low-gravity environment behavior of fluids in liquid fuels management, thermal control systems and fire safety for spacecraft, NASA embarked on a decades long research program to understand, accommodate and utilize the relevant phenomena. Beginning in the 1950s, and continuing through to today, drop towers and aircraft were used to conduct an ever broadening and increasingly sophisticated suite of experiments designed to elucidate the underlying gravity-dependent physics that drive these processes. But the drop towers and aircraft afford only short time periods of continuous low gravity. Some of the earliest rocket test flights and manned space missions hosted longer duration experiments. The relatively longer duration low-g times available on the space shuttle during the 1980s and 1990s enabled many specialized experiments that provided unique data for a wide range of science and engineering disciplines. Indeed, a number of STS-based Spacelab missions were dedicated solely to basic and applied microgravity research in the biological, life and physical sciences. Between 1980 and 2000, NASA implemented a vigorous Microgravity Science Program wherein combustion science and fluid physics were major components. The current era of space stations from the MIR to the International Space Station have opened up a broad range of opportunities and facilities that are now available to support both applied research for technologies that will help to enable the future exploration missions and for a continuation of the non-exploration basic research that began over fifty years ago. The ISS-based facilities of particular value to the fluid physics and combustion/fire safety communities are the Fluids and Combustion Facility Combustion Integrated Rack and the Fluids Integrated Rack.

Space Studies Board Annual Report 1994

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The following summaries of major reports are presented: (1) 'Scientific Opportunities in the Human Exploration of Space;' (2) 'A Space Physics Paradox;' (3) 'An Integrated Strategy for the Planetary Sciences;' and (4) 'ONR (Office of Naval Research) Research Opportunities in Upper Atmospheric Sciences.' Short reports on the following topics are also presented: life and microgravity sciences and the Space Station Program, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and the Stratospheric Observatory for infrared astronomy, the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility and Cassini Saturn Probe, and the utilization of the Space Station.

The microgravity environment of the D1 mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamacher, H.; Merbold, U.; Jilg, R.

1990-01-01

Some characteristic features and results of D1 microgravity measurements are discussed as performed in the Material Science Double Rack (MSDR) and the Materials Science Double Rack for Experiment Modules and Apparatus (MEDEA). Starting with a brief review of the main potential disturbances, the payload aspects of interest to the analysis and the accelerometer measuring systems are described. The microgravity data are analyzed with respect to selected mission events such as thruster firings for attitude control, operations of Spacelab experiment facilities, vestibular experiments and crew activities. The origins are divided into orbit, vehicle, and experiment induced perturbations. It has been found that the microgravity-environment is dictated mainly by payload-induced perturbations. To reduce the microgravity-level, the design of some experiment facilities has to be improved by minimizing the number of moving parts, decoupling of disturbing units from experiment facilities, by taking damping measures, etc. In addition, strongly disturbing experiments and very sensitive investigations should be performed in separate mission phases.

Boiling Experiment Facility for Heat Transfer Studies in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Delombard, Richard; McQuillen, John; Chao, David

2008-01-01

Pool boiling in microgravity is an area of both scientific and practical interest. By conducting tests in microgravity, it is possible to assess the effect of buoyancy on the overall boiling process and assess the relative magnitude of effects with regards to other "forces" and phenomena such as Marangoni forces, liquid momentum forces, and microlayer evaporation. The Boiling eXperiment Facility is now being built for the Microgravity Science Glovebox that will use normal perfluorohexane as a test fluid to extend the range of test conditions to include longer test durations and less liquid subcooling. Two experiments, the Microheater Array Boiling Experiment and the Nucleate Pool Boiling eXperiment will use the Boiling eXperiment Facility. The objectives of these studies are to determine the differences in local boiling heat transfer mechanisms in microgravity and normal gravity from nucleate boiling, through critical heat flux and into the transition boiling regime and to examine the bubble nucleation, growth, departure and coalescence processes. Custom-designed heaters will be utilized to achieve these objectives.

Combustion Of Interacting Droplet Arrays In Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dietrich, D. L.; Struk, P. M.; Ikegami, M.; Xu, G.

2003-01-01

Theory and experiments involving single droplet combustion date back to 1953, with the first microgravity work appearing in 1956. The problem of a spherical droplet burning in an infinite, quiescent microgravity environment is a classical problem in combustion research with the classical solution appearing in nearly every textbook on combustion. The microgravity environment offered by ground-based facilities such as drop towers and space-based facilities is ideal for studying the problem experimentally. A recent review by Choi and Dryer shows significant advances in droplet combustion have been made by studying the problem experimentally in microgravity and comparing the results to one dimensional theoretical and numerical treatments of the problem. Studying small numbers of interacting droplets in a well-controlled geometry represents a logical step in extending single droplet investigations to more practical spray configurations. Studies of droplet interactions date back to Rex and co-workers, and were recently summarized by Annamalai and Ryan. All previous studies determined the change in the burning rate constant, k, or the flame characteristics as a result of interactions. There exists almost no information on how droplet interactions a effect extinction limits, and if the extinction limits change if the array is in the diffusive or the radiative extinction regime. Thus, this study examined experimentally the effect that droplet interactions have on the extinction process by investigating the simplest array configuration, a binary droplet array. The studies were both in normal gravity, reduced pressure ambients and microgravity facilities. The microgravity facilities were the 2.2 and 5.2 second drop towers at the NASA Glenn Research Center and the 10 second drop tower at the Japan Microgravity Center. The experimental apparatus and the data analysis techniques are discussed in detail elsewhere.

Materials Science Research Hardware for Application on the International Space Station: an Overview of Typical Hardware Requirements and Features

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaefer, D. A.; Cobb, S.; Fiske, M. R.; Srinivas, R.

2000-01-01

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is the lead center for Materials Science Microgravity Research. The Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) is a key development effort underway at MSFC. The MSRF will be the primary facility for microgravity materials science research on board the International Space Station (ISS) and will implement the NASA Materials Science Microgravity Research Program. It will operate in the U.S. Laboratory Module and support U. S. Microgravity Materials Science Investigations. This facility is being designed to maintain the momentum of the U.S. role in microgravity materials science and support NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Enterprise goals and objectives for Materials Science. The MSRF as currently envisioned will consist of three Materials Science Research Racks (MSRR), which will be deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) in phases, Each rack is being designed to accommodate various Experiment Modules, which comprise processing facilities for peer selected Materials Science experiments. Phased deployment will enable early opportunities for the U.S. and International Partners, and support the timely incorporation of technology updates to the Experiment Modules and sensor devices.

Microgravity science and applications: Apparatus and facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

NASA support apparatus and facilities for microgravity research are summarized in fact sheets. The facilities are ground-based simulation environments for short-term experiments, and the shuttle orbiter environment for long duration experiments. The 17 items of the microgravitational experimental apparatus are described. Electronic materials, alloys, biotechnology, fluid dynamics and transport phenomena, glasses and ceramics, and combustion science are among the topics covered.

Fluid Physics and Macromolecular Crystal Growth in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Helliwell, John R.; Snell, Edward H.; Chayen, Naomi E.; Judge, Russell A.; Boggon, Titus J.; Pusey, M. L.; Rose, M. Franklin (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The first protein crystallization experiment in microgravity was launched in April, 1981 and used Germany's Technologische Experimente unter Schwerelosigkeit (TEXUS 3) sounding rocket. The protein P-galactosidase (molecular weight 465Kda) was chosen as the sample with a liquid-liquid diffusion growth method. A sliding device brought the protein, buffer and salt solution into contact when microgravity was reached. The sounding rocket gave six minutes of microgravity time with a cine camera and schlieren optics used to monitor the experiment, a single growth cell. In microgravity a strictly laminar diffusion process was observed in contrast to the turbulent convection seen on the ground. Several single crystals, approx 100micron in length, were formed in the flight which were of inferior but of comparable visual quality to those grown on the ground over several days. A second experiment using the same protocol but with solutions cooled to -8C (kept liquid with glycerol antifreeze) again showed laminar diffusion. The science of macromolecular structural crystallography involves crystallization of the macromolecule followed by use of the crystal for X-ray diffraction experiments to determine the three dimensional structure of the macromolecule. Neutron protein crystallography is employed for elucidation of H/D exchange and for improved definition of the bound solvent (D20). The structural information enables an understanding of how the molecule functions with important potential for rational drug design, improved efficiency of industrial enzymes and agricultural chemical development. The removal of turbulent convection and sedimentation in microgravity, and the assumption that higher quality crystals will be produced, has given rise to the growing number of crystallization experiments now flown. Many experiments can be flown in a small volume with simple, largely automated, equipment - an ideal combination for a microgravity experiment. The term "protein crystal growth" is often historically used to describe these microgravity experiments. This is somewhat inaccurate as the field involves the study of many varied biological molecules including viruses, proteins, DNA, RNA and complexes of those structures. For this reason we use the term macromolecular crystal growth. In this chapter we review a series of diagnostic microgravity crystal growth experiments carried out principally using the European Space Agency (ESA) Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility (APCF). We also review related research, both experimental and theoretical, on the aspects of microgravity fluid physics that affect microgravity protein crystal growth. Our experiments have revealed some surprises that were not initially expected. We discuss them here in the context of practical lessons learnt and how to maximize the limited microgravity opportunities available.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-09-30

The Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) Facility established at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) supports NASA's Microgravity Materials Science Research Program. NASA materials science investigations include ground-based, flight definition and flight projects. Flight definition projects, with demanding science concept review schedules, receive highest priority for scheduling experiment time in the Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) Facility.

AGHF, TRE and TVD experiment activity in the Spacelab during LMS-1 mission

NASA Image and Video Library

1996-07-09

STS078-396-015 (20 June - 7 July 1996) --- Payload specialist Jean-Jacques Favier, representing the French Space Agency (CNES), prepares a sample for the Advanced Gradient Heating Facility (AGHF) while wearing instruments that measure upper body movement. The Torso Rotation Experiment (TRE) complements other vestibular studies that measure differences in the way human beings react physically to their surroundings in microgravity. This is a typical Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS-1) mission scene, with several experiments being performed. Astronaut Susan J. Helms, payload commander, assists Favier in the AGHF preparations. Astronaut Richard M. Linnehan (bottom right), mission specialist, tests his muscle response with the Handgrip Dynamometer. Astronaut Thomas T. (Tom) Henricks (far background), mission commander, offers assistance.

Microgravity science and applications program tasks, 1991 revision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Presented here is a compilation of the active research tasks for FY 1991 sponsored by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division of the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications. The purpose is to provide an overview of the program scope for managers and scientists in industry, university, and government communities. Included is an introductory description of the program, the strategy and overall goal, identification of the organizational structures and the people involved, and a description of each. The tasks are grouped into several categories: electronic materials; solidification of metals, alloys, and composites; fluids, interfaces, and transport; biotechnology; combustion science; glasses and ceramics; experimental technology, instrumentation, and facilities; and Physical and Chemistry Experiments (PACE). The tasks cover both the ground based and flight programs.

Gas-Grain Simulation Facility: Fundamental studies of particle formation and interactions. Volume 2: Abstracts, candidate experiments and feasibility study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fogleman, Guy (Editor); Huntington, Judith L. (Editor); Schwartz, Deborah E. (Editor); Fonda, Mark L. (Editor)

1989-01-01

An overview of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility (GGSF) project and its current status is provided. The proceedings of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility Experiments Workshop are recorded. The goal of the workshop was to define experiments for the GGSF--a small particle microgravity research facility. The workshop addressed the opportunity for performing, in Earth orbit, a wide variety of experiments that involve single small particles (grains) or clouds of particles. Twenty experiments from the fields of exobiology, planetary science, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biology, physics, and chemistry were described at the workshop and are outlined in Volume 2. Each experiment description included specific scientific objectives, an outline of the experimental procedure, and the anticipated GGSF performance requirements. Since these experiments represent the types of studies that will ultimately be proposed for the facility, they will be used to define the general science requirements of the GGSF. Also included in the second volume is a physics feasibility study and abstracts of example Gas-Grain Simulation Facility experiments and related experiments in progress.

Microgravity sciences application visiting scientist program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

Contract NAS8-38785, Microgravity Experimental and Theoretical Research, is a project involving a large number of individual research programs related to: determination of the structure of human serum albumin and other biomedically important proteins; analysis of thermodynamic properties of various proteins and models of protein nucleation; development of experimental techniques for the growth of protein crystals in space; study of the physics of electrical double layers in the mechanics of liquid interfaces; computational analysis of vapor crystal growth processes in microgravity; analysis of the influence of magnetic fields in damping residual flows in directional solidification processes; crystal growth and characterization of II-VI semiconductor alloys; and production of thin films for nonlinear optics. It is not intended that the programs will be necessarily limited to this set at any one time. The visiting scientists accomplishing these programs shall serve on-site at MSFC to take advantage of existing laboratory facilities and the daily opportunities for technical communications with various senior scientists.

Health maintenance facility: Dental equipment requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, John; Gosbee, John; Billica, Roger

1991-01-01

The objectives were to test the effectiveness of the Health Maintenance Facility (HMF) dental suction/particle containment system, which controls fluids and debris generated during simulated dental treatment, in microgravity; to test the effectiveness of fiber optic intraoral lighting systems in microgravity, while simulating dental treatment; and to evaluate the operation and function of off-the-shelf dental handheld instruments, namely a portable dental hand drill and temporary filling material, in microgravity. A description of test procedures, including test set-up, flight equipment, and the data acquisition system, is given.

Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility (APCF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This section of the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) publication contains articles entitled: (1) Crystallization of EGFR-EGF; (2) Crystallization of Apocrustacyanin C1; (3) Crystallization and X-ray Analysis of 5S rRNA and the 5S rRNA Domain A; (4) Growth of Lysozyme Crystals at Low Nucleation Density; (5) Comparative Analysis of Aspartyl tRNA-synthetase and Thaumatin Crystals Grown on Earth and In Microgravity; (6) Lysosome Crystal Growth in the Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility Monitored via Mach-Zehnder Interferometry and CCD Video; (7) Analysis of Thaumatin Crystals Grown on Earth and in Microgravity; (8) Crystallization of the Nucleosome Core Particle; (9) Crystallization of Photosystem I; (10) Mechanism of Membrane Protein Crystal Growth: Bacteriorhodopsin-mixed Micelle Packing at the Consolution Boundary, Stabilized in Microgravity; (11) Crystallization in a Microgravity Environment of CcdB, a Protein Involved in the Control of Cell Death; and (12) Crystallization of Sulfolobus Solfataricus

Chemical hazards database and detection system for Microgravity and Materials Processing Facility (MMPF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steele, Jimmy; Smith, Robert E.

1991-01-01

The ability to identify contaminants associated with experiments and facilities is directly related to the safety of the Space Station. A means of identifying these contaminants has been developed through this contracting effort. The delivered system provides a listing of the materials and/or chemicals associated with each facility, information as to the contaminant's physical state, a list of the quantity and/or volume of each suspected contaminant, a database of the toxicological hazards associated with each contaminant, a recommended means of rapid identification of the contaminants under operational conditions, a method of identifying possible failure modes and effects analysis associated with each facility, and a fault tree-type analysis that will provide a means of identifying potential hazardous conditions related to future planned missions.

Microgravity Science and Application Program tasks, 1989 revision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

The active research tasks, as of the fiscal year 1989, of the Microgravity Science and Applications Program, NASA Office of Space Science and Applications, involving several NASA Centers and other organizations are compiled. The purpose is to provide an overview of the program scope for managers and scientists in industry, university, and government communities. The scientists in industry, university, and government communities. An introductory description of the program, the strategy and overall goal, identification of the organizational structures and people involved, and a description of each task are included. Also provided is a list of recent publications. The tasks are grouped into several major categories: electronic materials, solidification of metals, alloys, and composites; fluids, interfaces, and transport; biotechnology; glasses and ceramics; combustion science; physical and chemistry experiments (PACE); and experimental technology, facilities, and instrumentation.

Microgravity Science and Applications Program tasks, 1990 revision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The active research tasks as of the end of the fiscal year 1990 sponsored by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division of the NASA Office of Space Science and Applications are compiled. The purpose is to provide an overview of the program scope for managers and scientists in industry, university, and government communities. The report includes an introductory description of the program, the strategy and overall goal; an index of principle investigators; and a description of each task. A list of recent publications is also provided. The tasks are grouped into six major categories: electronic materials; solidification of metals, alloys, and composites; fluid dynamics and transport phenomena; biotechnology; glasses and ceramics; combustion; experimental technology; facilities; and Physics And Chemistry Experiments (PACE). The tasks are divided into ground-based and flight experiments.

Microgravity: A Teacher's Guide With Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J. B.; Vogt, Gregory L.; Wargo, Michael J.

1997-01-01

The purpose of this curriculum supplement guide is to define and explain microgravity and show how microgravity can help us learn about the phenomena of our world. The front section of the guide is designed to provide teachers of science, mathematics, and technology at many levels with a foundation in microgravity science and applications. It begins with background information for the teacher on what microgravity is and how it is created. This is followed with information on the domains of microgravity science research; biotechnology, combustion science, fluid physics, fundamental physics, materials science, and microgravity research geared toward exploration. The background section concludes with a history of microgravity research and the expectations microgravity scientists have for research on the International Space Station. Finally, the guide concludes with a suggested reading list, NASA educational resources including electronic resources, and an evaluation questionnaire.

Technical accomplishments of the NASA Lewis Research Center, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

Topics addressed include: high-temperature composite materials; structural mechanics; fatigue life prediction for composite materials; internal computational fluid mechanics; instrumentation and controls; electronics; stirling engines; aeropropulsion and space propulsion programs, including a study of slush hydrogen; space power for use in the space station, in the Mars rover, and other applications; thermal management; plasma and radiation; cryogenic fluid management in space; microgravity physics; combustion in reduced gravity; test facilities and resources.

Fluids and Combustion Facility-Combustion Integrated Rack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Francisco, David R.

1998-01-01

This paper describes in detail the concept of performing Combustion microgravity experiments in the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) on the International Space Station (ISS). The extended duration microgravity environment of the ISS will enable microgravity research to enter into a new era of increased scientific and technological data return. The FCF is designed to increase the amount and quality of scientific and technological data and decrease the development cost of an individual experiment relative to the era of Space Shuttle experiments. This paper also describes how the FCF will cost effectively accommodate these experiments.

Combustion, Complex Fluids, and Fluid Physics Experiments on the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Motil, Brian; Urban, David

2012-01-01

From the very first days of human spaceflight, NASA has been conducting experiments in space to understand the effect of weightlessness on physical and chemically reacting systems. NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio has been at the forefront of this research looking at both fundamental studies in microgravity as well as experiments targeted at reducing the risks to long duration human missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. In the current International Space Station (ISS) era, we now have an orbiting laboratory that provides the highly desired condition of long-duration microgravity. This allows continuous and interactive research similar to Earth-based laboratories. Because of these capabilities, the ISS is an indispensible laboratory for low gravity research. NASA GRC has been actively involved in developing and operating facilities and experiments on the ISS since the beginning of a permanent human presence on November 2, 2000. As the lead Center both Combustion, Fluid Physics, and Acceleration Measurement GRC has led the successful implementation of an Acceleration Measurement systems, the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) as well as the continued use of other facilities on the ISS. These facilities have supported combustion experiments in fundamental droplet combustion fire detection fire extinguishment soot phenomena flame liftoff and stability and material flammability. The fluids experiments have studied capillary flow magneto-rheological fluids colloidal systems extensional rheology pool and nucleate boiling phenomena. In this paper, we provide an overview of the experiments conducted on the ISS over the past 12 years. We also provide a look to the future development. Experiments presented in combustion include areas such as droplet combustion, gaseous diffusion flames, solid fuels, premixed flame studies, fire safety, and super critical oxidation processes. In fluid physics, experiments are discussed in multiphase flows, capillary phenomena, and heat pipes. Finally in complex fluids, experiments in rheology and soft condensed materials will be presented.

The Personal Satellite Assistant: An Internal Spacecraft Autonomous Mobile Monitor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dorais, Gregory A.; Gawdiak, Yuri; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents an overview of the research and development effort at the NASA Ames Research Center to create an internal spacecraft autonomous mobile monitor capable of performing intra-vehicular sensing activities by autonomously navigating onboard the International Space Station. We describe the capabilities, mission roles, rationale, high-level functional requirements, and design challenges for an autonomous mobile monitor. The rapid prototyping design methodology used, in which five prototypes of increasing fidelity are designed, is described as well as the status of these prototypes, of which two are operational and being tested, and one is actively being designed. The physical test facilities used to perform ground testing are briefly described, including a micro-gravity test facility that permits a prototype to propel itself in 3 dimensions with 6 degrees-of-freedom as if it were in an micro-gravity environment. We also describe an overview of the autonomy framework and its components including the software simulators used in the development process. Sample mission test scenarios are also described. The paper concludes with a discussion of future and related work followed by the summary.

The Microgravity Demonstrator.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Melissa J. B.; Wargo, Michael J.

The Microgravity Demonstrator is a tool used to create microgravity conditions in the classroom. A series of demonstrations is used to provide a dramatically visual, physical connection between free-fall and microgravity conditions in order to understand why various types of experiments are performed under microgravity conditions. The manual is…

Flame Radiation, Structure, and Scalar Properties in Microgravity Laminar Fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feikema, Douglas; Lim, Jongmook; Sivathanu, Yudaya

2007-01-01

Results from microgravity combustion experiments conducted in the Zero Gravity Research Facility (ZGF) 5.18 second drop facility are reported. The results quantify flame radiation, structure, and scalar properties during the early phase of a microgravity fire. Emission mid-infrared spectroscopy measurements have been completed to quantitatively determine the flame temperature, water and carbon dioxide vapor concentrations, radiative emissive power, and soot concentrations in microgravity laminar methane/air, ethylene/nitrogen/air and ethylene/air jet flames. The measured peak mole fractions for water vapor and carbon dioxide are found to be in agreement with state relationship predictions for hydrocarbon/air combustion. The ethylene/air laminar flame conditions are similar to previously reported results including those from the flight project, Laminar Soot Processes (LSP). Soot concentrations and gas temperatures are in reasonable agreement with similar results available in the literature. However, soot concentrations and flame structure dramatically change in long-duration microgravity laminar diffusion flames as demonstrated in this report.

Theoretical studies of association and dissociation of Feshbach molecules in a microgravity environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Incao, Jose; Williams, Jason

2017-04-01

NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is a multi-user facility scheduled for launch to the ISS in 2017. Our flight experiments with CAL will characterize and mitigate leading-order systematics in dual-atomic-species atom interferometers in microgravity relevant for future fundamental physics missions in space. As part of the initial state preparation for interferometry studies, here, we study the RF association and dissociation of weakly bound heteronuclear Feshbach molecules for expected parameters relevant for the microgravity environment of CAL. This includes temperatures on the pico-Kelvin range and atomic densities as low as 108/cm3. We show that under such conditions, thermal and loss effects can be greatly suppressed, resulting in high efficiency in both association and dissociation of extremely weakly bound Feshbach molecules and allowing for high accuracy determination coherent properties of such processes. In addition we study the possibility to implement delta-kick cooling techniques for weakly bound heteronuclear molecules and explore numerically other methods for molecular association and dissociation including the effects of three-body interactions. This research is supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Microgravity: Teacher's Guide with Activities for Physical Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vogt, Gregory L.; Wargo, Michael J.

This teacher's guide to microgravity contains 16 student science activities with full background information to facilitate an understanding of the concepts of microgravity for teachers and students. Topics covered in the background sections include the definitions of gravity and microgravity, creating microgravity, the fluid state, combustion…

Proceedings of the Fourth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Bhim S. (Editor)

1999-01-01

This conference presents information to the scientific community on research results, future directions, and research opportunities in microgravity fluid physics and transport phenomena within NASA's microgravity research program. The conference theme is "The International Space Station." Plenary sessions provide an overview of the Microgravity Fluid Physics Program, the International Space Station and the opportunities ISS presents to fluid physics and transport phenomena researchers, and the process by which researchers may become involved in NASA's program, including information about the NASA Research Announcement in this area. Two plenary lectures present promising areas of research in electrohydrodynamics/electrokinetics in the movement of particles and in micro- and meso-scale effects on macroscopic fluid dynamics. Featured speakers in plenary sessions present results of recent flight experiments not heretofore presented. The conference publication consists of this book of abstracts and the full Proceedings of the 4th Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference on CD-ROM, containing full papers presented at the conference (NASA/CP-1999-208526/SUPPL1).

MSG: Microgravity Science Glovebox

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baugher, C.R.; Ramachandran, N.; Roark, W.

1996-12-31

The capabilities of the Space Station glovebox facility is described. Tentatively scheduled to be launched in 1999, this facility called the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox (MSG), will provide a robust and sophisticated platform for doing microgravity experiments on the Space Station. It will provide an environment not only for testing and evaluating experiment concepts, but also serve as a platform for doing fairly comprehensive science investigations. Its design has evolved substantially from the middeck glovebox, now flown on Space Shuttle missions, not only in increased experiment volume but also in significant capability enhancements. The system concept, functionality and architecture are discussedmore » along with technical information that will benefit potential science investigators.« less

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-10-20

Onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-73) Mission Specialists Catherine Cady Coleman works at the glovebox facility in support of the Protein Crystal Growth Glovebox (PCG-GBX) experiment in the United States Microgravity Laboratory 2 (USML-2) Spacelab science module.

Metals combustion in normal gravity and microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinberg, Theodore A.; Wilson, D. Bruce; Benz, Frank J.

1993-01-01

The study of the combustion characteristics of metallic materials has been an ongoing area of research at the NASA White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). This research has been in support of both government and industrial operations and deals not only with the combustion of specific metallic materials but also with the relative flammabilities of these materials under similar conditions. Since many of the metallic materials that are characterized at WSTF for aerospace applications are to be used in microgravity environments, it was apparent that the testing of these materials needed to proceed in a microgravity environment. It was believed that burning metallic materials in a microgravity environment would allow the evaluation of the validity of applying normal gravity combustion tests to characterize metallic materials to be used in microgravity environments. It was also anticipated that microgravity testing would provide insight into the general combustion process of metallic materials. The availability of the NASA Lewis Research Center's (LeRC) 2.2-second drop tower provided the necessary facility to accomplish the microgravity portion of the testing while the normal gravity testing was conducted at NASA WSTF. The tests, both at LeRC and WSTF, were conducted in the same instrumented system and utilized the standard metal flammability test of upward propagation burning of cylindrical rod samples.

The Biotechnology Facility for International Space Station.

PubMed

Goodwin, Thomas; Lundquist, Charles; Tuxhorn, Jennifer; Hurlbert, Katy

2004-03-01

The primary mission of the Cellular Biotechnology Program is to advance microgravity as a tool in basic and applied cell biology. The microgravity environment can be used to study fundamental principles of cell biology and to achieve specific applications such as tissue engineering. The Biotechnology Facility (BTF) will provide a state-of-the-art facility to perform cellular biotechnology research onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The BTF will support continuous operation, which will allow performance of long-duration experiments and will significantly increase the on-orbit science throughput.

The Biotechnology Facility for International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goodwin, Thomas; Lundquist, Charles; Tuxhorn, Jennifer; Hurlbert, Katy

2004-01-01

The primary mission of the Cellular Biotechnology Program is to advance microgravity as a tool in basic and applied cell biology. The microgravity environment can be used to study fundamental principles of cell biology and to achieve specific applications such as tissue engineering. The Biotechnology Facility (BTF) will provide a state-of-the-art facility to perform cellular biotechnology research onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The BTF will support continuous operation, which will allow performance of long-duration experiments and will significantly increase the on-orbit science throughput.

The NASA Materials Science Research Program - It's New Strategic Goals and Plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald A.

2003-01-01

In 2001, the NASA created a separate science enterprise, the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), to perform strategical and fundamental research bringing together physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to solve problems needed for future agency mission goals. The Materials Science Program is one of basic research disciplines within this new Enterprise's Division of Physical Sciences Research. The Materials Science Program participates to utilize effective use of International Space Station (ISS) experimental facilities, target new scientific and technology questions, and transfer results for Earth benefits. The program has recently pursued new investigative research in areas necessary to expand NASA knowledge base for exploration of the universe, some of which will need access to the microgravity of space. The program has a wide variety of traditional ground and flight based research related types of basic science related to materials crystallization, fundamental processing, and properties characterization in order to obtain basic understanding of various phenomena effects and relationships to the structures, processing, and properties of materials. A summary of the types and sources for this research is presented and those experiments planned for the space. Areas to help expand the science basis for NASA future missions are described. An overview of the program is given including the scope of the current and future NASA Research Announcements with emphasis on new materials science initiatives. A description of the planned flight experiments to be conducted on the International Space Station program along with the planned facility class Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) and Microgravity Glovebox (MSG) type investigations.

Equipment for Microgravity Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fountain, J. A.

1986-01-01

Illustrated catalog describes equipment and facilities available for experiments under low-gravity conditions. Catalog encourages scientific and commercial organizations to investigate benefits of conducting research and manufacturing activities in microgravity environment. Catalog covers equipment ranging from containers to spacecraft.

Mineral metabolism in isolated mouse long bones: Opposite effects of microgravity on mineralization and resorption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veldhuijzen, Jean Paul; Vanloon, Jack J. W. A.

1994-01-01

An experiment using isolated skeletal tissues under microgravity, is reported. Fetal mouse long bones (metatarsals) were cultured for 4 days in the Biorack facility of Spacelab during the IML-1 (International Microgravity Laboratory) mission of the Space Shuttle. Overall growth was not affected, however glucose consumption was significantly reduced under microgravity. Mineralization of the diaphysis was also strongly reduced under microgravity as compared to the on-board 1 g group. In contrast, mineral resorption by osteoclasts was signficantly increased. These results indicate that these fetal mouse long bones are a sensitive and useful model to further study the cellular mechanisms involved in the changed mineral metabolism of skeletal tissues under microgravity.

The Microgravity Demonstrator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J. B.; Wargo, Michael J.

1999-01-01

The Demonstrator is a tool to create microgravity conditions in your classroom. A series of demonstrations is used to provide a dramatically visual, physical connection between free-fall and microgravity conditions and to understand why various types of experiments are performed under microgravity conditions. A wealth of back-round material on free-fall, microgravity, and micro-gravity sciences is available in two educational documents available through the NASA Teacher Resource Centers: Microgravity-Activity Guide for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, and The Mathematics of Microgravity. The remainder of this manual is divided into five sections. The first explains how to put the Microgravity Demonstrator together. The next section introduces the individual demonstrations and discusses the underlying physical science concepts. Following that are detailed steps for conducting each demonstration to make your use of the Demonstrator most effective. Next are some ideas on how to make your own Microgravity Demonstrator. The last section is a tips and troubleshooting guide for video connections and operations. If you have one of the NASA Microgravity Demonstrators, this entire manual should be useful. If you have a copy of the Microgravity Demonstrator Videotape and would like to use that as a teaching tool, the Demonstrations and Scientific Background section of this manual will give you insight into the science areas studied in microgravity.

Microgravity Research Results and Experiences from the NASA Mir Space Station Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schagheck, R. A.; Trach, B.

2000-01-01

The Microgravity Research Program Office (MRPO) participated aggressively in Phase I of the International Space Station Program using the Russian Mir Space Station. The Mir Station offered an otherwise unavailable opportunity to explore the advantages and challenges to long duration microgravity space research. Payloads with both NASA and commercial backing were included as well as cooperative research with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). From this experience, much was learned about dealing with long duration on orbit science utilization and developing new working relationships with our Russian partner to promote efficient planning, operations, and integration to solve complexities associated with a multiple partner program. Microgravity participation in the NASA Mir Program began with the first joint NASA Mir flight to the Mir Space Station. The earliest participation setup acceleration measurement capabilities that were used throughout the Program. Research, conducted by all Microgravity science disciplines, continued on each subsequent increment for the entire three-year duration of the Program. The Phase I Program included the Microgravity participation of over 30 Fluids, Combustion, Materials, and Biotechnology Sciences and numerous commercially sponsored research payloads. In addition to the research gained from Microgravity investigations, long duration operation of facility hardware was tested. Microgravity facilities operated on Mir included the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS), the Microgravity Glovebox (MGBX), the Biotechnology System (BTS) and the Canadian Space Agency sponsored Microgravity Isolation Mount (MIM). The Russian OPTIZONE Furnace was also incorporated into our material science research. All of these efforts yielded significant and useful scientific research data. This paper focuses on the microgravity research conducted onboard the Mir space station. It includes the Program preparation and planning necessary to support this type of cross increment research experience; the payloads which were flown; and summaries of significant microgravity science findings. Most importantly this paper highlights the various disciplines of microgravity research conducted during the International Space Station, Phase 1 Program onboard the Mir Station. A capsulation of significant research and the applicability of our findings are provided. In addition, a brief discussion of how future microgravity science gathering capabilities, hardware development and payload operations techniques have enhanced our ability to conduct long duration microgravity research.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-03-04

Onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-62) Mission specialist Charles D. (Sam) Gemar works with the Middeck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment (MODE). The reusable test facility is designed to study the nonlinear, gravity-dependent behavior of liquids and skewed space structures in the microgravity environment.

The FCF Combustion Integrated Rack: Microgravity Combustion Science Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

OMalley, Terence F.; Weiland, Karen J.

2002-01-01

The Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) is one of three facility payload racks being developed for the International Space Station (ISS) Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). Most microgravity combustion experiments will be performed onboard the Space Station in the Combustion Integrated Rack. Experiment-specific equipment will be installed on orbit in the CIR to customize it to perform many different scientific experiments during the ten or more years that it will operate on orbit. This paper provides an overview of the CIR, including a description of its preliminary design and planned accommodations for microgravity combustion science experiments, and descriptions of the combustion science experiments currently planned for the CIR.

Solidification Using the Baffle in Sealed Ampoules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostrogorsky, A.; Marin, C.; Churilov, A.; Volz, M. P.; Bonner, W. A.; Spivey, R. A.; Smith, G.

2003-01-01

Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) is the first investigation conducted in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility at the International Space Station (ISS) Alpha. In July, August and September of 2002, 8 single crystals of InSb, doped with Te and Zn, were directionally solidified in microgravity. Ground based tests, related numerical modeling and images of the growth process obtained in microgravity are presented.

Development of a Simulation Capability for the Space Station Active Rack Isolation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Terry L.; Tolson, Robert H.

1998-01-01

To realize quality microgravity science on the International Space Station, many microgravity facilities will utilize the Active Rack Isolation System (ARIS). Simulation capabilities for ARIS will be needed to predict the microgravity environment. This paper discusses the development of a simulation model for use in predicting the performance of the ARIS in attenuating disturbances with frequency content between 0.01 Hz and 10 Hz. The derivation of the model utilizes an energy-based approach. The complete simulation includes the dynamic model of the ISPR integrated with the model for the ARIS controller so that the entire closed-loop system is simulated. Preliminary performance predictions are made for the ARIS in attenuating both off-board disturbances as well as disturbances from hardware mounted onboard the microgravity facility. These predictions suggest that the ARIS does eliminate resonant behavior detrimental to microgravity experimentation. A limited comparison is made between the simulation predictions of ARIS attenuation of off-board disturbances and results from the ARIS flight test. These comparisons show promise, but further tuning of the simulation is needed.

Proceedings of the Fourth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

This conference presents information to the scientific community on research results, future directions, and research opportunities in microgravity fluid physics and transport phenomena within NASA's microgravity research program. The conference theme is "The International Space Station." The conference publication consists of the full Proceedings of the 4th Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference on CD-ROM, containing full papers presented at the conference. Ninety papers are presented in 21 technical sessions, and a special exposition session presents 32 posters describing the work of principal investigators new to NASA's program in this discipline. Eighty-eight papers and 25 posters are presented in their entirety on the CD-ROM.

KSC-97pc562

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-04-04

STS-83 Payload Specialist Roger K. Crouch is assisted into his launch/entry suit in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building. He is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Microgravity Space and Applications Division. He also has served as a Program Scientist for previous Spacelab microgravity missions and is an expert in semiconductor crystal growth. Since Crouch has more than 25 years of experience as a materials scientist, he will be concentrating on the five physics of materials processing experiments in the Middeck Glovebox Facility on the Blue shift. He will also share the workload with Thomas by monitoring the materials furnace experiments during this time. Crouch and six fellow crew members will shortly depart the O&C and head for Launch Pad 39A, where the Space Shuttle Columbia will lift off during a launch window that opens at 2:00 p.m. EST, April 4

KSC-97PC972

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-07-01

STS-94 Payload Specialist Roger K. Crouch prepares to enter the Space Shuttle Columbia at Launch Pad 39A in preparation for launch. He is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Microgravity Space and Applications Division. He also has served as a Program Scientist for previous Spacelab microgravity missions and is an expert in semiconductor crystal growth. Since Crouch has more than 25 years of experience as a materials scientist, he will be concentrating on the five physics of materials processing experiments in the Middeck Glovebox Facility on the Blue shift. He will also share the workload with Thomas by monitoring the materials furnace experiments during this time. Crouch and six fellow crew members will lift off during a launch window that opens at 1:50 p.m. EDT, July 1. The launch window will open 47 minutes early to improve the opportunity to lift off before Florida summer rain showers reach the space center

Zero Gravity Research Facility User's Guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Dennis M.

1999-01-01

The Zero Gravity Research Facility (ZGF) is operated by the Space Experiments Division of the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center (GRC) for investigators sponsored by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division of NASA Headquarters. This unique facility has been utilized by scientists and engineers for reduced gravity experimentation since 1966. The ZGF has provided fundamental scientific information, has been used as an important test facility in the space flight hardware design, development, and test process, and has also been a valuable source of data in the flight experiment definition process. The purpose of this document is to provide information and guidance to prospective researchers regarding the design, buildup, and testing of microgravity experiments.

An innovative approach to the development of a portable unit for analytical flame characterization in a microgravity environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dubinskiy, Mark A.; Kamal, Mohammed M.; Misra, Prabhaker

1995-01-01

The availability of manned laboratory facilities in space offers wonderful opportunities and challenges in microgravity combustion science and technology. In turn, the fundamentals of microgravity combustion science can be studied via spectroscopic characterization of free radicals generated in flames. The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique is a noninvasive method of considerable utility in combustion physics and chemistry suitable for monitoring not only specific species and their kinetics, but it is also important for imaging of flames. This makes LIF one of the most important tools for microgravity combustion science. Flame characterization under microgravity conditions using LIF is expected to be more informative than other methods aimed at searching for effects like pumping phenomenon that can be modeled via ground level experiments. A primary goal of our work consisted in working out an innovative approach to devising an LIF-based analytical unit suitable for in-space flame characterization. It was decided to follow two approaches in tandem: (1) use the existing laboratory (non-portable) equipment and determine the optimal set of parameters for flames that can be used as analytical criteria for flame characterization under microgravity conditions; and (2) use state-of-the-art developments in laser technology and concentrate some effort in devising a layout for the portable analytical equipment. This paper presents an up-to-date summary of the results of our experiments aimed at the creation of the portable device for combustion studies in a microgravity environment, which is based on a portable UV tunable solid-state laser for excitation of free radicals normally present in flames in detectable amounts. A systematic approach has allowed us to make a convenient choice of species under investigation, as well as the proper tunable laser system, and also enabled us to carry out LIF experiments on free radicals using a solid-state laser tunable in the UV.

Integration Process for Payloads in the Fluids and Combustion Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Free, James M.; Nall, Marsha M.

2001-01-01

The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is an ISS research facility located in the United States Laboratory (US Lab), Destiny. The FCF is a multi-discipline facility that performs microgravity research primarily in fluids physics science and combustion science. This facility remains on-orbit and provides accommodations to multi-user and Principal investigator (PI) unique hardware. The FCF is designed to accommodate 15 PI's per year. In order to allow for this number of payloads per year, the FCF has developed an end-to-end analytical and physical integration process. The process includes provision of integration tools, products and interface management throughout the life of the payload. The payload is provided with a single point of contact from the facility and works with that interface from PI selection through post flight processing. The process utilizes electronic tools for creation of interface documents/agreements, storage of payload data and rollup for facility submittals to ISS. Additionally, the process provides integration to and testing with flight-like simulators prior to payload delivery to KSC. These simulators allow the payload to test in the flight configuration and perform final facility interface and science verifications. The process also provides for support to the payload from the FCF through the Payload Safety Review Panel (PSRP). Finally, the process includes support in the development of operational products and the operation of the payload on-orbit.

Quantitative Measurement of Oxygen in Microgravity Combustion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silver, Joel A.

1997-01-01

A low-gravity environment, in space or in ground-based facilities such as drop towers, provides a unique setting for studying combustion mechanisms. Understanding the physical phenomena controlling the ignition and spread of flames in microgravity has importance for space safety as well as for better characterization of dynamical and chemical combustion processes which are normally masked by buoyancy and other gravity-related effects. Due to restrictions associated with performing measurements in reduced gravity, diagnostic methods which have been applied to microgravity combustion studies have generally been limited to capture of flame emissions on film or video, laser Schlieren imaging and (intrusive) temperature measurements using thermocouples. Given the development of detailed theoretical models, more sophisticated diagnostic methods are needed to provide the kind of quantitative data necessary to characterize the properties of microgravity combustion processes as well as provide accurate feedback to improve the predictive capabilities of the models. When the demands of space flight are considered, the need for improved diagnostic systems which are rugged, compact, reliable, and operate at low power becomes apparent. The objective of this research is twofold. First, we want to develop a better understanding of the relative roles of diffusion and reaction of oxygen in microgravity combustion. As the primary oxidizer species, oxygen plays a major role in controlling the observed properties of flames, including flame front speed (in solid or liquid flames), extinguishment characteristics, flame size and flame temperature. The second objective is to develop better diagnostics based on diode laser absorption which can be of real value in both microgravity combustion research and as a sensor on-board Spacelab as either an air quality monitor or as part of a fire detection system. In our prior microgravity work, an eight line-of-sight fiber optic system measured water vapor mole fractions in the NASA Lewis 2.2-sec Drop Tower. In that system, the laser and all electronics resided at the top of the drop tower and was connected via a fiber optic cable to the rig, on which a 'pitch and catch' set of fiber collimating lenses were used to transmit the laser beam across a jet diffusion flame. This system required eight independent detection/demodulation units and had poor spatial resolution. This research builds on this earlier work, resulting in an improved capability for quantitative, nonintrusive measurement of major combustion species. A vertical cavity surface-emitting diode laser (VCSEL) and a continuous spatial scanning method permit the measurement of temporal and spatial profiles of the concentrations and temperatures of molecular oxygen. High detection sensitivity is achieved with wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS). One-g experiments are performed using a slot diffusion flame. Microgravity measurements on a solid fuel (cellulose sheet) system are planned for the NASA Lewis 2.2-second Drop Tower Facility.

Biotechnology Facility: An ISS Microgravity Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonda, Steve R.; Tsao, Yow-Min

2000-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) will support several facilities dedicated to scientific research. One such facility, the Biotechnology Facility (BTF), is sponsored by the Microgravity Sciences and Applications Division (MSAD) and developed at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The BTF is scheduled for delivery to the ISS via Space Shuttle in April 2005. The purpose of the BTF is to provide: (1) the support structure and integration capabilities for the individual modules in which biotechnology experiments will be performed, (2) the capability for human-tended, repetitive, long-duration biotechnology experiments, and (3) opportunities to perform repetitive experiments in a short period by allowing continuous access to microgravity. The MSAD has identified cell culture and tissue engineering, protein crystal growth, and fundamentals of biotechnology as areas that contain promising opportunities for significant advancements through low-gravity experiments. The focus of this coordinated ground- and space-based research program is the use of the low-gravity environment of space to conduct fundamental investigations leading to major advances in the understanding of basic and applied biotechnology. Results from planned investigations can be used in applications ranging from rational drug design and testing, cancer diagnosis and treatments and tissue engineering leading to replacement tissues.

Microgravity Effects on Water Supply and Substrate Properties in Porous Matrix Root Support Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bingham, G. E.; Jones, S. B.; Or, D.; Podolski, I. G.; Levinskikh, M. A.; Sytchov, V. N.; Ivanova, T.; Kostov, P.; Sapunova, S.; Dandolov, I.; Bubenheim, D. B.; Jahns, G.

2000-12-01

The control of water content and water movement in granular substrate-based plant root systems in microgravity is a complex problem. Improper water and oxygen delivery to plant roots has delayed studies of the effects of microgravity on plant development and the use of plants in physical and mental life support systems. Our international effort (USA, Russia and Bulgaria) has upgraded the plant growth facilities on the Mir Orbital Station (OS) and used them to study the full life cycle of plants. The Bulgarian-Russian-developed Svet Space Greenhouse (SG) system was upgraded on the Mir OS in 1996. The US developed Gas Exchange Measurement System (GEMS) greatly extends the range of environmental parameters monitored. The Svet-GEMS complex was used to grow a fully developed wheat crop during 1996. The growth rate and development of these plants compared well with earth grown plants indicating that the root zone water and oxygen stresses that have limited plant development in previous long-duration experiments have been overcome. However, management of the root environment during this experiment involved several significant changes in control settings as the relationship between the water delivery system, water status sensors, and the substrate changed during the growth cycles.

Low-gravity fluid physics: A program overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

An overview is presented of the microgravity fluid physics program at Lewis Research Center. One of the main reasons for conducting low gravity research in fluid physics is to study phenomena such as surface tension, interfacial contact angles, and diffusion independent of such gravitationally induced effects as buoyant convection. Fluid physics is at the heart of many space-based technologies including power systems, thermal control systems, and life support systems. Fundamental understanding of fluid physics is a key ingredient to successful space systems design. In addition to describing ground-based and space-based low-gravity facilities, selected experiments are presented which highlight Lewis work in fluid physics. These experiments can be categorized into five theme areas which summarize the work being conducted at Lewis for OSSA: (1) isothermal/iso-solutal capillary phenomena; (2) capillary phenomena with thermal/solutal gradients; (3) thermal-solutal convection; (4) first- and second-order phase transitions in a static fluid; and (5) multiphase flow.

Through Microgravity and Towards the Stars: Microgravity and Strategic Research at Marshall's Biological and Physical Space Research Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curreri, Peter A.

2003-01-01

The Microgravity and Strategic research at Marshall s Biological and Physical Space Research Laboratory will be reviewed. The environment in orbit provides a unique opportunity to study Materials Science and Biotechnology in the absence of sedimentation and convection. There are a number of peer-selected investigations that have been selected to fly on the Space Station that have been conceived and are led by Marshall s Biological and Physical Research Laboratory s scientists. In addition to Microgravity research the Station will enable research in "Strategic" Research Areas that focus on enabling humans to live, work, and explore the solar system safely. New research in Radiation Protection, Strategic Molecular Biology, and In-Space Fabrication will be introduced.

Short duration microgravity experiments in physical and life sciences during parabolic flights: the first 30 ESA campaigns.

PubMed

Pletser, Vladimir

2004-11-01

Aircraft parabolic flights provide repetitively up to 20 s of reduced gravity during ballistic flight manoeuvres. Parabolic flights are used to conduct short microgravity investigations in Physical and Life Sciences, to test instrumentation and to train astronauts before a space flight. The European Space Agency (ESA) has organized since 1984 thirty parabolic flight campaigns for microgravity research experiments utilizing six different airplanes. More than 360 experiments were successfully conducted during more than 2800 parabolas, representing a cumulated weightlessness time of 15 h 30 m. This paper presents the short duration microgravity research programme of ESA. The experiments conducted during these campaigns are summarized, and the different airplanes used by ESA are shortly presented. The technical capabilities of the Airbus A300 'Zero-G' are addressed. Some Physical Science, Technology and Life Science experiments performed during the last ESA campaigns with the Airbus A300 are presented to show the interest of this unique microgravity research tool to complement, support and prepare orbital microgravity investigations. c2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plans and Recent Developments for Fluid Physics Experiments Aboard the ISS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McQuillen, John B.; Motil, Brian J.

2016-01-01

From the very first days of human spaceflight, NASA has been conducting experiments in space to understand the effect of weightlessness on physical and chemically reacting systems. NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio has been at the forefront of this research looking at both fundamental studies in microgravity as well as experiments targeted at reducing the risks to long duration human missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. In the current International Space Station (ISS) era, we now have an orbiting laboratory that provides the highly desired condition of long-duration microgravity. This allows continuous and interactive research similar to Earth-based laboratories. Because of these capabilities, the ISS is an indispensable laboratory for low gravity research. NASA GRC has been actively involved in developing and operating facilities and experiments on the ISS since the beginning of a permanent human presence on November 2, 2000. As the lead Center for Fluid Physics, NASA GRC is developing and testing the Pack Bed Reactor Experiment (PBRE), Zero Boil Off (ZBOT) Two Phase Flow Separator Experiment (TPFSE), Multiphase Flow Heat Transfer (MFHT) Experiment and the Electro-HydroDynamic (EHD) experiment. An overview each experiment, including its objectives, concept and status will be presented. In addition, data will be made available after a nominal period to NASAs Physical Science Informatics PSI database to the scientific community to enable additional analyses of results.

NASA Microgravity Materials Science Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szofran, Frank R. (Compiler); McCauley, D. (Compiler); Walker, C. (Compiler)

1996-01-01

The Microgravity Materials Science Conference was held June 10-11, 1996 at the Von Braun Civic Center in Huntsville, AL. It was organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division at NASA Headquarters, and hosted by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Alliance for Microgravity Materials Science and Applications (AMMSA). It was the second NASA conference of this type in the microgravity materials science discipline. The microgravity science program sponsored approximately 80 investigations and 69 principal investigators in FY96, all of whom made oral or poster presentations at this conference. The conference's purpose was to inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity in preparation for a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) scheduled for release in late 1996 by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division at NASA Headquarters. The conference was aimed at materials science researchers from academia, industry, and government. A tour of the MSFC microgravity research facilities was held on June 12, 1996. This volume is comprised of the research reports submitted by the principal investigators after the conference and presentations made by various NASA microgravity science managers.

An Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility and the Research Performed in the MSG on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie; Flores, Ginger N.

2009-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for investigation handling. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the Columbus Laboratory Module. The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a workbench type environment. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, +/- 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. In fact, the MSG has been used for over 5000 hours of scientific payload operations. MSG investigations involve research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, plant growth, and life support technologies. MSG is an ideal platform for science investigations and research required to advance the technology readiness levels (TRLs) applicable to the Constellation Program. This paper will provide an overview of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, an overview of future investigations currently planned for operation in the MSG, and potential applications of MSG investigations that can provide useful data to the Constellation Program. In addition, this paper will address the role of the MSG facility in the ISS National Lab.

Workshop on Research for Space Exploration: Physical Sciences and Process Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Bhim S.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes the results of a workshop sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division of NASA to define contributions the microgravity research community can provide to advance the human exploration of space. Invited speakers and attendees participated in an exchange of ideas to identify issues of interest in physical sciences and process technologies. This workshop was part of a continuing effort to broaden the contribution of the microgravity research community toward achieving the goals of the space agency in human exploration, as identified in the NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) strategic plan. The Microgravity program is one of NASA'a major links to academic and industrial basic research in the physical and engineering sciences. At present, it supports close to 400 principal investigators, who represent many of the nation's leading researchers in the physical and engineering sciences and biotechnology. The intent of the workshop provided a dialogue between NASA and this large, influential research community, mission planners and industry technical experts with the goal of defining enabling research for the Human Exploration and Development of Space activities to which the microgravity research community can contribute.

The Drop Tower Bremen -Experiment Operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Könemann, Thorben; von Kampen, Peter; Rath, Hans J.

The idea behind the drop tower facility of the Center of Applied Space Technology and Micro-gravity (ZARM) in Bremen is to provide an inimitable technical opportunity of a daily access to short-term weightlessness on earth. In this way ZARM`s european unique ground-based microgravity laboratory displays an excellent economic alternative for research in space-related conditions at low costs comparable to orbital platforms. Many national and international ex-perimentalists motivated by these prospects decide to benefit from the high-quality and easy accessible microgravity environment only provided by the Drop Tower Bremen. Corresponding experiments in reduced gravity could open new perspectives of investigation methods and give scientists an impressive potential for a future technology and multidisciplinary applications on different research fields like Fundamental Physics, Astrophysics, Fluid Dynamics, Combus-tion, Material Science, Chemistry and Biology. Generally, realizing microgravity experiments at ZARM`s drop tower facility meet new requirements of the experimental hardware and may lead to some technical constraints in the setups. In any case the ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company (ZARM FAB mbH) maintaining the drop tower facility is prepared to as-sist experimentalists by offering own air-conditioned laboratories, clean rooms, workshops and consulting engineers, as well as scientific personal. Furthermore, ZARM`s on-site apartment can be used for accommodations during the experiment campaigns. In terms of approaching drop tower experimenting, consulting of experimentalists is mandatory to successfully accomplish the pursued drop or catapult capsule experiment. For this purpose there will be a lot of expertise and help given by ZARM FAB mbH in strong cooperation to-gether with the experimentalists. However, in comparison to standard laboratory setups the drop or catapult capsule setup seems to be completely different at first view. While defining a microgravity project at the Drop Tower Bremen, interesting experimentalists should keep in mind generally reducing dimensions and masses of their common laboratory setups to meet the capsule constraints: overall payload height 980mm/1730mm (short/long drop capsule) and 950mm (catapult capsule); area of each capsule platform 0,359sqm; maximum payload mass 274kg/234kg (short/long drop capsule) and 163,8kg (catapult capsule). The base equipments of each capsule are the Capsule Control System (CCS) to remote control the experiment and the rechargeable battery pack (24V/40A) for the experiment operation. Moreover, the exper-iment components must be able to withstand maximum decelerations of 50g while the short capsule impact of about 200ms, and maximum accelerations of 30g while catapult launch with a duration of about 300ms. In our second talk concerning ZARM`s drop tower facility we will go on with detailed infor-mations about the technical base setups of the drop and the catapult capsule structure to completely handle a freely falling experiment. Furthermore, we will summarize interesting current drop tower projects as an outlook to present you the range of opportunities at the ground-based short-term microgravity laboratory of ZARM.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-10-01

Research with plants in microgravity offers many exciting opportunities to gain new insights and could improve products on Earth ranging from crop production to fragrances and food flavorings. The ASTROCULTURE facility is a lead commercial facility for plant growth and plant research in microgravity and was developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WSCAR), a NASA Commercial Space Center. On STS-95 it will support research that could help improve crop development leading to plants that are more disease resistant or have a higher yield and provide data on the production of plant essential oils---oils that contain the essence of the plant and provide both fragrance and flavoring. On STS-95, a flowering plant will be grown in ASTROCULTURE and samples taken using a method developed by the industry partner for this investigation. On Earth the samples will be analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the data used to evaluate both the production of fragrant oils in microgravity and in the development of one or more products.

Microgravity and Materials Processing Facility study (MMPF): Requirements and Analyses of Commercial Operations (RACO) preliminary data release

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

This requirements and analyses of commercial operations (RACO) study data release reflects the current status of research activities of the Microgravity and Materials Processing Facility under Modification No. 21 to NASA/MSFC Contract NAS8-36122. Section 1 includes 65 commercial space processing projects suitable for deployment aboard the Space Station. Section 2 contains reports of the R:BASE (TM) electronic data base being used in the study, synopses of the experiments, and a summary of data on the experimental facilities. Section 3 is a discussion of video and data compression techniques used as well as a mission timeline analysis.

Experiment facilities for life science experiments in space.

PubMed

Uchida, Satoko

2004-11-01

To perform experiments in microgravity environment, there should be many difficulties compared with the experiments on ground. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has developed various experiment facilities to perform life science experiments in space, such as Cell Culture Kit, Thermo Electric Incubator, Free Flow Electrophoresis Unit, Aquatic Animal Experiment Unit, and so on. The first experiment facilities were flown on Spacelab-J mission in 1992, and they were improved and modified for the 2nd International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) mission in 1994. Based on these experiences, some of them were further improved and flown on another missions. These facilities are continuously being improved for the International Space Station use, where high level functions and automatic operations will be required.

NASA Microgravity Science Competition for High-school-aged Student Teams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLombard, Richard; Stocker, Dennis; Hodanbosi, Carol; Baumann, Eric

2002-01-01

NASA participates in a wide variety of educational activities including competitive events. There are competitive events sponsored by NASA and student teams which are mentored by NASA centers. This participation by NASA in public forums serves to bring the excitement of aerospace science to students and educators. A new competition for highschool-aged student teams involving projects in microgravity has completed two pilot years and will have national eligibility for teams during the 2002-2003 school year. A team participating in the Dropping In a Microgravity Environment will research the field of microgravity, develop a hypothesis, and prepare a proposal for an experiment to be conducted in a microgravity drop tower facility. A team of NASA scientists and engineers will select the top proposals and those teams will then design and build their experiment apparatus. When the experiment apparatus are completed, team representatives will visit NASA Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio for operation of their facility and participate in workshops and center tours. Presented in this paper will be a description of DIME, an overview of the planning and execution of such a program, results from the first two pilot years, and a status of the first national competition.

Microgravity Research: A Retrospective of Accomplishments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voorhees, Peter

2005-03-01

During the early days of human spaceflight U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began giving researchers the ability to perform experiments under extremely low gravity conditions (microgravity). Early microgravity experiments were rudimentary and discovery driven. The limitations of such an approach were clear and in the early 1990s, NASA broadened its program significantly beyond those experiments that were destined to be flown to include a ground- based program that contained both experimental and theoretical investigations. The ground-based program provided a source of carefully designed microgravity experiments. This led to the program in the Physical Sciences Division that involved research in, for example, fluids, materials and low temperature physics. The impact of the microgravity research program has been the focus of a recent National Research Council report titled “Assessment of Directions in Microgravity and Physical Sciences Research at NASA.” We found that there have been numerous high impact ground-based and flight investigations. For example, NASA funding has been instrumental in elucidating the nature of surface-tension-driven fluid flows, dendritic crystal growth and the thermodynamics of phase transitions near critical points. Using this report as a basis, a discussion of the impact of microgravity research on the fields in which it is a part will be given.

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), a Resource for Gravity-Dependent Phenomena Research on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie A.; Jeter, Linda B.; Vonk, Chris

2007-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for gravity-dependent phenomena investigation handling. The MSG has been operating in the ISS US Laboratory Module since July 2002. The MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation in the ISS. The MSG s unique design provides two levels of containment to protect the ISS crew from hazardous operations. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter work volume, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120,28, +/-12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. With these capabilities, the MSG is an ideal platform for research required to advance the technology readiness levels (TRL) needed for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Exploration Initiative. Areas of research that will benefit from investigations in the MSG include thermal management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion and reacting control systems, in situ fabrication and repair, and advanced life support technologies. This paper will provide a detailed explanation of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, an overview of investigations planning to operate in the MSG, and possible augmentations that can be added to the MSG facility to further enhance the resources provided to investigations.

An Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility, and the Gravity-Dependent Phenomena Research Performed in the MSG on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie A.; Sheredy, William A.; Flores, Ginger

2008-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for gravity-dependent phenomena investigation handling. The MSG has been operating in the ISS US Laboratory Module since July 2002. The MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation, The MSG's unique design provides two levels of containment to protect the ISS crew from hazardous operations. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter work volume, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, +/-12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. With these capabilities, the MSG is an ideal platform for research required to advance the technology readiness levels (TRL) needed for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Exploration Initiative. Areas of research that will benefit from investigations in the MSG include thermal management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, reaction control systems, in situ fabrication and repair, and advanced life support technologies. This paper will provide a detailed explanation of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG and an overview of investigations planning to operate in the MSG. In addition, this paper will address possible changes to the MSG utilization process that will be brought about by the transition to ISS as a National Laboratory.

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), a Resource for Gravity-Dependent Phenomena Research on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie A.; Jeter, Linda B.; Vonk, Chris

2007-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for gravity-dependent phenomena investigation handling. The MSG has been operating in the ISS US Laboratory Module since July 2002. The MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation in the ISS. The MSG's unique design provides two levels of containment to protect the ISS crew from hazardous operations. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter work volume, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120,28, plus or minus 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust' and Vacuum Resource 'Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. With these capabilities, the MSG is an ideal platform for research required to advance the technology readiness levels (TRL) needed for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Exploration Initiative. Areas of research that will benefit from investigations in the MSG include thermal management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion and reacting control systems, in situ fabrication and repair, and advanced life support technologies. This paper will provide a detailed explanation of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, an overview of investigations planning to operate in the MSG, and possible augmentations that can be added to-the MSG facility to further enhance the resources provided to investigations.

The ASTROCULTURE Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Research with plants in microgravity offers many exciting opportunities to gain new insights and could improve products on Earth ranging from crop production to fragrances and food flavorings. The ASTROCULTURE facility is a lead commercial facility for plant growth and plant research in microgravity and was developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WSCAR), a NASA Commercial Space Center. On STS-95 it will support research that could help improve crop development leading to plants that are more disease resistant or have a higher yield and provide data on the production of plant essential oils---oils that contain the essence of the plant and provide both fragrance and flavoring. On STS-95, a flowering plant will be grown in ASTROCULTURE and samples taken using a method developed by the industry partner for this investigation. On Earth the samples will be analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the data used to evaluate both the production of fragrant oils in microgravity and in the development of one or more products.

Simulation of Combustion Systems with Realistic g-Jitter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mell, W. E.; McGrattan, K. B.; Nakamura, Y.; Baum, H. R.

2001-01-01

A number of facilities are available for microgravity combustion experiments: aircraft, drop towers, sounding rockets, the space shuttle, and, in the future, the International Space Station (ISS). Acceleration disturbances or g-jitter about the background level of reduced gravity exist in all these microgravity facilities. While g-jitter is routinely measured, a quantitative comparison of the quality of g-jitter among the different microgravity facilities, in terms of its affects on combustion experiments, has not been compiled. Low frequency g-jitter (< 1 Hz) has been repeatedly observed to disturb a number of combustion systems. Guidelines regarding tolerable levels of acceleration disturbances for combustion experiments have been developed for use in the design of ISS experiments. The validity of these guidelines, however, remains unknown. In this project a transient, 3-D numerical model is under development to simulate the effects of realistic g-jitter on a number of combustion systems. The measured acceleration vector or some representation of it can be used as input to the simulation.

International Space Station -- Fluid Physics Rack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The optical bench for the Fluid Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown in its operational configuration. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

International Space Station -- Fluid Physics Rack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

NASA Microgravity Materials Science Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gillies, D. C. (Compiler); McCauley, D. E. (Compiler)

1999-01-01

The Microgravity Materials Science Conference was held July 14-16, 1998 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, AL. It was organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division at NASA Headquarters, and hosted by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Alliance for Microgravity Materials Science and Applications. It was the third NASA conference of this type in the microgravity materials science discipline. The microgravity science program sponsored approximately 125 investigations and 100 principal investigators in FY98, almost all of whom made oral or poster presentations at this conference. The conference's purpose was to inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity in preparation for a NASA Research Announcement scheduled for release in late 1998 by the Microgravity Research Division at NASA Headquarters. The conference was aimed at materials science researchers from academia, industry, and government. A tour of the Marshall Space Flight Center microgravity research facilities was held on July 16, 1998. This volume is comprised of the research reports submitted by the principal investigators after the conference.

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), Space Science's Past, Present and Future Aboard the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Reggie; Spearing, Scott; Jordan, Lee

2012-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which accommodates science and technology investigations in a "workbench' type environment. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. In fact, the MSG has been used for over 10,000 hours of scientific payload operations and plans to continue for the life of ISS. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume and allows researchers a controlled pristine environment for their needs. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, + 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. MSG investigations have involved research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, and plant growth technologies. Modifications to the MSG facility are currently under way to expand the capabilities and provide for investigations involving Life Science and Biological research. In addition, the MSG video system is being replaced with a state-of-the-art, digital video system with high definition/high speed capabilities, and with near real-time downlink capabilities. This paper will provide an overview of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, and an overview of the facility enhancements that will shortly be available for use by future investigators.

Fundamental Research Applied To Enable Hardware Performance in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sheredy, William A.

2005-01-01

NASA sponsors microgravity research to generate knowledge in physical sciences. In some cases, that knowledge must be applied to enable future research. This article describes one such example. The Dust and Aerosol measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT) is a risk-mitigation experiment developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center by NASA and ZIN Technologies, Inc., in support of the Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME). SAME is an investigation that is being designed for operation in the Microgravity Science Glovebox aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of DAFT is to evaluate the performance of P-Trak (TSI Incorporated, Shoreview, MN)--a commercially available condensation nuclei counter and a key SAME diagnostic- -in long-duration microgravity because of concerns about its ability to operate properly in that environment. If its microgravity performance is proven, this device will advance the state of the art in particle measurement capabilities for space vehicles and facilities, such as aboard the ISS. The P-Trak, a hand-held instrument, can count individual particles as small as 20 nm in diameter in an aerosol stream. Particles are drawn into the device by a built-in suction pump. Upon entering the instrument, these particles pass through a saturator tube where they mix with an alcohol vapor (see the following figure). This mixture then flows through a cooled condenser tube where some of the alcohol condenses onto the sample particles, and the droplets grow in a controlled fashion until they are large enough to be counted. These larger droplets pass through an internal nozzle and past a focused laser beam, producing flashes of light that are sensed by a photodetector and then counted to determine particle number concentration. The operation of the instrument depends on the proper internal flow and recycling of isopropyl alcohol in both the vapor and liquid phases.

Two-Fluid Models and Interfacial Area Transport in Microgravity Condition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ishii, Mamoru; Sun, Xiao-Dong; Vasavada, Shilp

2004-01-01

The objective of the present study is to develop a two-fluid model formulation with interfacial area transport equation applicable for microgravity conditions. The new model is expected to make a leapfrog improvement by furnishing the constitutive relations for the interfacial interaction terms with the interfacial area transport equation, which can dynamically model the changes of the interfacial structures. In the first year of this three-year project supported by the U.S. NASA, Office of Biological and Physics Research, the primary focus is to design and construct a ground-based, microgravity two-phase flow simulation facility, in which two immiscible fluids with close density will be used. In predicting the two-phase flow behaviors in any two-phase flow system, the interfacial transfer terms are among the most essential factors in the modeling. These interfacial transfer terms in a two-fluid model specify the rate of phase change, momentum exchange, and energy transfer at the interface between the two phases. For the two-phase flow under the microgravity condition, the stability of the fluid particle interface and the interfacial structures are quite different from those under normal gravity condition. The flow structure may not reach an equilibrium condition and the two fluids may be loosely coupled such that the inertia terms of each fluid should be considered separately by use of the two-fluid model. Previous studies indicated that, unless phase-interaction terms are accurately modeled in the two-fluid model, the complex modeling does not necessarily warrant an accurate solution.

Sixth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference: Exposition Topical Areas 1-6. Volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Bhim (Compiler)

2002-01-01

The Sixth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference provides the scientific community the opportunity to view the current scope of the Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Program, current research opportunities, and plans for the near future. The conference focuses not only on fundamental research but also on applications of this knowledge towards enabling future space exploration missions. A whole session dedicated to biological fluid physics shows increased emphasis that the program has placed on interdisciplinary research. The conference includes invited plenary talks, technical paper presentations, poster presentations, and exhibits. This CP (conference proceeding) is a compilation of the abstracts, presentations, and posters presented at the conference.

The U.S. Lab is moved to payload canister

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The U.S. Laboratory Destiny, a component of the International Space Station, glides above two Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLMs), Raffaello (far left) and Leonardo, in the Space Station Processing Facility. Destiny is being moved to a payload canister for transfer to the Operations and Checkout Building where it will be tested in the altitude chamber. Destiny is scheduled to fly on mission STS-98 in early 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

The U.S. Lab is moved to payload canister

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

- The U.S. Laboratory Destiny, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted off a weigh stand (below) in the Space Station Processing Facility. The module is being moved to a payload canister for transfer to the Operations and Checkout Building where it will be tested in the altitude chamber. Destiny is scheduled to fly on mission STS-98 in early 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

Fluids and Combustion Facility Acoustic Emissions Controlled by Aggressive Low-Noise Design Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooper, Beth A.; Young, Judith A.

2004-01-01

The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is a dual-rack microgravity research facility that is being developed by Northrop Grumman Information Technology (NGIT) for the International Space Station (ISS) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. As an on-orbit test bed, FCF will host a succession of experiments in fluid and combustion physics. The Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) and the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) must meet ISS acoustic emission requirements (ref. 1), which support speech communication and hearing-loss-prevention goals for ISS crew. To meet these requirements, the NGIT acoustics team implemented an aggressive low-noise design effort that incorporated frequent acoustic emission testing for all internal noise sources, larger-scale systems, and fully integrated racks (ref. 2). Glenn's Acoustical Testing Laboratory (ref. 3) provided acoustical testing services (see the following photograph) as well as specialized acoustical engineering support as part of the low-noise design process (ref. 4).

Contribution to "AIAA Aerospace Year in Review" article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grugel, Richard N.; Downey, J. Patton

2012-01-01

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Microgravity Science Program is dedicated to promoting our understanding of materials processing by conducting relevant experiments in the microgravity environment and supporting related modeling efforts with the intent of improving ground-based practices. Currently funded investigations include research on dopant distribution and defect formation in semiconductors, microstructural development and transitions in dendritic casting alloys, coarsening phenomena, competition between thermal and kinetic phase formation, and the formation of glassy vs. crystalline material. NASA Microgravity Materials Science Principle Investigators are selected for funding either through a proposal in response to a NASA Research Announcement or by collaborating on a team that has successfully proposed to a foreign space agency research announcement. In the latter case, a US investigator can then apply to NASA for funding through an unsolicited proposal. The International Space Station (ISS) facilities used for the experimental investigations are provided primarily by partnering with foreign agencies and often US investigators are working as a part of a larger team studying a specific area of materials science. Facilities for conducting experiments aboard the ISS include the European Space Agency (ESA) Low Gradient Facility (LGF) and the Solidification and Quench (SQF) modular inserts to the Materials Research Rack/Materials Science Laboratory and are primarily used for controlled solidification studies. The French Space Agency (CNES) provided DECLIC facility allows direct observation of morphological development in transparent materials that solidify analogously to metals. The ESA provided Electro ]Magnetic Levitator (EML) is designed to levitate, melt and then cool samples in order to determine material properties, study nucleation behavior, and document phase transitions. Finally, the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) serves as a onboard facility for supporting the hardware required to conduct a number of smaller, short-term investigations.

An Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility and the Research Performed in the MSG on the International Space Station (ISS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jordan, Lee P.

2013-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for investigation handling. The MSG was built by the European Space Agency (ESA) which also provides sustaining engineering support for the facility. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, +/- 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. The MSG has been used for over 14500 hours of scientific payload operations. MSG investigations involve research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, plant growth, and life support technology. The MSG facility is operated by the Payloads Operations Integration Center at Marshall Space flight Center. Payloads may also operate remotely from different telescience centers located in the United States and Europe. The investigative Payload Integration Manager (iPIM) is the focal to assist organizations that have payloads operating in the MSG facility. NASA provides an MSG engineering unit for payload developers to verify that their hardware is operating properly before actual operation on the ISS. This paper will provide an overview of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, and an overview of video and biological upgrades.

Flame Structure and Scalar Properties in Microgravity Laminar Fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feikema, D. A.; Lim, J.; Sivathanu, Y.

2006-01-01

Recent results from microgravity combustion experiments conducted in the Zero Gravity Facility (ZGF) 5.18 second drop tower are reported. Emission mid-infrared spectroscopy measurements have been completed to quantitatively determine the flame temperature, water and carbon dioxide vapor concentrations, radiative emissive power, and soot concentrations in a microgravity laminar ethylene/air flame. The ethylene/air laminar flame conditions are similar to previously reported experiments including the Flight Project, Laminar Soot Processes (LSP). Soot concentrations and gas temperatures are in reasonable agreement with similar results available in the literature. However, soot concentrations and flame structure dramatically change in long duration microgravity laminar diffusion flames as demonstrated in this paper.

Scaffold-free Tissue Formation Under Real and Simulated Microgravity Conditions.

PubMed

Aleshcheva, Ganna; Bauer, Johann; Hemmersbach, Ruth; Slumstrup, Lasse; Wehland, Markus; Infanger, Manfred; Grimm, Daniela

2016-10-01

Scaffold-free tissue formation in microgravity is a new method in regenerative medicine and an important topic in Space Medicine. In this MiniReview, we focus on recent findings in the field of tissue engineering that were observed by exposing cells to real microgravity in space or to devices simulating to at least some extent microgravity conditions on Earth (ground-based facilities). Under both conditions - real and simulated microgravity - a part of the cultured cells of various populations detaches from the bottom of a culture flask. The cells form three-dimensional (3D) aggregates resembling the organs from which the cells have been derived. As spaceflights are rare and extremely expensive, cell culture under simulated microgravity allows more comprehensive and frequent studies on the scaffold-free 3D tissue formation in some aspects, as a number of publications have proven during the last two decades. In this MiniReview, we summarize data from our own studies and work from various researchers about tissue engineering of multi-cellular spheroids formed by cancer cells, tube formation by endothelial cells and cartilage formation by exposing the cells to ground-based facilities such as the 3D Random Positioning Machine (RPM), the 2D Fast-Rotating Clinostat (FRC) or the Rotating Wall Vessel (RWV). Subsequently, we investigated self-organization of 3D aggregates without scaffolds pursuing to enhance the frequency of 3D formation and to enlarge the size of the organ-like aggregates. The density of the monolayer exposed to real or simulated microgravity as well as the composition of the culture media revealed an impact on the results. Genomic and proteomic alterations were induced by simulated microgravity. Under microgravity conditions, adherent cells expressed other genes than cells grown in spheroids. In this MiniReview, the recent improvements in scaffold-free tissue formation are summarized and relationships between phenotypic and molecular appearance are highlighted. © 2016 Nordic Association for the Publication of BCPT (former Nordic Pharmacological Society).

Industrial applications of the microgravity environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Opportunities for commercialization of the microgravity environment will depend upon the success of basic research projects performed in space. Significant demands for manufacturing opportunities are unlikely in the near term. The microgravity environment is to be considered primarily as a tool for research and secondarily as a manufacturing site. This research tool is unique, valuable, and presently available to U.S. investigators only through resources provided by NASA. The United States has an obligation to facilitate corporate research, maintain a flexible international policy, foster use of and assure access to a wide variety of facilities, and develop a posture of national and international leadership in and stewardship of research and materials processing in the microgravity environment. The National Research Council's Committee on Industrial Applications of the Microgravity Environment recommends six actions that strengthen this posture, including the formation of an authoritative organization to oversee the implementation of a program of microgravity research and its industrial applications.

Plant Production Systems for Microgravity: Critical Issues in Water, Air, and Solute Transport Through Unsaturated Porous Media

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinberg, Susan L. (Editor); Ming, Doug W. (Editor); Henninger, Don (Editor)

2002-01-01

This NASA Technical Memorandum is a compilation of presentations and discussions in the form of minutes from a workshop entitled 'Plant Production Systems for Microgravity: Critical Issues in Water, Air, and Solute Transport Through Unsaturated Porous Media' held at NASA's Johnson Space Center, July 24-25, 2000. This workshop arose from the growing belief within NASA's Advanced Life Support Program that further advances and improvements in plant production systems for microgravity would benefit from additional knowledge of fundamental processes occurring in the root zone. The objective of the workshop was to bring together individuals who had expertise in various areas of fluid physics, soil physics, plant physiology, hardware development, and flight tests to identify, discuss, and prioritize critical issues of water and air flow through porous media in microgravity. Participants of the workshop included representatives from private companies involved in flight hardware development and scientists from universities and NASA Centers with expertise in plant flight tests, plant physiology, fluid physics, and soil physics.

Physical Sciences Research Priorities and Plans in OBPR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trinh, Eugene

2002-01-01

This paper presents viewgraphs of physical sciences research priorities and plans at the Office of Biological and Physical Sciences Research (OBPR). The topics include: 1) Sixth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference; 2) Beneficial Characteristics of the Space Environment; 3) Windows of Opportunity for Research Derived from Microgravity; 4) Physical Sciences Research Program; 5) Fundamental Research: Space-based Results and Ground-based Applications; 6) Nonlinear Oscillations; and 7) Fundamental Research: Applications to Mission-Oriented Research.

Overview of NASA's Microgravity Materials Research Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Downey, James Patton; Grugel, Richard

2012-01-01

The NASA microgravity materials program is dedicated to conducting microgravity experiments and related modeling efforts that will help us understand the processes associated with the formation of materials. This knowledge will help improve ground based industrial production of such materials. The currently funded investigations include research on the distribution of dopants and formation of defects in semiconductors, transitions between columnar and dendritic grain morphology, coarsening of phase boundaries, competition between thermally and kinetically favored phases, and the formation of glassy vs. crystalline material. NASA microgravity materials science investigators are selected for funding either through a proposal in response to a NASA Research Announcement or by participation in a team proposing to a foreign agency research announcement. In the latter case, a US investigator participating in a successful proposal to a foreign agency can then apply to NASA for funding of an unsolicited proposal. The program relies on cooperation with other aerospace partners from around the world. The ISS facilities used for these investigations are provided primarily by partnering with foreign agencies and in most cases the US investigators are working as a part of a larger team studying a specific area of materials science. The following facilities are to be utilized for the initial investigations. The ESA provided Low Gradient Facility and the Solidification and Quench Inserts to the Materials Research Rack/Materials Science Laboratory are to be used primarily for creating bulk samples that are directionally solidified or quenched from a high temperature melt. The CNES provided DECLIC facility is used to observe morphological development in transparent materials. The ESA provided Electro-Magnetic Levitator (EML) is designed to levitate, melt and then cool samples in order to study nucleation behavior. The facility provides conditions in which nucleation of the solid is not triggered from the wall and in which fluid flows in the sample can be controlled and manipulated. These conditions allow scientists ideal conditions for understanding the relative amounts and distribution of different phases that form in the solid. Finally, the Coarsening of Solid Liquid Melts hardware allows quenching of low temperature samples in the Microgravity Science Glovebox.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-10-01

Research with plants in microgravity offers many exciting opportunities to gain new insights and could improve products on Earth ranging from crop production to fragrances and food flavorings. The ASTROCULTURE facility is a lead commercial facility for plant growth and plant research in microgravity and was developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WSCAR), a NASA Commercial Space Center. On STS-95 it will support research that could help improve crop development leading to plants that are more disease resistant or have a higher yield and provide data on the production of plant essential oils---oils that contain the essence of the plant and provide both fragrance and flavoring. On STS-95, a flowering plant will be grown in ASTROCULTURE and samples taken using a method developed by the industry partner for this investigation. On Earth, the samples will be analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the data used to evaluate both the production of fragrant oils in microgravity and in the development of one or more products. The ASTROCULTURE payload uses these pourous tubes with precise pressure sensing and control for fluid delivery to the plant root tray.

Medical evaluations on the KC-135 1991 flight report summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lloyd, Charles W.

1993-01-01

The medical investigations completed on the KC-135 during FY 1991 in support of the development of the Health Maintenance Facility and Medical Operations are presented. The experiments consisted of medical and engineering evaluations of medical hardware and procedures and were conducted by medical and engineering personnel. The hardware evaluated included prototypes of a crew medical restraint system and advanced life support pack, a shuttle orbiter medical system, an airway medical accessory kit, a supplementary extended duration orbiter medical kit, and a surgical overhead canopy. The evaluations will be used to design flight hardware and identify hardware-specific training requirements. The following procedures were evaluated: transport of an ill or injured crewmember at man-tended capability, surgical technique in microgravity, transfer of liquids in microgravity, advanced cardiac life support using man-tended capability Health Maintenance Facility hardware, medical transport using a model of the assured crew return vehicle, and evaluation of delivery mechanisms for aerosolized medications in microgravity. The results of these evaluation flights allow for a better understanding of the types of procedures that can be performed in a microgravity environment.

Microgravity effects on water supply and substrate properties in porous matrix root support systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bingham, G. E.; Jones, S. B.; Or, D.; Podolski, I. G.; Levinskikh, M. A.; Sytchov, V. N.; Ivanova, T.; Kostov, P.; Sapunova, S.; Dandolov, I.;

Human Modeling Evaluations in Microgravity Workstation and Restraint Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, Mihriban; Chmielewski, Cynthia; Wheaton, Aneice; Hancock, Lorraine; Beierle, Jason; Bond, Robert L. (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) will provide long-term missions which will enable the astronauts to live and work, as well as, conduct research in a microgravity environment. The dominant factor in space affecting the crew is "weightlessness" which creates a challenge for establishing workstation microgravity design requirements. The crewmembers will work at various workstations such as Human Research Facility (HRF), Microgravity Sciences Glovebox (MSG) and Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG). Since the crew will spend considerable amount of time at these workstations, it is critical that ergonomic design requirements are integral part of design and development effort. In order to achieve this goal, the Space Human Factors Laboratory in the Johnson Space Center Flight Crew Support Division has been tasked to conduct integrated evaluations of workstations and associated crew restraints. Thus, a two-phase approach was used: 1) ground and microgravity evaluations of the physical dimensions and layout of the workstation components, and 2) human modeling analyses of the user interface. Computer-based human modeling evaluations were an important part of the approach throughout the design and development process. Human modeling during the conceptual design phase included crew reach and accessibility of individual equipment, as well as, crew restraint needs. During later design phases, human modeling has been used in conjunction with ground reviews and microgravity evaluations of the mock-ups in order to verify the human factors requirements. (Specific examples will be discussed.) This two-phase approach was the most efficient method to determine ergonomic design characteristics for workstations and restraints. The real-time evaluations provided a hands-on implementation in a microgravity environment. On the other hand, only a limited number of participants could be tested. The human modeling evaluations provided a more detailed analysis of the setup. The issues identified during the real-time testing were investigated in the human modeling analyses. In some cases, the opposite was true where preliminary human modeling analyses provided the design engineers with critical issues that needed to be addressed further. This extensive approach provided an effective means to fully address ergonomic design considerations and accurately identify critical issues.

Nineteenth International Microgravity Measurements Group Meeting

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLombard, Richard (Compiler)

2000-01-01

The Microgravity Measurements Group meetings provide a forum for an exchange of information and ideas about various aspects of microgravity acceleration research in international microgravity research programs. These meetings are sponsored by the PI Microgravity Services (PIMS) project at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The 19th MGMG meeting was held 11-13 July 2000 at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio. The 44 attendees represented NASA, other space agencies, universities, and commercial companies; 8 of the attendees were international representatives from Japan, Italy, Canada, Russia, and Germany. Twenty-seven presentations were made on a variety of microgravity environment topics including the International Space Station (ISS), acceleration measurement and analysis results, science effects from microgravity accelerations, vibration isolation, free flyer satellites, ground testing, vehicle characterization, and microgravity outreach and education. The meeting participants also toured three microgravity-related facilities at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Contained within the minutes is the conference agenda, which indicates each speaker, the title of their presentation, and the actual time of their presentation. The minutes also include the charts for each presentation, which indicate the authors' name(s) and affiliation. In some cases, a separate written report was submitted and has been Included here

Spacelab Science Results Study. Volume 1; External Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naumann, Robert J. (Compiler)

1999-01-01

Some of the 36 Spacelab missions were more or less dedicated to specific scientific disciplines, while other carried a eclectic mixture of experiments ranging from astrophysics to life sciences. However, the experiments can be logically classified into two general categories; those that make use of the Shuttle as an observing platform for external phenomena (including those which use the Shuttle in an interactive mode) and those which use the Shuttle as a microgravity laboratory. This first volume of this Spacelab Science Results study will be devoted to experiments of the first category. The disciplines included are Astrophysics, Solar Physics, Space Plasma Physics, Atmospheric Sciences, and Earth Sciences. Because of the large number of microgravity investigations, Volume 2 will be devoted to Microgravity Sciences, which includes Fluid Physics, Combustion Science, Materials Science, and Biotechnology, and Volume 3 will be devoted to Space Life Sciences, which studies the response and adaptability of living organisms to the microgravity environment.

Research opportunities with the Centrifuge Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Funk, Glenn A.

1992-01-01

The Centrifuge Facility on Space Station Freedom will consist of a 2.5-meter diameter Centrifuge accommodating two concentric rings of habitats and providing variable g-forces between 0.01 g and 2.0 g; modular habitats providing housing and lifesupport for rats, mice, and plants; a habitat holding system providing power, water, airflow and other utilities to several modular habitats; and a life sciences glovebox, an isolated work volume accommodating simultaneous operations by at least two scientists and providing lighting, airflow, video and data access, and other experiment support functions. The centrifuge facility will enable long-duration animal and plant microgravity research not previously possible in the NASA flight research program. It will offer unprecedented opportunities for use of on-board 1-g control populations and statistically significant numbers of specimens. On orbit 1-g controls will allow separation of the effects of microgravity from other environmental factors. Its selectable-g and simultaneous multiple-g capabilities will enable studies of gravitational thresholds, the use of artificial gravity as a countermeasure to the effects of microgravity, and ready simulation of Lunar and Martian gravities.

The ASTROCULTURE Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Research with plants in microgravity offers many exciting opportunities to gain new insights and could improve products on Earth ranging from crop production to fragrances and food flavorings. The ASTROCULTURE facility is a lead commercial facility for plant growth and plant research in microgravity and was developed by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WSCAR), a NASA Commercial Space Center. On STS-95 it will support research that could help improve crop development leading to plants that are more disease resistant or have a higher yield and provide data on the production of plant essential oils---oils that contain the essence of the plant and provide both fragrance and flavoring. On STS-95, a flowering plant will be grown in ASTROCULTURE and samples taken using a method developed by the industry partner for this investigation. On Earth, the samples will be analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the data used to evaluate both the production of fragrant oils in microgravity and in the development of one or more products. The ASTROCULTURE payload uses these pourous tubes with precise pressure sensing and control for fluid delivery to the plant root tray.

Low-Gravity Centrifuge Facilities for Asteroid Lander and Material Processing and Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asphaug, E.; Thangavelautham, J.; Schwartz, S.

2018-02-01

We are developing space centrifuge research facilities for attaining low-gravity to micro-gravity geological environmental conditions representative of the environment on the surfaces of asteroids and comets.

The Biological Flight Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Catherine C.

1991-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center is building a research facility, the Biological Flight Research Facility (BFRF), to meet the needs of life scientists to study the long-term effects of variable gravity on living systems. The facility will be housed on Space Station Freedom and is anticipated to operate for the lifetime of the station, approximately 30 years. It will allow plant and animal biologists to study the role of gravity, or its absence, at varying gravity intensities for varying periods of time and with various organisms. The principal difference between current Spacelab missions and those on Space Station Freedom, other than length of mission, will be the capability to perform on-orbit science procedures and the capability to simulate earth gravity. Initially, the facility will house plants and rodents in habitats which can be maintained at microgravity or can be placed on a 2.5-m diam centrifuge. However, the facility is also being designed to accommodate future habitats for small primates, avian, and aquatic specimens. The centrifuge will provide 1 g for controls and will also be able to provide gravity from 0.01 to 2.0 g for threshold gravity studies as well as hypergravity studies. The BFRF will provide the means to conduct basic experiments to gain an understanding of the effects of microgravity on the structure and function of plants and animals, as well as investigate the role of gravity as a potential countermeasure for the physiological changes observed in microgravity.

Microgravity Fluids for Biology, Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, DeVon; Kohl, Fred; Massa, Gioia D.; Motil, Brian; Parsons-Wingerter, Patricia; Quincy, Charles; Sato, Kevin; Singh, Bhim; Smith, Jeffrey D.; Wheeler, Raymond M.

2013-01-01

Microgravity Fluids for Biology represents an intersection of biology and fluid physics that present exciting research challenges to the Space Life and Physical Sciences Division. Solving and managing the transport processes and fluid mechanics in physiological and biological systems and processes are essential for future space exploration and colonization of space by humans. Adequate understanding of the underlying fluid physics and transport mechanisms will provide new, necessary insights and technologies for analyzing and designing biological systems critical to NASAs mission. To enable this mission, the fluid physics discipline needs to work to enhance the understanding of the influence of gravity on the scales and types of fluids (i.e., non-Newtonian) important to biology and life sciences. In turn, biomimetic, bio-inspired and synthetic biology applications based on physiology and biology can enrich the fluid mechanics and transport phenomena capabilities of the microgravity fluid physics community.

Microgravity Program strategic plan, 1991

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The all encompassing objective of the NASA Microgravity Program is the use of space as a lab to conduct research and development. The on-orbit microgravity environment, with its substantially reduced buoyancy forces, hydrostatic pressures, and sedimentation, enables the conduction of scientific studies not possible on Earth. This environment allows processes to be isolated and controlled with an accuracy that cannot be obtained in the terrestrial environment. The Microgravity Science and Applications Div. has defined three major science categories in order to develop a program structure: fundamental science, including the study of the behavior of fluids, transport phenomena, condensed matter physics, and combustion science; materials science, including electronic and photonic materials, metals and alloys, and glasses and ceramics; and biotechnology, focusing on macromolecular crystal growth as well as cell and molecular science. Experiments in these areas seek to provide observations of complex phenomena and measurements of physical attributes with a precision that is enabled by the microgravity environment.

International Space Station -- Fluid Physics Rack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing and with the optical bench rotated 90 degrees to access the rear elements. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

In-flight demonstration of the Space Station Freedom Health Maintenance Facility fluid therapy system (E300/E05)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lloyd, Charles W.

1993-01-01

The Space Station Freedom (SSF) Health Maintenance Facility (HMF) will provide medical care for crew members for up to 10 days. An integral part of the required medical care consists of providing intravenous infusion of fluids, electrolyte solutions, and nutrients to sustain an ill or injured crew member. In terrestrial health care facilities, intravenous solutions are normally stored in large quantities. However, due to the station's weight and volume constraints, an adequate supply of the required solutions cannot be carried onboard SSF. By formulating medical fluids onboard from concentrates and station water as needed, the Fluid Therapy System (FTS) eliminates weight and volume concerns regarding intravenous fluids. The first full-system demonstration of FTS is continuous microgravity will be conducted in Spacelab-Japan (SL-J). The FTS evaluation consists of two functional objectives and an in-flight demonstration of intravenous administration of fluids. The first is to make and store sterile water and IV solutions onboard the spacecraft. If intravenous fluids are to be produced in SSF, successful sterilization of water and reconstituting of IV solutions must be achieved. The second objective is to repeat the verification of the FTS infusion pump, which had been performed in Spacelab Life Sciences - 1 (SLS-1). during SLS-1, the FTS IV pump was operated in continuous microgravity for the first time. The pump functioned successfully, and valuable knowledge on its performance in continuous microgravity was obtained. Finally, the technique of starting an IF in microgravity will be demonstrated. The IV technique requires modifications in microgravity, such as use of restraints for equipment and crew members involved.

Commerce Lab - An enabling facility and test bed for commercial flight opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robertson, Jack; Atkins, Harry L.; Williams, John R.

1986-01-01

Commerce Lab is conceived as an adjunct to the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) by providing a focal point for commercial missions which could utilize existing NSTS carrier and resource capabilities for on-orbit experimentation in the microgravity sciences. In this context, the Commerce Lab provides an enabling facility and test bed for commercial flight opportunities. Commerce Lab program activities to date have focused on mission planning for private sector involvement in the space program to facilitate the commercial exploitation of the microgravity environment for materials processing research and development. It is expected that Commerce Lab will provide a logical transition between currently planned NSTS missions and future microgravity science and commercial R&D missions centered around the Space Station. The present study identifies candidate Commerce Lab flight experiments and their development status and projects a mission traffic model that can be used in commercial mission planning.

Crewmember working on the spacelab Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

View showing Payload Specialists Bonnie Dunbar and Larry DeLucas in the aft section of the U. S. Microgravity Laboratory-1. Dunbar is preparing to load a sample in the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) Integrated Furnace Experiment Assembly (IFEA) in rack 9 of the Microgravity Laboratory. DeLucas is checking out the multi-purpose Glovebox Facility.

Sixth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference Abstracts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Bhim (Compiler)

2002-01-01

The Sixth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference provides the scientific community the opportunity to view the current scope of the Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Program, current research opportunities, and plans for the near future. The conference focuses not only on fundamental research but also on applications of this knowledge towards enabling future space exploration missions. A whole session dedicated to biological fluid physics shows increased emphasis that the program has placed on interdisciplinary research. The conference includes invited plenary talks, technical paper presentations, poster presentations, and exhibits. This TM is a compilation of abstracts of the papers and the posters presented at the conference. Web-based proceedings, including the charts used by the presenters, will be posted on the web shortly after the conference.

Microgravity experiment study on the vane type surface tension tank

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Qi; Duan, Li; Rui, Wei

Having advantages of low cost, convenience and high level of microgravity, the drop tower has become a significant microgravity experiment facility. National Microgravity Laboratory/CAS(NMLC) drop tower has 3.5s effective microgravity time, meanwhile the level of microgravity can reach 10 (-5) g. And the impact acceleration is less than 15g in the recovery period. The microgravity experiments have been conducted on the scaling model of vane type surface tension tank in NMLC’s drop tower. The efficiency of Propellant Management Devices (PMDs) was studied, which focus on the effects of Propellant Management Devices (PMDs), numbers of PMDs, contact angle, and liquid viscosity on the flow rate. The experimental results shown that the numbers of PMDs have little or no effect on the flow rate while the liquid is sufficient. The experiments about the influence of different charging ratio have been carried out while tank is placed positively and reversely, and we find the charging ratio has less effect on the capillary flow rate when the charging ratio is greater than 2%.

Wireless Drop Tower for Microgravity Demonstrations. Educational Brief.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC.

Microgravity-the absence or reduction of some of the effects of gravity-is an important attribute of free-fall. In microgravity (often incorrectly called zero-g), water no longer flows "downhill" and neither do smoke or steam bubbles rise. This changes a number of chemical and physical activities. Experiments in combustion, fluid behavior,…

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-10-20

Onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-73) Payload Commander Kathryn Thornton and Commander Ken Bowersox discuss the Drop Physics Module (DPM) experiment in the United States Microgravity Laboratory 2 (USML-2) spacelab science module.

Effects of Simulated Microgravity on Otolith Growth of Larval Zebrafish using a Rotating-Wall Vessel: Appropriate Rotation Speed and Fish Developmental Stage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaoyan; Anken, Ralf; Liu, Liyue; Wang, Gaohong; Liu, Yongding

2017-02-01

Stimulus dependence is a general feature of developing animal sensory systems. In this respect, it has extensively been shown earlier that fish inner ear otoliths can act as test masses as their growth is strongly affected by altered gravity such as hypergravity obtained using centrifuges, by (real) microgravity achieved during spaceflight or by simulated microgravity using a ground-based facility. Since flight opportunities are scarce, ground-based simulators of microgravity, using a wide variety of physical principles, have been developed to overcome this shortcoming. Not all of them, however, are equally well suited to provide functional weightlessness from the perspective of the biosystem under evaluation. Therefore, the range of applicability of a particular simulator has to be extensively tested. Earlier, we have shown that a Rotating-Wall Vessel (RWV) can be used to provide simulated microgravity for developing Zebrafish regarding the effect of rotation on otolith development. In the present study, we wanted to find the most effective speed of rotation and identify the appropriate developmental stage of Zebrafish, where effects are the largest, in order to provide a methodological basis for future in-depth analyses dedicated to the physiological processes underlying otolith growth at altered gravity. Last not least, we compared data on the effect of simulated microgravity on the size versus the weight of otoliths, since the size usually is measured in related studies due to convenience, but the weight more accurately approximates the physical capacity of an otolith. Maintaining embryos at 10 hours post fertilization for three days in the RWV, we found that 15 revolutions per minute (rpm) yielded the strongest effects on otolith growth. Maintenance of Zebrafish staged at 10 hpf, 1 day post fertilization (dpf), 4 dpf, 7 dpf and 14 dpf for three days at 15 rpm resulted in the most prominent effects in 7 dpf larvae. Weighing versus measuring the size of otoliths yielded basically similar results, but the data gained by weighing were more distinct. Overall, our results clearly support the concept that the environmental gravity vector regulates fish otolith growth in terms of the pendulum model of otolith test masses, and that wall vessel rotation is a valuable means to provide functional weightlessness from the perspective of developing Zebrafish. We recommend that Zebrafish embryos staged 7 dpf (or possibly slightly elder) are rotated at 15 rpm in a Rotating-Wall Vessel as used in the present study for further experiments designed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying (altered gravity affected) otolith growth.

New Technologies Being Developed for the Thermophoretic Sampling of Smoke Particulates in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sheredy, William A.

2003-01-01

The Characterization of Smoke Particulate for Spacecraft Fire Detection, or Smoke, microgravity experiment is planned to be performed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox Facility on the International Space Station (ISS). This investigation, which is being developed by the NASA Glenn Research Center, ZIN Technologies, and the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST), is based on the results and experience gained from the successful Comparative Soot Diagnostics experiment, which was flown as part of the USMP-3 (United States Microgravity Payload 3) mission on space shuttle flight STS-75. The Smoke experiment is designed to determine the particle size distributions of the smokes generated from a variety of overheated spacecraft materials and from microgravity fires. The objective is to provide the data that spacecraft designers need to properly design and implement fire detection in spacecraft. This investigation will also evaluate the performance of the smoke detectors currently in use aboard the space shuttle and ISS for the test materials in a microgravity environment.

Containerless Processing Studies in the MSFC Electrostatic Levitator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, J. R.; SanSoucie, M. P.

2012-01-01

Levitation or containerless processing represents an important tool in materials research. Levitated specimens are free from contact with a container, which permits studies of deeply undercooled melts, and high-temperature, highly reactive materials. Containerless processing provides data for studies of thermophysical properties, phase equilibria, metastable state formation, microstructure formation, undercooling, and nucleation. Levitation techniques include: acoustic, aero-acoustic, electromagnetic, and electrostatic. In microgravity, levitation can be achieved with greatly reduced positioning forces. Microgravity also reduces the effects of buoyancy and sedimentation in melts. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) jointly developed an electromagnetic levitator facility (MSL-EML) for containerless materials processing in space. The MSL-EML will be accommodated in the European Columbus Facility on the International Space Station (ISS). The electrostatic levitator (ESL) facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center provides support for the development of containerless processing studies for the ISS. The capabilities of the facility and recent results will be discussed.

The International Microgravity Laboratory, a Spacelab for materials and life sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Robert S.

1992-01-01

The material science experiments performed on the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1), which is used to perform investigations which require the low gravity environment of space, are discussed. These experiments, the principal investigator, and associated organization are listed. Whether the experiment was a new development or was carried on an earlier space mission, such as the third Spacelab (SL-3) or the Shuttle Middeck, is also noted. The two major disciplines of materials science represented on IML-1 were the growth of crystals from the melt, solution, or vapor and the study of fluids (liquids and gases) in a reduced gravity environment. The various facilities on board IML-1 and their related experiments are described. The facilities include the Fluids Experiment System (FES) Vapor Crystal Growth System (VCGS) Organic Crystal Growth Facility (OCGF), Cryostat (CRY), and the Critical Point Facility (CPF).

Crewmember working on the spacelab Zeolite Crystal Growth experiment.

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-07-09

STS050-02-001 (9 July 1992) --- View showing Payload Specialists Bonnie Dunbar and Larry DeLucas in the aft section of the U. S. Microgravity Laboratory-1. Dunbar is preparing to load a sample in the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) Integrated Furnace Experiment Assembly (IFEA) in rack 9 of the Microgravity Laboratory. DeLucas is checking out the multipurpose Glovebox Facility.

Solid surface wetting and the deployment of drops in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trinh, E. H.; Depew, J.

1994-01-01

The complete or partial deployment of liquid samples in low gravity is primarily influenced by the interfacial properties of the specific liquid and solid materials used because the overwhelming bias of the Earth gravitational acceleration is removed. This study addresses the engineering aspects of injecting and deploying drops of prescribed volume into an acoustic positioning chamber in microgravity. The specific problems of interest are the design, testing, and implementation of injector tips to be used in a simultaneously retracting dual-injector system in the Drop Physics Module microgravity experiment facility. Prior to release, the liquid to be deployed must be retained within a restricted area at the very end of the injectors under dynamic stimuli from the continuous injection flow as well as from the stepped motion of the injectors. The final released drop must have a well determined volume and negligible residual linear or angular momentum. The outcome of Earth-based short-duration low gravity experiments had been the selection of two types of injector tips which were flown as back-up parts. They were successfully utilized during the USML-1 Spacelab mission as the primary tips. The combination of a larger contact surface, liquid pinning with a sharp edge, and selective coating of strategic tip surfaces with a non-wetting compound has allowed a significant increase in the success rate of deployment of simple and compound drops of aqueous solutions of glycerol and silicone oil. The diameter of the samples studied in the Drop Physics Module range between 0.3 and 2.7 cm. The tests conducted on-orbit with a manually operated small device have allowed the calibration of the volume deployed for a few drop sizes. The design for improved tips to be used during the next USML flight is based on these results.

Solid Surface Wetting and the Deployment of Drops in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trinh, E. H.; Depew, J.

1994-01-01

The complete or partial deployment of liquid samples in low gravity is primarily influenced by the interfacial properties of the specific liquid and solid materials used because the overwhelming bias of the Earth gravitational acceleration is removed. This study addresses the engineering aspects of injecting and deploying drops of prescribed volume into an acoustic positioning chamber in microgravity. The specific problems of interest are the design, testing, and implementation of injector tips to be used in a simuttaneously retracting dual-injector system used in the Drop Physics Module microgravity experiment facility. Prior to release, the liquid to be deployed must be retained within a restricted area at the very end of the injectors even under dynamic stimuli due to continuous injection flow as well as to the stepped motion of the injectors, and the final released drop must have a well determined volume as well as negligible residual linear or angular momentum from the deployment process. The outcome of Earthbased short-duration low gravity experiments had been the selection of two types of injector tips which were flown as back-up parts and were successfully utilized during the USML-1 Spacelab mission. The combination of a larger contact surface, liquid pinning with a sharp edge, and selective coating of strategic tip surfaces with a non-wetting compound has allowed a significant increase in the success rate of deployment of simple and compound drops of aqueous solutions of glycerol and silicone oil. The diameter of the samples studied in the Drop Physics Module ranged between 0.3 and 2.7 cm. The tests conducted onsrbit with a manually operated small device have allowed the calibration of the volume deployed for a few drop sizes. The design for improved tips to be used during the next USML flight is based on these results.

Planning Experiments for a Microgravity Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J. B.

1998-01-01

Prior to performing science experiments in a microgravity environment, scientists must understand and appreciate a variety of issues related to that environment. The microgravity conditions required for optimum performance of the experiment will help define an appropriate carrier, drop facility, sounding rocket, free-flyer, or manned orbiting spacecraft. Within a given carrier, such as the International Space Station, experiment sensitivity to vibrations and quasi-steady accelerations should also influence the location and orientation of the experiment apparatus; the flight attitude of the carrier (if selectable); and the scheduling of experiment operations in conjunction with other activities. If acceptable microgravity conditions are not expected from available carriers or experiment scheduling cannot avoid disruptive activities, then a vibration isolation system should be considered. In order to best interpret the experimental results, appropriate accelerometer data must be collected contemporaneously with the experimental data. All of this requires a good understanding of experiment sensitivity to the microgravity environment.

Exercise detraining: Applicability to microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coyle, Edward F.

1994-01-01

Physical training exposes the various systems of the body to potent physiologic stimuli. These stimuli induce specific adaptations that enhance an individual's tolerance for the type of exercise encountered in training. The level of adaptation and the magnitude of improvement in exercise tolerance is proportional to the potency of the physical training stimuli. Likewise, our bodies are stimulated by gravity, which promotes adaptations of both the cardiovascular and skeletal muscles. Exposure to microgravity removes normal stimuli to these systems, and the body adapts to these reduced demands. In many respects the cessation of physical training in athletes and the transition from normal gravity to microgravity represent similar paradigms. Inherent to these situations is the concept of the reversibility of the adaptations induced by training or by exposure to normal gravity. The reversibility concept holds that when physical training is stopped (i.e., detraining) or reduced, or a person goes from normal gravity to microgravity, the bodily systems readjust in accordance with the diminished physiologic stimuli. The focus of this chapter is on the time course of loss of the adaptations to endurance training as well as on the possibility that certain adaptations persist, to some extent, when training is stopped. Because endurance exercise training generally improves cardiovascular function and promotes metabolic adaptations within the exercising skeletal musculature, the reversibility of these specific adaptations is considered. These observations have some applicability to the transition from normal to microgravity.

The NASA Materials Science Research Program: It's New Strategic Goals and Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald A.; Stagg, Elizabeth

2004-01-01

In the past year, the NASA s Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) has formulated a long term plan to perform strategical and fundamental research bringing together physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to solve problems needed for current and future agency mission goals. Materials Science is one of basic disciplines within the Enterprise s Division of Physical Sciences Research. The Materials Science Program participates to utilize effective use of International Space Station (ISS) and various world class ground laboratory facilities to solve new scientific and technology questions and transfer these results for public and agency benefits. The program has recently targeted new investigative research in strategic areas necessary to expand NASA knowledge base for exploration of the universe and some of these experiments will need access to the microgravity of space. The program is implementing a wide variety of traditional ground and flight based research related types of fundamental science related to materials crystallization, fundamental processing, and properties characterization in order to obtain basic understanding of various phenomena effects and relationships to the structures, processing, and properties of materials. , In addition new initiatives in radiation protection, materials for propulsion and In-space fabrication and repair focus on research helping the agency solve problems needed for future transportation into the solar system. A summary of the types and sources for this research is presented including those experiments planned for a low gravity environment. Areas to help expand the science basis for NASA future missions are described. An overview of the program is given including the scope of the current and future NASA Research Announcements with emphasis on new materials science initiatives. A description of the planned flight experiments to be conducted on the International Space Station program along with the planned facility class Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) and Microgravity Glovebox (MSG) type investigations. Some initial results from the first three materials experiments are given.

Proceedings of the Fifth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Bhim S. (Editor)

2000-01-01

The Fifth Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Conference provided the scientific community the opportunity to view the current scope of the Microgravity Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Program and research opportunities and plans for the near future. Consistent with the conference theme "Microgravity Research an Agency-Wide Asset" the conference focused not only on fundamental research but also on applications of this knowledge towards enabling future space exploration missions. The conference included 14 invited plenary talks, 61 technical paper presentations, 61 poster presentations, exhibits and a forum on emerging research themes focusing on nanotechnology and biofluid mechanics. This web-based proceeding includes the presentation and poster charts provided by the presenters of technical papers and posters that were scanned at the conference site. Abstracts of all the papers and posters are included and linked to the presentations charts. The invited and plenary speakers were not required to provide their charts and are generally not available for scanning and hence not posted. The conference program is also included.

KSC-00pp0833

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-06-28

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C), an overhead crane hovers over the U.S. Lab, named Destiny, while workers attach cables for lifting the Lab. The Lab will undergo testing in the altitude chamber in the O&C. Destiny is scheduled to fly on mission STS-98 in early 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0833

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-06-28

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building (O&C), an overhead crane hovers over the U.S. Lab, named Destiny, while workers attach cables for lifting the Lab. The Lab will undergo testing in the altitude chamber in the O&C. Destiny is scheduled to fly on mission STS-98 in early 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

Advanced Measurement Devices for the Microgravity Electromagnetic Levitation Facility EML

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brillo, Jurgen; Fritze, Holger; Lohofer, Georg; Schulz, Michal; Stenzel, Christian

2012-01-01

This paper reports on two advanced measurement devices for the microgravity electromagnetic levitation facility (EML), which is currently under construction for the use onboard the "International Space Station (ISS)": the "Sample Coupling Electronics (SCE)" and the "Oxygen Sensing and Control Unit (OSC)". The SCE measures by a contactless, inductive method the electrical resistivity and the diameter of a spherical levitated metallic droplet by evaluating the voltage and electrical current applied to the levitation coil. The necessity of the OSC comes from the insight that properties like surface tension or, eventually, viscosity cannot seriously be determined by the oscillating drop method in the EML facility without knowing the conditions of the surrounding atmosphere. In the following both measurement devices are explained and laboratory test results are presented.

The CELSS Test Facility Project - An example of a CELSS flight experiment system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macelroy, R. D.; Straight, C. L.

1992-01-01

The design of the facility is described in terms of its use as an investigation tool for evaluating crop growth in space with reference to required emerging technologies. NASA's CELSS Test Facility (CTF) is designed to permit the measurement of crop-plant productivity under microgravity conditions including biomass production, food production, water transpiration, and O2/CO2 exchanges. Crucial hardware tests and qualifications are identified to assure the operation of CTF technologies in space including the nutrient-delivery, water-condensation, and gas-liquid-mixing subsystems. The design concept and related scientific requirements are described and shown to provide microgravity crop research. The CTF is expected to provide data for plant research and for concepts for bioregenerative life-support systems for applications to Martian, lunar, and space-station missions.

Combustion Research aboard the ISS Utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and Microgravity Science Glovebox

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutliff, T. J.; Otero, A. M.; Urban, D. L.

2002-01-01

The Physical Sciences Research Program of NASA has chartered a broad suite of peer-reviewed research investigating both fundamental combustion phenomena and applied combustion research topics. Fundamental research provides insights to develop accurate simulations of complex combustion processes and allows developers to improve the efficiency of combustion devices, to reduce the production of harmful emissions, and to reduce the incidence of accidental uncontrolled combustion (fires, explosions). The applied research benefit humans living and working in space through its fire safety program. The Combustion Science Discipline is implementing a structured flight research program utilizing the International Space Station (ISS) and two of its premier facilities, the Combustion Integrated Rack of the Fluids and Combustion Facility and the Microgravity Science Glovebox to conduct this space-based research. This paper reviews the current vision of Combustion Science research planned for International Space Station implementation from 2003 through 2012. A variety of research efforts in droplets and sprays, solid-fuels combustion, and gaseous combustion have been independently selected and critiqued through a series of peer-review processes. During this period, while both the ISS carrier and its research facilities are under development, the Combustion Science Discipline has synergistically combined research efforts into sub-topical areas. To conduct this research aboard ISS in the most cost effective and resource efficient manner, the sub-topic research areas are implemented via a multi-user hardware approach. This paper also summarizes the multi-user hardware approach and recaps the progress made in developing these research hardware systems. A balanced program content has been developed to maximize the production of fundamental and applied combustion research results within the current budgetary and ISS operational resource constraints. Decisions on utilizing the Combustion Integrated Rack and the Microgravity Science Glovebox are made based on facility capabilities and research requirements. To maximize research potential, additional research objectives are specified as desires a priori during the research design phase. These expanded research goals, which are designed to be achievable even with late addition of operational resources, allow additional research of a known, peer-endorsed scope to be conducted at marginal cost. Additional operational resources such as upmass, crewtime, data downlink bandwidth, and stowage volume may be presented by the ISS planners late in the research mission planning process. The Combustion Discipline has put in place plans to be prepared to take full advantage of such opportunities.

The Biological Flight Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Catherine C.

1993-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is building a research facility, the Biological Flight Research Facility (BFRF), to meet the needs of life scientists to study the long-term effects of variable gravity on living systems. The facility will be housed on Space Station Freedom and is anticipated to operate for the lifetime of the station, approximately thirty years. It will allow plant and animal biologists to study the role of gravity, or its absence, at varying gravity intensities for varying periods of time and with various organisms. The principal difference between current Spacelab missions and those on Space Station Freedom, other than length of mission, will be the capability to perform on-orbit science procedures and the capability to simulate earth gravity. Initially the facility will house plants and rodents in habitats which can be maintained at microgravity or can be placed on a 2.5 meter diameter centrifuge. However, the facility is also being designed to accommodate future habitats for small primates, avian, and aquatic specimens. The centrifuge will provide 1 g for controls and will also be able to provide gravity from 0.01 to 2.0 g for threshold gravity studies as well as hypergravity studies. Included in the facility are a service unit for providing clean chambers for the specimens and a glovebox for manipulating the plant and animal specimens and for performing experimental protocols. The BFRF will provide the means to conduct basic experiments to gain an understanding of the effects of microgravity on the structure and function of plants and animals, as well as investigate the role of gravity as a potential countermeasure for the physiological changes observed in microgravity.

Physics of Colloids in Space: Microgravity Experiment Launched, Installed, and Activated on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doherty, Michael P.

2002-01-01

The Physics of Colloids in Space (PCS) experiment is a Microgravity Fluids Physics investigation that is presently located in an Expedite the Process of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack on the International Space Station. PCS was launched to the International Space Station on April 19, 2001, activated on May 31, 2001, and will continue to operate about 90 hr per week through May 2002.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-10-20

Onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-73) Payload Commander Kathryn Thornton works with the Drop Physics Module (DPM) in the United States Microgravity Laboratory 2 (USML-2) Spacelab Science Module cleaning the experiment chamber of the DPM.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1995-10-20

Astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton, payload commander, works at the Drop Physics Module (DPM) on the portside of the science module supporting the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2). Astronaut Kerneth D. Bowersox, mission commander, looks on.

Developments of the studies on the polymerization under microgravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ping; Yi, Zongchun

Microgravity has been recognized as a new and useful way of processing materials for pharmacology biology and microelectronic In microgravity there is no direction for gravity sensitive processes which take part in crystal growth convection sedimentation physical--chemical processes in biological objects The absent of gravity leads to the possibility of synthesis of new materials which cannot be prepared on Earth The perspective for possible biotechnological applications gave an impetus to a series of experiments on polymerization in space by NASA Rocket-Space Corporation RSC ENERGIYA the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Uzbekistan and so on The influence of microgravity on polymerization is based on the exclusion of convection and sedimentation processes in curing polymer Under microgravity condition a frontal polymerization process and creation of high homogeneous polyacrilamide gel were observed 1 Thus a much better resolution result of proteins by electrophoresis on orbital PAG matrices was obtained than that on terrestrial PAG matrices A deeper understanding of conditions responsible for generation of physical properties of PAG synthesized on the Earth was a strong motivation for seeking gravity-sensitive mechanisms of polymerization The polymerization under microgravity can potentially applied on functional polymer The conductive polymer such as polypyrrole is usually utilized especially for microelectronics The polymerization of pyrrole in microgravity conditions was made to prepare polymer particles having shapes

Microgravity science and applications projects and payloads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crouch, R. K.

1987-01-01

An overview of work conducted by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division of NASA is presented. The goals of the program are the development and implementation of a reduced-gravity research, science and applications program, exploitation of space for human benefits, and the application of reduced gravity research for the development of advanced technologies. Space research of fluid dynamics and mass transport phenomena is discussed and the facilities available for reduced gravity experiments are presented. A program for improving communication with the science and applications communities and the potential use of the Space Station for microgravity research are also examined.

KSC-97PC1462

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-15

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). A technician is working on the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), which will be used by researchers to study the solidification of semiconductor materials in microgravity. Scientists will be able to better understand how microgravity influences the solidification process of these materials and develop better methods for controlling that process during future Space flights and Earth-based production. All STS-87 experiments are scheduled for launch on Nov. 19 from KSC

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) gets a closeup view of the cover on the window of the U.S. Lab Destiny. Along with Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky, Jones is taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on this significant element of the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

NASA Johnson Space Center Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF) Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, M.

2004-01-01

The Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF) is part of the Space Human Factors Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The facility provides support to the Office of Biological and Physical Research, the Space Shuttle Program, the International Space Station Program, and other NASA organizations. In addition, there are ongoing collaborative research efforts with external businesses and universities. The UTAF provides human factors analysis, evaluation, and usability testing of crew interfaces for space applications. This includes computer displays and controls, workstation systems, and work environments. The UTAF has a unique mix of capabilities, with a staff experienced in both cognitive human factors and ergonomics. The current areas of focus are: human factors applications in emergency medical care and informatics; control and display technologies for electronic procedures and instructions; voice recognition in noisy environments; crew restraint design for unique microgravity workstations; and refinement of human factors processes. This presentation will provide an overview of ongoing activities, and will address how the projects will evolve to meet new space initiatives.

NASA Johnson Space Center Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (WAF) Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, M.

2004-01-01

The Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF) is part of the Space Human Factors Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The facility provides support to the Office of Biological and Physical Research, the Space Shuttle Program, the International Space Station Program, and other NASA organizations. In addition, there are ongoing collaborative research efforts with external businesses and universities. The UTAF provides human factors analysis, evaluation, and usability testing of crew interfaces for space applications. This includes computer displays and controls, workstation systems, and work environments. The UTAF has a unique mix of capabilities, with a staff experienced in both cognitive human factors and ergonomics. The current areas of focus are: human factors applications in emergency medical care and informatics; control and display technologies for electronic procedures and instructions; voice recognition in noisy environments; crew restraint design for unique microgravity workstations; and refinement of human factors processes. This presentation will provide an overview of ongoing activities, and will address how the projects will evolve to meet new space initiatives.

Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility and the Research Performed in the MSG

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jordan, Lee

2016-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for investigation handling. The MSG was built by the European Space Agency (ESA) which also provides sustaining engineering support for the facility. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of direct current power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, plus or minus 12, and 5 volts direct current), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. The MSG has been used for over 27,000 hours of scientific payload operations. MSG investigations involve research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, plant growth, biological studies and life support technology. The MSG facility is operated by the Payloads Operations Integration Center at Marshall Space Flight Center. Payloads may also operate remotely from different telescience centers located in the United States and Europe. The Investigative Payload Integration Manager (IPIM) is the focal to assist organizations that have payloads operating in the MSG facility. NASA provides an MSG engineering unit for payload developers to verify that their hardware is operating properly before actual operation on the ISS. This poster will provide an overview of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, and an overview of video and biological upgrades. The author would like to acknowledge Teledyne Brown Engineering and the entire MSG Team for their inputs into this poster.

MSRR Rack Materials Science Research Rack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reagan, Shawn

2017-01-01

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a research facility developed under a cooperative research agreement between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) for materials science investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). The MSRR is managed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, AL. The MSRR facility subsystems were manufactured by Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) and integrated with the ESA/EADS-Astrium developed Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) at the MSFC Space Station Integration and Test Facility (SSITF) as part of the Systems Development Operations Support (SDOS) contract. MSRR was launched on STS-128 in August 2009, and is currently installed in the U. S. Destiny Laboratory Module on the ISS. Materials science is an integral part of developing new, safer, stronger, more durable materials for use throughout everyday life. The goal of studying materials processing in space is to develop a better understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms involved, and how they differ in the microgravity environment of space. To that end, the MSRR accommodates advanced investigations in the microgravity environment of the ISS for basic materials science research in areas such as solidification of metals and alloys. MSRR allows for the study of a variety of materials including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses. Materials science research benefits from the microgravity environment of space, where the researcher can better isolate chemical and thermal properties of materials from the effects of gravity. With this knowledge, reliable predictions can be made about the conditions required on Earth to achieve improved materials. MSRR is a highly automated facility with a modular design capable of supporting multiple types of investigations. Currently the NASA-provided Rack Support Subsystem provides services (power, thermal control, vacuum access, and command and data handling) to the ESA developed Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) which accommodates interchangeable Furnace Inserts (FI). Two ESA-developed FIs are presently available on the ISS: the Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) and the Solidification and Quenching Furnace (SQF). Sample-Cartridge Assemblies (SCAs), each containing one or more material samples, are installed in the FI by the crew and can be processed at temperatures up to 1400 C. Once an SCA is installed, the experiment can be run by automatic command or science conducted via telemetry commands from the ground. This facility is available to support materials science investigations through programs such as the US National Laboratory, Technology Development, NASA Research Announcements, and others. TBE and MSFC are currently developing NASA Sample Cartridge Assemblies (SCA's) with a planned availability for launch in 2017.

Space Station Biological Research Project.

PubMed

Johnson, C C; Wade, C E; Givens, J J

1997-06-01

To meet NASA's objective of using the unique aspects of the space environment to expand fundamental knowledge in the biological sciences, the Space Station Biological Research Project at Ames Research Center is developing, or providing oversight, for two major suites of hardware which will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). The first, the Gravitational Biology Facility, consists of Habitats to support plants, rodents, cells, aquatic specimens, avian and reptilian eggs, and insects and the Habitat Holding Rack in which to house them at microgravity; the second, the Centrifuge Facility, consists of a 2.5 m diameter centrifuge that will provide acceleration levels between 0.01 g and 2.0 g and a Life Sciences Glovebox. These two facilities will support the conduct of experiments to: 1) investigate the effect of microgravity on living systems; 2) what level of gravity is required to maintain normal form and function, and 3) study the use of artificial gravity as a countermeasure to the deleterious effects of microgravity observed in the crew. Upon completion, the ISS will have three complementary laboratory modules provided by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese space agency, NASDA. Use of all facilities in each of the modules will be available to investigators from participating space agencies. With the advent of the ISS, space-based gravitational biology research will transition from 10-16 day short-duration Space Shuttle flights to 90-day-or-longer ISS increments.

Space Station Biological Research Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, C. C.; Wade, C. E.; Givens, J. J.

1997-01-01

To meet NASA's objective of using the unique aspects of the space environment to expand fundamental knowledge in the biological sciences, the Space Station Biological Research Project at Ames Research Center is developing, or providing oversight, for two major suites of hardware which will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). The first, the Gravitational Biology Facility, consists of Habitats to support plants, rodents, cells, aquatic specimens, avian and reptilian eggs, and insects and the Habitat Holding Rack in which to house them at microgravity; the second, the Centrifuge Facility, consists of a 2.5 m diameter centrifuge that will provide acceleration levels between 0.01 g and 2.0 g and a Life Sciences Glovebox. These two facilities will support the conduct of experiments to: 1) investigate the effect of microgravity on living systems; 2) what level of gravity is required to maintain normal form and function, and 3) study the use of artificial gravity as a countermeasure to the deleterious effects of microgravity observed in the crew. Upon completion, the ISS will have three complementary laboratory modules provided by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese space agency, NASDA. Use of all facilities in each of the modules will be available to investigators from participating space agencies. With the advent of the ISS, space-based gravitational biology research will transition from 10-16 day short-duration Space Shuttle flights to 90-day-or-longer ISS increments.

Strategic Research to Enable NASA's Exploration Missions Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nahra, Henry (Compiler)

2004-01-01

Abstracts are presented from a conference sponsored by the NASA Office of Biological and Physical Research and hosted by NASA Glenn Research Center and the National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and Combustion, held in Cleveland, Ohio, June 22-23, 2004. Topics pertained to the behavior of processes and materials in microgravity as well as physiological-biological studies and microgravity effects.

Visualization of Thin Liquid Crystal Bubbles in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, C. S.; Clark, N. A.; Maclennan, J. E.; Glaser, M. A.; Tin, P.; Stannarius, R.; Hall, N.; Storck, J.; Sheehan, C.

2015-01-01

The Observation and Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS) experiment exploits the unique characteristics of freely suspended liquid crystals in a microgravity environment to advance the understanding of fluid state physics.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-04-26

The first NASA Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) student competition pilot project came to a conclusion at the Glenn Research Center in April 2001. The competition involved high-school student teams who developed the concept for a microgravity experiment and prepared an experiment proposal. The two student teams - COSI Academy, sponsored by the Columbus Center of Science and Industry, and another team from Cincinnati, Ohio's Sycamore High School, designed a microgravity experiment, fabricated the experimental apparatus, and visited NASA Glenn to operate their experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower. NASA and contractor personnel who conducted the DIME activity with the students. Shown (L-R) are: Eric Baumann (NASA, 2.2-second Drop Tower Facility manager), Daniel Dietrich (NASA) mentor for Sycamore High School team), Carol Hodanbosi (National Center for Microgravity Research; DIME staff), Richard DeLombard (NASA; DIME staff), Jose Carrion (GRC Akima, drop tower technician), Dennis Stocker (NASA; DIME staff), Peter Sunderland (NCMR, mentor for COSI Academy student team), Sandi Thompson (NSMR sabbatical teacher; DIME staff), Dan Woodard (MASA Microgravity Outreach Program Manager), Adam Malcolm (NASA co-op student; DIME staff), Carla Rosenberg (NCMR; DIME staff), and Twila Schneider (Infinity Technology; NASA Microgravity Research program contractor). This image is from a digital still camera; higher resolution is not available.

International Space Station -- Fluid Physics Ra;ck

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing and with the optical bench rotated 90 degrees for access to the rear elements. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Electrophoresis in space.

PubMed

Bauer, J; Hymer, W C; Morrison, D R; Kobayashi, H; Seaman, G V; Weber, G

1999-01-01

Programs for free flow electrophoresis in microgravity over the past 25 years are reviewed. Several studies accomplished during 20 spaceflight missions have demonstrated that sample throughput is significantly higher in microgravity than on the ground. Some studies have shown that resolution is also increased. However, many cell separation trials have fallen victim to difficulties associated with experimenting in the microgravity environment such as microbial contamination, air bubbles in electrophoresis chambers, and inadequate facilities for maintaining cells before and after separation. Recent studies suggest that the charge density of cells at their surface may also be modified in microgravity. If this result is confirmed, a further cellular mechanism of "sensing" the low gravity environment will have been found. Several free fluid electrophoresis devices are now available. Most have been tried at least once in microgravity. Newer units not yet tested in spaceflight have been designed to accommodate problems associated with space processing. The USCEPS device and the Japanese FFEU device are specifically designed for sterile operations, whereas the Octopus device is designed to reduce electroosmotic and electrohydrodynamic effects, which become dominant and detrimental in microgravity. Some of these devices will also separate proteins by zone electrophoresis, isotachophoresis, or isoelectric focusing in a single unit. Separation experiments with standard test particles are useful and necessary for testing and optimizing new space hardware. A cohesive free fluid electrophoresis program in the future will obviously require (1) flight opportunities and funding, (2) identification of suitable cellular and macromolecular candidate samples, and (3) provision of a proper interface of electrophoresis processing equipment with biotechnological facilities--equipment like bioreactors and protein crystal growth chambers. The authors feel that such capabilities will lead to the production of commercially useful quantities of target products and to an accumulation of new knowledge relating to the complexities of electrostatic phenomena at the cell surface.

An Experimental Study of the Structure of Turbulent Non-Premixed Jet Flames in Microgravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boxx, Isaac; Idicheria, Cherian; Clemens, Noel

2000-11-01

The aim of this work is to investigate the structure of transitional and turbulent non-premixed jet flames under microgravity conditions. The microgravity experiments are being conducted using a newly developed drop rig and the University of Texas 1.5 second drop tower. The rig itself measures 16”x33”x38” and contains a co-flowing round jet flame facility, flow control system, CCD camera, and data/image acquisition computer. These experiments are the first phase of a larger study being conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center 2.2 second drop tower facility. The flames being studied include methane and propane round jet flames at jet exit Reynolds numbers as high as 10,000. The primary diagnostic technique employed is emission imaging of flame luminosity using a relatively high-speed (350 fps) CCD camera. The high-speed images are used to study flame height, flame tip dynamics and burnout characteristics. Results are compared to normal gravity experimental results obtained in the same apparatus.

KSC-97PC957

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-07-01

STS-94 Payload Specialist Roger K. Crouch is helped into his launch/entry suit by a suit technician in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building after the suit has been given a pressure test. He is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Microgravity Space and Applications Division. He also has served as a Program Scientist for previous Spacelab microgravity missions and is an expert in semiconductor crystal growth. Since Crouch has more than 25 years of experience as a materials scientist, he will be concentrating on the five physics of materials processing experiments in the Middeck Glovebox Facility on the Blue shift. He will also share the workload with Thomas by monitoring the materials furnace experiments during this time. Crouch and six fellow crew members will shortly depart the O&C and head for Launch Pad 39A, where the Space Shuttle Columbia will lift off during a launch window that opens at 1:50 p.m. EDT, July 1. The launch window was opened 47 minutes early to improve the opportunity to lift off before Florida summer rain showers reached the space center

Extension of drop experiments with the MIKROBA balloon drop facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sommer, K.; Kretzschmar, K.; Dorn, C.

1992-12-01

The German balloon drop facility MIKROBA extends the worldwide available drop experiment opportunities to the presently highest usable experimentation time span of 55 s at microgravity conditions better than 0.001 g. The microgravity period is started with the typical quasi-deal step function from 1 to 0 g. MIKROBA allows flexible experiment design, short access time, and easy hands-on payload integration. The transport to the operational height is realized by soft energies and technologies compatible with the earth's environment. Balloon campaigns are not restricted to a certain test range, i.e., several suitable sites are available all over the world. MIKROBA combines negligible mechanical loads at the mission start, typical of all drop facilities, with extremely low drop deceleration loads (less than g), due to the implemented three-stage parachute and airbag recovery subsystem.

Space experiment "Rad Gene"-report 1; p53-Dependent gene expression in human cultured cells exposed to space environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Akihisa; Ohnishi, Takeo; Suzuki, Hiromi; Omori, Katsunori; Seki, Masaya; Hashizume, Toko; Shimazu, Toru; Ishioka, Noriaki

The space environment contains two major biologically significant influences: space radiations and microgravity. A p53 tumor suppressor protein plays a role as a guardian of the genome through the activity of p53-centered signal transduction pathways. The aim of this study was to clarify the biological effects of space radiations, microgravity and a space environment on the gene and protein expression of p53-dependent regulated genes. Space experiments were performed with two human cultured lymphoblastoid cell lines: one cells line (TSCE5) bears a wild-type p53 gene status, and another cells line (WTK1) bears a mutated p53 gene status. Un-der one gravity or microgravity condition, the cells were grown in the cell biology experimental facility (CBEF) of the International Space Station (ISS) for 8 days without experiencing the stress during launching and landing because the cells were frozen during these periods. Ground control samples also were cultured for 8 days in the CBEF on the ground during the same periods as space flight. Gene and protein expression was analyzed by using DNA chip (a 44k whole human genome microarray, Agilent Technologies Inc.) and protein chip (PanoramaTM Ab MicroArray, Sigma-Aldrich Co.), respectively. In addition, we analyzed the gene expression in cultured cells after space flight during 133 days with frozen condition. We report the results and discussion from the viewpoint of the functions of the up-regulated and down-regulated genes after an exposure to space radiations and/or microgravity. The initial goal of this space experiment was completely achieved. It is expected that data from this type of work will be helpful in designing physical protection from the deleterious effects of space radiations during long term stays in space.

Microgravity Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Del Basso, Steve

2000-01-01

The world's space agencies have been conducting microgravity research since the beginning of space flight. Initially driven by the need to understand the impact of less than- earth gravity physics on manned space flight, microgravity research has evolved into a broad class of scientific experimentation that utilizes extreme low acceleration environments. The U.S. NASA microgravity research program supports both basic and applied research in five key areas: biotechnology - focusing on macro-molecular crystal growth as well as the use of the unique space environment to assemble and grow mammalian tissue; combustion science - focusing on the process of ignition, flame propagation, and extinction of gaseous, liquid, and solid fuels; fluid physics - including aspects of fluid dynamics and transport phenomena; fundamental physics - including the study of critical phenomena, low-temperature, atomic, and gravitational physics; and materials science - including electronic and photonic materials, glasses and ceramics, polymers, and metals and alloys. Similar activities prevail within the Chinese, European, Japanese, and Russian agencies with participation from additional international organizations as well. While scientific research remains the principal objective behind these program, all hope to drive toward commercialization to sustain a long range infrastructure which .benefits the national technology and economy. In the 1997 International Space Station Commercialization Study, conducted by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, some viable microgravity commercial ventures were identified, however, none appeared sufficiently robust to privately fund space access at that time. Thus, government funded micro gravity research continues on an evolutionary path with revolutionary potential.

Real Time Quantitative 3-D Imaging of Diffusion Flame Species

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kane, Daniel J.; Silver, Joel A.

1997-01-01

A low-gravity environment, in space or ground-based facilities such as drop towers, provides a unique setting for study of combustion mechanisms. Understanding the physical phenomena controlling the ignition and spread of flames in microgravity has importance for space safety as well as better characterization of dynamical and chemical combustion processes which are normally masked by buoyancy and other gravity-related effects. Even the use of so-called 'limiting cases' or the construction of 1-D or 2-D models and experiments fail to make the analysis of combustion simultaneously simple and accurate. Ideally, to bridge the gap between chemistry and fluid mechanics in microgravity combustion, species concentrations and temperature profiles are needed throughout the flame. However, restrictions associated with performing measurements in reduced gravity, especially size and weight considerations, have generally limited microgravity combustion studies to the capture of flame emissions on film or video laser Schlieren imaging and (intrusive) temperature measurements using thermocouples. Given the development of detailed theoretical models, more sophisticated studies are needed to provide the kind of quantitative data necessary to characterize the properties of microgravity combustion processes as well as provide accurate feedback to improve the predictive capabilities of the computational models. While there have been a myriad of fluid mechanical visualization studies in microgravity combustion, little experimental work has been completed to obtain reactant and product concentrations within a microgravity flame. This is largely due to the fact that traditional sampling methods (quenching microprobes using GC and/or mass spec analysis) are too heavy, slow, and cumbersome for microgravity experiments. Non-intrusive optical spectroscopic techniques have - up until now - also required excessively bulky, power hungry equipment. However, with the advent of near-IR diode lasers, the possibility now exists to obtain reactant and product concentrations and temperatures non-intrusively in microgravity combustion studies. Over the past ten years, Southwest Sciences has focused its research on the high sensitivity, quantitative detection of gas phase species using diode lasers. Our research approach combines three innovations in an experimental system resulting in a new capability for nonintrusive measurement of major combustion species. FM spectroscopy or high frequency Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy (WMS) have recently been applied to sensitive absorption measurements at Southwest Sciences and in other laboratories using GaAlAs or InGaAsP diode lasers in the visible or near-infrared as well as lead-salt lasers in the mid-infrared spectral region. Because these lasers exhibit essentially no source noise at the high detection frequencies employed with this technique, the achievement of sensitivity approaching the detector shot noise limit is possible.

The Use of Microgravity Simulators for Space Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Ye; Richards, Stephanie E.; Richards, Jeffrey T.; Levine, Howard G.

2016-01-01

The spaceflight environment is known to influence biological processes ranging from stimulation of cellular metabolism to possible impacts on cellular damage repair, suppression of immune functions, and bone loss in astronauts. Microgravity is one of the most significant stress factors experienced by living organisms during spaceflight, and therefore, understanding cellular responses to altered gravity at the physiological and molecular level is critical for expanding our knowledge of life in space. Since opportunities to conduct experiments in space are scarce, various microgravity simulators and analogues have been widely used in space biology ground studies. Even though simulated microgravity conditions have produced some, but not all of the biological effects observed in the true microgravity environment, they provide test beds that are effective, affordable, and readily available to facilitate microgravity research. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) provides ground microgravity simulator support to offer a variety of microgravity simulators and platforms for Space Biology investigators. Assistance will be provided by both KSC and external experts in molecular biology, microgravity simulation, and engineering. Comparisons between the physical differences in microgravity simulators, examples of experiments using the simulators, and scientific questions regarding the use of microgravity simulators will be discussed.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-12-01

Dr. Donald Gilles, the Discipline Scientist for Materials Science in NASA's Microgravity Materials Science and Applications Department, demonstrates to Carl Dohrman a model of dendrites, the branch-like structures found in many metals and alloys. Dohrman was recently selected by the American Society for Metals International as their 1999 ASM International Foundation National Merit Scholar. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign freshman recently toured NASA's materials science facilities at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-02-03

The objective of this facility is to investigate the potential of space grown semiconductor materials by the vapor transport technique and develop powdered metal and ceramic sintering techniques in microgravity. The materials processed or developed in the SEF have potential application for improving infrared detectors, nuclear particle detectors, photovoltaic cells, bearing cutting tools, electrical brushes and catalysts for chemical production. Flown on STS-60 Commercial Center: Consortium for Materials Development in Space - University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH)

Thyroid Cells Exposed to Simulated Microgravity Conditions - Comparison of the Fast Rotating Clinostat and the Random Positioning Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warnke, Elisabeth; Kopp, Sascha; Wehland, Markus; Hemmersbach, Ruth; Bauer, Johann; Pietsch, Jessica; Infanger, Manfred; Grimm, Daniela

2016-06-01

The ground-based facilities 2D clinostat (CN) and Random Positioning Machine (RPM) were designed to simulate microgravity conditions on Earth. With support of the CORA-ESA-GBF program we could use both facilities to investigate the impact of simulated microgravity on normal and malignant thyroid cells. In this review we report about the current knowledge of thyroid cancer cells and normal thyrocytes grown under altered gravity conditions with a special focus on growth behaviour, changes in the gene expression pattern and protein content, as well as on altered secretion behaviour of the cells. We reviewed data obtained from normal thyrocytes and cell lines (two poorly differentiated follicular thyroid cancer cell lines FTC-133 and ML-1, as well as the normal thyroid cell lines Nthy-ori 3-1 and HTU-5). Thyroid cells cultured under conditions of simulated microgravity (RPM and CN) and in Space showed similar changes with respect to spheroid formation. In static 1 g control cultures no spheroids were detectable. Changes in the regulation of cytokines are discussed to be involved in MCS (multicellular spheroids) formation. The ESA-GBF program helps the scientists to prepare future spaceflight experiments and furthermore, it might help to identify targets for drug therapy against thyroid cancer.

Joint Launch + One Year Science Review of USML-1 and USMP-1 with the Microgravity Measurement Group

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N. (Editor); Frazier, Donald. O. (Editor); Lehoczky, Sandor L. (Editor); Baugher, Charles R. (Editor)

1994-01-01

This document summarizes from the various investigations their comprehensive results and highlights, and also serves as a combined mission report for the first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) amd the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-1). USML-1 included 31 investigations in fluid dynamics, crystal growth, combustion, biotechnology, and technology demonstrations supported by 11 facilities. On the USMP-1 mission, both the MEPHISTO and Lambda Point experiments exceeded by over 100 percent their planned science objectives. The mission was also the first time that acceleration data were down-linked and analyzed in real time.

Technicians monitor USMP-4 experiments being prepared for flight on STS-87 in the SSPF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Technicians are monitoring experiments on the United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) in preparation for its scheduled launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from Kennedy Space Center (KSC). USMP-4 experiments are prepared in the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC. The large white vertical cylinder in the center of the photo is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF), which is a sophisticated materials science facility used for studying a common method of processing semiconductor crystals called directional solidification. The white horizontal tube to the right is the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), which will be used to study the dendritic solidification of molten materials in the microgravity environment.

KSC00pp0849

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- An overhead crane moves the lid over the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0849

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- An overhead crane moves the lid over the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

Materials Science Research Rack Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reagan, Shawn E.; Lehman, John R.; Frazier, Natalie C.

2014-01-01

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a highly automated facility developed in a joint venture/partnership between NASA and ESA center dot Allows for the study of a variety of materials including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses onboard the International Space Station (ISS) center dot Multi-user facility for high temperature materials science research center dot Launched on STS-128 in August 2009, and is currently installed in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module ?Research goals center dot Provide means of studying materials processing in space to develop a better understanding of the chemical and physical mechanisms involved center dot Benefit materials science research via the microgravity environment of space where the researcher can better isolate the effects of gravity during solidification on the properties of materials center dot Use the knowledge gained from experiments to make reliable predictions about conditions required on Earth to achieve improved materials

An Autonomous Control System for an Intra-Vehicular Spacecraft Mobile Monitor Prototype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dorais, Gregory A.; Desiano, Salvatore D.; Gawdiak, Yuri; Nicewarner, Keith

2003-01-01

This paper presents an overview of an ongoing research and development effort at the NASA Ames Research Center to create an autonomous control system for an internal spacecraft autonomous mobile monitor. It primary functions are to provide crew support and perform intra- vehicular sensing activities by autonomously navigating onboard the International Space Station. We describe the mission roles and high-level functional requirements for an autonomous mobile monitor. The mobile monitor prototypes, of which two are operational and one is actively being designed, physical test facilities used to perform ground testing, including a 3D micro-gravity test facility, and simulators are briefly described. We provide an overview of the autonomy framework and describe each of its components, including those used for automated planning, goal-oriented task execution, diagnosis, and fault recovery. A sample mission test scenario is also described.

Space Studies Board, 1994

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This 1994 report of the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council summarizes the charter and organization of the board, activities and membership, major and short reports, and congressional testimony. A cumulative bibliography of the Space Studies (formerly Space Science) Board and its committees is provided. An appendix contains reports of the panel to review Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) plans. Major reports cover scientific opportunities in the human exploration of space, the dichotomy between funding and effectiveness in space physics, an integrated strategy for the planetary sciences for the years 1995-2010, and Office of Naval Research (ONR) research opportunities in upper atmospheric sciences. Short reports cover utilization of the space station, life and microgravity sciences and the space station program, Space Infrared Telescope Facility and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, and the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility and Cassini Saturn Probe.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - From left, the Consul General of Japan Ko Kodaira, his daughter Reiko, astronaut Dr. Takao Doi, and Kodaira's wife Marie pause for a photograph in the Space Station Processing Facility during their visit to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Doi represented Japan on Space Shuttle mission STS-87, the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight. Kodaira is touring the facilities at KSC at the invitation of the local office of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to acquaint him with KSC's unique processing capabilities.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-08-26

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - From left, the Consul General of Japan Ko Kodaira, his daughter Reiko, astronaut Dr. Takao Doi, and Kodaira's wife Marie pause for a photograph in the Space Station Processing Facility during their visit to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Doi represented Japan on Space Shuttle mission STS-87, the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight. Kodaira is touring the facilities at KSC at the invitation of the local office of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) to acquaint him with KSC's unique processing capabilities.

2002 Microgravity Materials Science Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gillies, Donald (Editor); Ramachandran, Narayanan (Editor); Murphy, Karen (Editor); McCauley, Dannah (Editor); Bennett, Nancy (Editor)

2003-01-01

The 2002 Microgravity Materials Science Conference was held June 25-26, 2002, at the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama. Organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Physical Sciences Research Division, NASA Headquarters, and hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and member institutions under the Cooperative Research in Biology and Materials Science (CORBAMS) agreement, the conference provided a forum to review the current research and activities in materials science, discuss the envisioned long-term goals, highlight new crosscutting research areas of particular interest to the Physical Sciences Research Division, and inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity. An abstracts book was published and distributed at the conference to the approximately 240 people attending, who represented industry, academia, and other NASA Centers. This CD-ROM proceedings is comprised of the research reports submitted by the Principal Investigators in the Microgravity Materials Science program.

Progress on Concepts for Next-Generation Drop Tower Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Könemann, Thorben; Eigenbrod, Christian; Von Kampen, Peter; Laemmerzahl, Claus; Kaczmarczik, Ulrich

2016-07-01

The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) founded by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans J. Rath in 1985 is part of the Department of Production Engineering at the University of Bremen, Germany. ZARM is mainly concentrated on fundamental investigations of gravitational and space-related phenomenas under conditions of weightlessness as well as questions and developments related to technologies for space. At ZARM about 100 scientists, engineers, and administrative staff as well as many students from different departments are employed. Today, ZARM is still one of the largest and most important research center for space sciences and technologies in Europe. With a height of 146 m the Bremen Drop Tower is the predominant facility of ZARM and also the only drop tower of its class in Europe. ZARM's ground-based laboratory offers the opportunity for daily short-term experiments under conditions of high-quality weightlessness at a level of 10-6 g (microgravity), which is one of the best achievable for ground-based flight opportunities. Scientists may choose up to three times a day between a single drop experiment with 4.74 s in simple free fall and an experiment in ZARM's worldwide unique catapult system with 9.3 s in weightlessness. Since the start of operation of the facility in 1990, over 7500 drops or catapult launches of more than 160 different experiment types from various scientific fields like fundamental physics, combustion, fluid dynamics, planetary formation / astrophysics, biology and materials sciences have been accomplished so far. In addition, more and more technology tests have been conducted under microgravity conditions at the Bremen Drop Tower in order to effectively prepare appropriate space missions in advance. In this paper we report on the progress on concepts for next-generation drop tower systems based on the GraviTower idea utilizing a guided electro-magnetic linear drive. Alternative concepts motivated by the scientific demand for higher experiment repetition rates are discussed.

Introduction of International Microgravity Strategic Planning Group

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rhome, Robert

1998-01-01

Established in May 6, 1995, the purpose of this International Strategic Planning Group for Microgravity Science and Applications Research is to develop and update, at least on a biennial basis, an International Strategic Plan for Microgravity Science and Applications Research. The member space agencies have agreed to contribute to the development of a Strategic Plan, and seek the implementation of the cooperative programs defined in this Plan. The emphasis of this plan is the coordination of hardware construction and utilization within the various areas of research including biotechnology, combustion science, fluid physics, materials science and other special topics in physical sciences. The Microgravity Science and Applications International Strategic Plan is a joint effort by the present members - ASI, CNES, CSA, DLR, ESA, NASA, and NASDA. It represents the consensus from a series of discussions held within the International Microgravity Strategic Planning Group (IMSPG). In 1996 several space agencies initiated multilateral discussions on how to improve the effectiveness of international microgravity research during the upcoming Space Station era. These discussions led to a recognition of the need for a comprehensive strategic plan for international microgravity research that would provide a framework for cooperation between international agencies. The Strategic Plan is intended to provide a basis for inter-agency coordination and cooperation in microgravity research in the environment of the International Space Station (ISS) era. This will be accomplished through analysis of the interests and goals of each participating agency and identification of mutual interests and program compatibilities. The Plan provides a framework for maximizing the productivity of space-based research for the benefit of our societies.

A hydroponic design for microgravity and gravity installations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fielder, Judith; Leggett, Nickolaus

1990-01-01

A hydroponic system is presented that is designed for use in microgravity or gravity experiments. The system uses a sponge-like growing medium installed in tubular modules. The modules contain the plant roots and manage the flow of the nutrient solution. The physical design and materials considerations are discussed, as are modifications of the basic design for use in microgravity or gravity experiments. The major external environmental requirements are also presented.

Scaling analysis of gas-liquid two-phase flow pattern in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Jinho

1993-01-01

A scaling analysis of gas-liquid two-phase flow pattern in microgravity, based on the dominant physical mechanism, was carried out with the goal of predicting the gas-liquid two-phase flow regime in a pipe under conditions of microgravity. The results demonstrated the effect of inlet geometry on the flow regime transition. A comparison of the predictions with existing experimental data showed good agreement.

Microgravity: Teacher's guide with activities for physical science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vogt, Gregory L.; Wargo, Michael J.; Rosenberg, Carla B. (Editor)

1995-01-01

This guide is an educational tool for teachers of grades 5 through 12. It is an introduction to microgravity and its application to spaceborne laboratory experiments. Specific payloads and missions are mentioned with limited detail, including Spacelab, the International Microgravity Laboratory, and the United States Microgravity Laboratory. Activities for students demonstrate chemistry, mathematics, and physics applications of microgravity. Activity objectives include: modeling how satellites orbit Earth; demonstrating that free fall eliminates the local effects of gravity; measuring the acceleration environments created by different motions; using a plasma sheet to observe acceleration forces that are experienced on board a space vehicle; demonstrating how mass can be measured in microgravity; feeling how inertia affects acceleration; observing the gravity-driven fluid flow that is caused by differences in solution density; studying surface tension and the fluid flows caused by differences in surface tension; illustrating the effects of gravity on the burning rate of candles; observing candle flame properties in free fall; measuring the contact angle of a fluid; illustrating the effects of gravity and surface tension on fiber pulling; observing crystal growth phenomena in a 1-g environment; investigating temperature effects on crystal growth; and observing crystal nucleation and growth rate during directional solidification. Each activity includes a background section, procedure, and follow-up questions.

The Use of Microgravity Simulators for Space Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Ye; Richards, Stephanie E.; Wade, Randall I.; Richards, Jeffrey T.; Fritsche, Ralph F.; Levine, Howard G.

2016-01-01

The spaceflight environment is known to influence biological processes ranging from stimulation of cellular metabolism to possible impacts on cellular damage repair, suppression of immune functions, and bone loss in astronauts. Microgravity is one of the most significant stress factors experienced by living organisms during spaceflight, and therefore, understanding cellular responses to altered gravity at the physiological and molecular level is critical for expanding our knowledge of life in space. Since opportunities to conduct experiments in space are scarce, various microgravity simulators and analogues have been widely used in space biology ground studies. Even though simulated microgravity conditions have produced some, but not all of the biological effects observed in the true microgravity environment, they provide test beds that are effective, affordable, and readily available to facilitate microgravity research. A Micro-g Simulator Center is being developed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to offer a variety of microgravity simulators and platforms for Space Biology investigators. Assistance will be provided by both KSC and external experts in molecular biology, microgravity simulation, and engineering. Comparisons between the physical differences in microgravity simulators, examples of experiments using the simulators, and scientific questions regarding the use of microgravity simulators will be discussed.

Planetary science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marshall, John R.; Bridges, Frank; Gault, Donald; Greeley, Ronald; Houpis, Harry; Lin, Douglas; Weidenschilling, Stuart

1987-01-01

The following types of experiments for a proposed Space Station Microgravity Particle Research Facility are described: (1) low velocity collisions between fragile particles; (2) low velocity collisions of ice particles; (3) plasma-dust interaction; and (4) aggregation of finely-comminuted geological materials. The required capabilities and desired hardware for the facility are detailed.

Spheres: from Ground Development to ISS Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Katterhagen, A.

2016-01-01

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) is an internal International Space Station (ISS) Facility that supports multiple investigations for the development of multi-spacecraft and robotic control algorithms. The SPHERES National Lab Facility aboard ISS is managed and operated by NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) at Moffett Field California. The SPHERES Facility on ISS consists of three self-contained eight-inch diameter free-floating satellites which perform the various flight algorithms and serve as a platform to support the integration of experimental hardware. SPHERES has served to mature the adaptability of control algorithms of future formation flight missions in microgravity (6 DOF (Degrees of Freedom) / long duration microgravity), demonstrate key close-proximity formation flight and rendezvous and docking maneuvers, understand fault diagnosis and recovery, improve the field of human telerobotic operation and control, and lessons learned on ISS have significant impact on ground robotics, mapping, localization, and sensing in three-dimensions - among several other areas of study.

Five biomedical experiments flown in an Earth orbiting laboratory: Lessons learned from developing these experiments on the first international microgravity mission from concept to landing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winget, C. M.; Lashbrook, J. J.; Callahan, P. X.; Schaefer, R. L.

1993-01-01

There are numerous problems associated with accommodating complex biological systems in microgravity in the flexible laboratory systems installed in the Orbiter cargo bay. This presentation will focus upon some of the lessons learned along the way from the University laboratory to the IML-1 Microgravity Laboratory. The First International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) mission contained a large number of specimens, including: 72 million nematodes, US-1; 3 billion yeast cells, US-2; 32 million mouse limb-bud cells, US-3; and 540 oat seeds (96 planted), FOTRAN. All five of the experiments had to undergo significant redevelopment effort in order to allow the investigator's ideas and objectives to be accommodated within the constraints of the IML-1 mission. Each of these experiments were proposed as unique entities rather than part of the mission, and many procedures had to be modified from the laboratory practice to meet IML-1 constraints. After a proposal is accepted by NASA for definition, an interactive process is begun between the Principal Investigator and the developer to ensure a maximum science return. The success of the five SLSPO-managed experiments was the result of successful completion of all preflight biological testing and hardware verification finalized at the KSC Life Sciences Support Facility housed in Hangar L. The ESTEC Biorack facility housed three U.S. experiments (US-1, US-2, and US-3). The U.S. Gravitational Plant Physiology Facility housed GTHRES and FOTRAN. The IML-1 mission (launched from KSC on 22 Jan. 1992, and landed at Dryden Flight Research Facility on 30 Jan. 1992) was an outstanding success--close to 100 percent of the prelaunch anticipated science return was achieved and, in some cases, greater than 100 percent was achieved (because of an extra mission day).

The Boiling eXperiment Facility (BXF) for the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McQuillen, John; Chao, David; Vergilii, Frank

2006-01-01

Boiling is an effective means of cooling by removing heat from surfaces through vaporization of a working fluid. It is also affected by both the magnitude and direction of gravity. By conducting pool boiling tests in microgravity, the effect of buoyancy n the overall boiling process and the relative magnitude of other phenomena can be assessed. The Boiling eXperiment Facility (BXF) is being built for the Microgravity Science Glovebox. This facility will conduct two pool boiling studies. The first study the Microheater Array Boiling Experiment (MABE) uses two 96 element microheater arrays, 2.7 mm and 7.0 mm in size, to measure localized hear fluxes while operating at a constant temperature. The other experiment, the Nucleate Pool Boiling eXperiment (NPBX) uses a 85 mm diameter heater wafer that has been "seeded" with five individually-controlled nucleation sites to study bubble nucleation, growth, coalescence and departure. The BXF uses normal-perfluorohexane as the test fluid and will operate between pressures of 60 to 244 Pa. and temperatures of 35 to 60 C. Both sets of experimental heaters are highly instrumented. Pressure and bulk fluid temperature measurements will be made with standard rate video. A high speed video system will be used to visualize the boiling process through the bottom of the MABE heater arrays. The BXF is currently scheduled to fly on Utilization Flight-13A.1 to the ISS with facility integration into the MSG and operation during Increment 15

First Post-Flight Status Report for the Microgravity Science Glovebox

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baugher, Charles R., III

2003-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) this year on the second Utilization Flight (UF2). After successful on-orbit activation, the facility began supporting an active microgravity research program. The inaugural NASA experiments operated in the unit were the Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA, A. Ostrogorski, PI), and the Pore Formation and Mobility (PFMI, R. Grugel, PI) experiments. Both of these materials science investigations demonstrated the versatility of the facility through extensive use of telescience. The facility afforded the investigators with the capability of monitoring and operating the experiments in real-time and provided several instances in which the unique combination of scientists and flight crew were able to salvage situations which would have otherwise led to the loss of a science experiment in an unmanned, or automated, environment. The European Space Agency (ESA) also made use of the facility to perform a series of four experiments that were carried to the ISS via a Russian Soyuz and subsequently operated by a Belgium astronaut during a ten day Station visit. This imaginative approach demonstrated the ability of the MSG integration team to handle a rapid integration schedule (approximately seven months) and an intensive operations interval. Interestingly, and thanks to aggressive attention from the crew, the primary limitation to experiment thru-put in these early operational phases is proving to be the restrictions on the up-mass to the Station, rather than the availability of science operations.

Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) contest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

The first NASA Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) student competition pilot project came to a conclusion at the Glenn Research Center in April 2001. The competition involved high-school student teams who developed the concept for a microgravity experiment and prepared an experiment proposal. The two student teams - COSI Academy, sponsored by the Columbus Center of Science and Industry, and another team from Cincinnati, Ohio's Sycamore High School, designed a microgravity experiment, fabricated the experimental apparatus, and visited NASA Glenn to operate their experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower. NASA and contractor personnel who conducted the DIME activity with the students. Shown (L-R) are: Eric Baumann (NASA, 2.2-second Drop Tower Facility manager), Daniel Dietrich (NASA) mentor for Sycamore High School team), Carol Hodanbosi (National Center for Microgravity Research; DIME staff), Richard DeLombard (NASA; DIME staff), Jose Carrion (GRC Akima, drop tower technician), Dennis Stocker (NASA; DIME staff), Peter Sunderland (NCMR, mentor for COSI Academy student team), Sandi Thompson (NSMR sabbatical teacher; DIME staff), Dan Woodard (MASA Microgravity Outreach Program Manager), Adam Malcolm (NASA co-op student; DIME staff), Carla Rosenberg (NCMR; DIME staff), and Twila Schneider (Infinity Technology; NASA Microgravity Research program contractor). This image is from a digital still camera; higher resolution is not available.

Prediction of gas-liquid two-phase flow regime in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Jinho; Platt, Jonathan A.

1993-01-01

An attempt is made to predict gas-liquid two-phase flow regime in a pipe in a microgravity environment through scaling analysis based on dominant physical mechanisms. Simple inlet geometry is adopted in the analysis to see the effect of inlet configuration on flow regime transitions. Comparison of the prediction with the existing experimental data shows good agreement, though more work is required to better define some physical parameters. The analysis clarifies much of the physics involved in this problem and can be applied to other configurations.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

The Wake Shield Facility (WSF) is a free-flying research and development facility that is designed to use the pure vacuum of space to conduct scientific research in the development of new materials. The thin film materials technology developed by the WSF could some day lead to applications such as faster electronics components for computers.

Effects of Gravity on Ignition and Combustion Characteristics of Externally Heated Polyethylene Film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikeda, Mitsumasa

2018-04-01

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of gravity on the ignition and the combustion characteristics of the Polyethylene (PE) film by outer heating. Combustion experiments of PE film were carried out in a normal gravity field and the microgravity field. In the microgravity experiments, it was carried out in 50 m-class drop facility. Here it can be realized 10- 4G microgravity field in about 2.5-3.0 second. The PE film is heated by the inserted high-temperature chamber. In the experiments, the PE was used film type. The chamber temperature was fixed at 900 K and 1000 K. In the case of microgravity field, the ignition delay period has become about 50 percent shorter than that in the case of the normal gravitational field. In the normal gravity field, since the PE surface layer is cooled by natural convection, the ignition delay period is considered to be longer than that in the microgravity field. The combustion time in the normal gravity was about 0.8 sec. In the microgravity field, the combustion time was more than 2 sec, and it could not be measured during the free fall period.

Numerical Investigation of Thermal Stress Convention in Nonisothermal Gases Under Microgravity Conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mackowski, D. W.

1999-01-01

Reported here are our results of our numerical/theoretical investigation into the effects of thermal stress in nonisothermal gases under microgravity conditions. The first part of the report consists of a brief summary of the accomplishments and conclusions of our work. The second part consists of two manuscripts, one being a paper presented at the 1998 MSAD Fluid Physics workshop, and the other to appear in Physics of Fluids.

14 CFR 1275.101 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., biology, engineering and physical sciences (physics and chemistry). (h) Inquiry means the assessment of..., social sciences, statistics, and biological and physical research (ground based and microgravity...

Plant Growth Facility (PGF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

In a microgravity environment aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia Life and Microgravity Mission STS-78, compression wood formation and hence altered lignin deposition and cell wall structure, was induced upon mechanically bending the stems of the woody gymnosperms, Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). Although there was significant degradation of many of the plant specimens in space-flight due to unusually high temperatures experienced during the mission, it seems evident that gravity had little or no effect on compression wood formation upon bending even in microgravity. Instead, it apparently results from alterations in the stress gradient experienced by the plant itself during bending under these conditions. This preliminary study now sets the stage for long-term plant growth experiments to determine whether compression wood formation can be induced in microgravity during phototropic-guided realignment of growing woody plant specimens, in the absence of any externally provided stress and strain.

Seed-to-seed growth of Arabidopsis thaliana on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Link, B. M.; Durst, S. J.; Zhou, W.; Stankovic, B.

2003-01-01

The assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) as a permanent experimental outpost has provided the opportunity for quality plant research in space. To take advantage of this orbital laboratory, engineers and scientists at the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), University of Wisconsin-Madison, developed a plant growth facility capable of supporting plant growth in the microgravity environment. Utilizing this Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC) plant growth facility, an experiment was conducted with the objective to grow Arabidopsis thaliana plants from seed-to-seed on the ISS. Dry Arabidopsis seeds were anchored in the root tray of the ADVASC growth chamber. These seeds were successfully germinated from May 10 until the end of June 2001. Arabidopsis plants grew and completed a full life cycle in microgravity. This experiment demonstrated that ADVASC is capable of providing environment conditions suitable for plant growth and development in microgravity. The normal progression through the life cycle, as well as the postflight morphometric analyses, demonstrate that Arabidopsis thaliana does not require the presence of gravity for growth and development. c2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Initial Usability Testing of a Hand-Held Electronic Logbook Prototype for the Human Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, Andrea H.; Whitmore, Mihriban

1996-01-01

The Apple(R) Newton(TM) MessagePad 110 was flown aboard the KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft for microgravity usability testing. The Newton served as the initial hand-held electronic logbook prototype for the International Space Station (ISS) Human Research Facility (HRF). Subjects performed three different tasks with the Newton: (1) using the stylus to tap on different sections of the screen in order to launch an application and to select options within it; (2) using the stylus to write, and; (3) correcting handwriting recognition errors in a handwriting-intensive application. Subjects rated handwriting in microgravity 'Borderline' and had great difficulties finding a way in which to adequately restrain themselves at the lower body in order to have their hands free for the Newton. Handwriting recognition was rated 'Unacceptable,' but this issue is hardware-related and not unique to the microgravity environment. It is suggested that the restraint and handwriting issues are related and require further joint research with the current Handheld Electronic Logbook prototype: the Norand Pen*key Model #6300.

Microgravity research opportunities for the 1990s

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The Committee on Microgravity Research (CMGR) was made a standing committee of the Space Studies Board (SSB) and charged with developing a long-range research strategy. The scientific disciplines contained within the microgravity program, and covered in this report, include fluid mechanics and transport phenomena, combustion, biological sciences and biotechnology, materials science, and microgravity physics. The purpose of this report is to recommend means to accomplish the goal of advancing science and technology in each of the component disciplines. Microgravity research should be aimed at making significant impacts in each discipline emphasized. The conclusions and recommendations presented in this report fall into five categories: (1) overall goals for the microgravity research program; (2) general priorities among the major scientific disciplines affected by gravity; (3) identification of the more promising experimental challenges and opportunities within each discipline; (4) general scientific recommendations that apply to all microgravity-related disciplines; and (5) recommendations concerning administrative policies and procedures that are essential to the conduct of excellent laboratory science.

A Summary of the Quasi-Steady Acceleration Environment on-Board STS-94 (MSL-1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McPherson, Kevin M.; Nati, Maurizio; Touboul, Pierre; Schuette, Andreas; Sablon, Gert

1999-01-01

The continuous free-fall state of a low Earth orbit experienced by NASA's Orbiters results in a unique reduced gravity environment. While microgravity science experiments are conducted in this reduced gravity environment, various accelerometer systems measure and record the microgravity acceleration environment for real-time and post-flight correlation with microgravity science data. This overall microgravity acceleration environment is comprised of quasi-steady, oscillatory, and transient contributions. The First Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) payload was dedicated to experiments studying various microgravity science disciplines, including combustion, fluid physics, and materials processing. In support of the MSL-1 payload, two systems capable of measuring the quasi-steady acceleration environment were flown: the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment (OARE) and the Microgravity Measurement Assembly (MMA) system's Accelerometre Spatiale Triaxiale most evident in the quasi-steady acceleration regime. Utilizing such quasi-steady events, a comparison and summary of the quasi-steady acceleration environment for STS-94 will be presented

JPRS Report, Science & Technology Europe

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-07-27

materials research under microgravity conditions, such as ELLI, AMF of MHF ( Mirror Heating Facility) the Zone Melt- ing Furnace is a resistance-heated...pendently controlled zones. This is another advantage of a resistance-heated furnace over a mirror heating facil- ity. When the experiment requires a...zone, the subdivision into several heating zones will be preferable to the single light focus of a mirror heating facility. In 1987/88, following

Design and development of a space station hazardous material system for assessing chemical compatibility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Congo, Richard T.

1990-01-01

As the Space Station nears reality in funding support from Congress, NASA plans to perform over a hundred different missions in the coming decade. Incrementally deployed, the Space Station will evolve into modules linked to an integral structure. Each module will have characteristic functions, such as logistics, habitation, and materials processing. Because the Space Station is to be user friendly for experimenters, NASA is anticipating that a variety of different chemicals will be taken on-board. Accidental release of these potentially toxic chemicals and their chemical compatibility is the focus of this discourse. The Microgravity Manufacturing Processing Facility (MMPF) will contain the various facilities within the U.S. Laboratory (USL). Each facility will have a characteristic purpose, such as alloy solidification or vapor crystal growth. By examining the proposed experiments for each facility, identifying the chemical constituents, their physical state and/or changes, byproducts and effluents, those payloads can be identified which may contain toxic, explosive, or reactive compounds that require processing or containment in mission peculiar waste management systems. Synergistic reactions from mixed effluent streams is of major concern. Each experiment will have it own data file, complete with schematic, chemical listing, physical data, etc. Chemical compatibility information from various databases will provide assistance in the analysis of alternate disposal techniques (pretreatment, separate storage, etc.). Along with data from the Risk Analysis of the Proposed USL Waste Management System, accidental release of potentially toxic and catastrophic chemicals would be eliminated or reduced.

Lewis Research Center R and D Facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC) defines and develops advanced technology for high priority national needs. The work of the Center is directed toward new propulsion, power, and communications technologies for application to aeronautics and space, so that U.S. leadership in these areas is ensured. The end product is knowledge, usually in a report, that is made fully available to potential users--the aircraft engine industry, the energy industry, the automotive industry, the space industry, and other NASA centers. In addition to offices and laboratories for almost every kind of physical research in such fields as fluid mechanics, physics, materials, fuels, combustion, thermodynamics, lubrication, heat transfer, and electronics, LeRC has a variety of engineering test cells for experiments with components such as compressors, pumps, conductors, turbines, nozzles, and controls. A number of large facilities can simulate the operating environment for a complete system: altitude chambers for aircraft engines; large supersonic wind tunnels for advanced airframes and propulsion systems; space simulation chambers for electric rockets or spacecraft; and a 420-foot-deep zero-gravity facility for microgravity experiments. Some problems are amenable to detection and solution only in the complete system and at essentially full scale. By combining basic research in pertinent disciplines and generic technologies with applied research on components and complete systems, LeRC has become one of the most productive centers in its field in the world. This brochure describes a number of the facilities that provide LeRC with its exceptional capabilities.

Effect of Pigmentation in Particulate Formation from Fluoropolymer Thermodegradation in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Srivastava, Rajiv; McKinnon, J. Thomas; Todd, Paul

1998-01-01

Fires aboard spacecraft have occurred as a result of overheated electrical wires and thermodegradation of their insulation, which is composed of fluoropolymers. The particulate products of polymer thermodegradation are only 20-50 run in diameter and are thought to play a role in "polymer fume fever". Therefore an experimental study of the particulates produced by intense ohmic heating of various fluoropolymer-insulated 20 AWG copper wire (representative of spacecraft materials) was undertaken in normal gravity and in microgravity. The 2.2 s drop facility at NASA LeRC and 1.5 s drop facility at the Colorado School of Mines were used to achieve low gravity conditions. Thermophoretic sampling was used for particulate collection. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to characterize the smoke particulates. It was found that the color of PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) insulation has an overwhelming effect on the size, shape, morphology and, composition of the particulates. Size distributions and shape analyses using computerized image analysis showed that particle size distributions were also dependent on the pigment of the fluoropolymer insulation. The influence of pigment was observed in experiments under both normal and microgravity. Under microgravity conditions, owing to the lack of natural convective transport of particulates, much more particle aggregation was observed, and the nature of the aggregates was dependent on the color of the insulation.

Radiation health research, 1986 - 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

A collection of 225 abstracts of radiation research sponsored by NASA during the period 1986 through 1990 is reported. Each abstract was categorized within one of four discipline areas: physics, biology, risk assessment, and microgravity. Topic areas within each discipline were assigned as follows: Physics - atomic physics, nuclear science, space radiation, radiation transport and shielding, and instrumentation; Biology - molecular biology, cellular radiation biology, tissue, organs and organisms, radioprotectants, and plants; Risk assessment - radiation health and epidemiology, space flight radiation health physics, inter- and intraspecies extrapolation, and radiation limits and standards; and Microgravity. When applicable subareas were assigned for selected topic areas. Keywords and author indices are provided.

The U.S. Lab is moved to payload canister

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, the U.S. Laboratory Destiny, a component of the International Space Station, glides overhead other hardware while visitors watch from a window (right). On the floor, left to right, are two Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (MPLMs), Raffaello (far left) and Leonardo, and a Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (right). Destiny is being moved to a payload canister for transfer to the Operations and Checkout Building where it will be tested in the altitude chamber. Destiny is scheduled to fly on mission STS-98 in early 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks over documents as part of a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on the U.S. Lab Destiny. Other crew members taking part in the MEIT are Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky. The remaining members of the crew (not present for the MEIT) are and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Marsha S. Ivins. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the International Space Station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks up at the U.S. Lab Destiny with its debris shield blanket made of a material similar to that used in bullet-proof vests on Earth.. Along with Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky, Jones is taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on this significant element of the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks at electrical connections on the U.S. Lab Destiny as part of a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT). Other crew members taking part in the MEIT are Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky. The remaining members of the crew (not present for the MEIT) are Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Marsha S. Ivins. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the International Space Station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

Workers in SSPF monitor Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility control room check documentation during a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) in the U.S. Lab Destiny. Members of the STS-98 crew are taking part in the MEIT checking out some of the equipment in the Lab. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The crew comprises five members: Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot Mark L. Polansky, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) and Marsha S. Ivins. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

Workers in SSPF monitor Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility control room monitor computers during a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) in the U.S. Lab Destiny. Members of the STS-98 crew are taking part in the MEIT checking out some of the equipment in the Lab. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The crew comprises five members: Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot Mark L. Polansky, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) and Marsha S. Ivins. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

During a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) in the U.S. Lab Destiny, which is in the Space Station Processing Facility, astronaut James Voss (left) joins STS-98 Pilot Mark Polansky (center) and Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (right) in checking wiring against documentation on the floor. Also participating in the MEIT is Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.). Voss is assigned to mission STS-102 as part of the second crew to occupy the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

KSC-00pp0188

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-02-03

Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility control room monitor computers during a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) in the U.S. Lab Destiny. Members of the STS-98 crew are taking part in the MEIT checking out some of the equipment in the Lab. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The crew comprises five members: Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot Mark L. Polansky, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) and Marsha S. Ivins. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000

KSC-00pp0181

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-02-03

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks up at the U.S. Lab Destiny with its debris shield blanket made of a material similar to that used in bullet-proof vests on Earth. Along with Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky, Jones is taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on this significant element of the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the Station during a series of three spacewalks. The mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion and life sciences reseach. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than August 19, 2000.

KSC00pp0181

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-02-03

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks up at the U.S. Lab Destiny with its debris shield blanket made of a material similar to that used in bullet-proof vests on Earth. Along with Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky, Jones is taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on this significant element of the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the Station during a series of three spacewalks. The mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion and life sciences reseach. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than August 19, 2000.

KSC-00pp0180

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-02-03

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) looks at electrical connections on the U.S. Lab Destiny as part of a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT). Other crew members taking part in the MEIT are Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky. The remaining members of the crew (not present for the MEIT) are Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Marsha S. Ivins. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the International Space Station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000

Proteomic Analysis of Mouse Hypothalamus under Simulated Microgravity

PubMed Central

Sarkar, Poonam; Sarkar, Shubhashish; Ramesh, Vani; Kim, Helen; Barnes, Stephen; Kulkarni, Anil; Hall, Joseph C.; Wilson, Bobby L.; Thomas, Renard L.; Pellis, Neal R.

2009-01-01

Exposure to altered microgravity during space travel induces changes in the brain and these are reflected in many of the physical behavior seen in the astronauts. The vulnerability of the brain to microgravity stress has been reviewed and reported. Identifying microgravity-induced changes in the brain proteome may aid in understanding the impact of the microgravity environment on brain function. In our previous study we have reported changes in specific proteins under simulated microgravity in the hippocampus using proteomics approach. In the present study the profiling of the hypothalamus region in the brain was studied as a step towards exploring the effect of microgravity in this region of the brain. Hypothalamus is the critical region in the brain that strictly controls the pituitary gland that in turn is responsible for the secretion of important hormones. Here we report a 2-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of the mouse hypothalamus in response to simulated microgravity. Lowered glutathione and differences in abundance expression of seven proteins were detected in the hypothalamus of mice exposed to microgravity. These changes included decreased superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2) and increased malate dehydrogenase and peroxiredoxin-6, reflecting reduction of the antioxidant system in the hypothalamus. Taken together the results reported here indicate that oxidative imbalance occurred in the hypothalamus in response to simulated microgravity. PMID:18473167

EPM - The European Facility for human physiology research on ISS.

PubMed

Rieschel, Mats; Nasca, Rosario; Junk, Peter; Gerhard, Ingo

2002-07-01

The European Physiology Modules (EPM) Facility is one of the four major Space Station facilities being developed within the framework of ESA's Microgravity Facilities for Columbus (MFC) programme. In order to allow a wide spectrum of physiological studies in weightlessness conditions, the facility provides the infrastructure to accommodate a variable set of scientific equipment. The initial EPM configuration supports experiments in the fields of neuroscience, bone & muscle research, cardiovascular research and metabolism. The International Space Life Science Working Group (ISLSWG) has recommended co-locating EPM with the 2 NASA Human Research Facility racks.

Effect of microgravity simulation using 3D clinostat on cavendish banana (Musa acuminata AAA Group) ripening process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwivany, Fenny Martha; Esyanti, Rizkita R.; Prapaisie, Adeline; Puspa Kirana, Listya; Latief, Chunaeni; Ginaldi, Ari

2016-11-01

The objective of the research was to determine the effect of microgravity simulation by 3D clinostat on Cavendish banana (Musa acuminata AAA group) ripening process. In this study, physical, physiological changes as well as genes expression were analysed. The result showed that in microgravity simulation condition ripening process in banana was delayed and the MaACOl, MaACSl and MaACS5 gene expression were affected.

Motion of Air Bubbles in Water Subjected to Microgravity Accelerations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLombard, Richard; Kelly, Eric M.; Hrovat, Kenneth; Nelson, Emily S.; Pettit, Donald R.

2006-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) serves as a platform for microgravity research for the foreseeable future. A microgravity environment is one in which the effects of gravity are drastically reduced which then allows physical experiments to be conducted without the over powering effects of gravity. During his 6-month stay on the ISS, astronaut Donald R. Pettit performed many informal/impromptu science experiments with available equipment. One such experiment focused on the motion of air bubbles in a rectangular container nearly filled with de-ionized water. Bubbles were introduced by shaking and then the container was secured in place for several hours while motion of the bubbles was recorded using time-lapse photography. This paper shows correlation between bubble motion and quasi-steady acceleration levels during one such experiment operation. The quasi-steady acceleration vectors were measured by the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS). Essentially linear motion was observed in the condition considered here. Dr. Pettit also created other conditions which produced linear and circulating motion, which are the subjects of further study. Initial observations of this bubble motion agree with calculations from many microgravity physical science experiments conducted on shuttle microgravity science missions. Many crystal-growth furnaces involve heavy metals and high temperatures in which undesired acceleration-driven convection during solidification can adversely affect the crystal. Presented in this paper will be results showing correlation between bubble motion and the quasi-steady acceleration vector.

Growth of thin films of dicyanovinylanisole on quartz and teflon-coated quartz by physical vapor transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearson, Earl F.

1994-01-01

Organic compounds offer the possibility of molecular engineering in order to optimize the nonlinearity and minimize damage due to the high-power lasers used in nonlinear optical devices. Recently dicyanovinylanisole (DIVA), ((2-methoxyphenyl) methylenepropanedinitrile) has been shown to have a second order nonlinearity 40 times that of alpha-quartz. Debe et. al. have shown that a high degree of orientational order exists for thin films of phthalocyanine grown by physical vapor transport in microgravity. The microgravity environment eliminates convective flow and was critical to the formation of highly ordered dense continuous films in these samples. This work seeks to discover the parameters necessary for the production of thin continuous films of high optical quality in Earth gravity. These parameters must be known before the experiment can be planned for growing DIVA in a microgravity environment. The microgravity grown films are expected to be denser and of better optical quality than the unit gravity films as was observed in the phthalocyanine films.

14 CFR § 1275.101 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., biology, engineering and physical sciences (physics and chemistry). (h) Inquiry means the assessment of..., psychology, social sciences, statistics, and biological and physical research (ground based and microgravity...

Space Commercial Opportunities for Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gavert, R.

2000-01-01

Microgravity research at NASA has been an undertaking that has included both science and commercial approaches since the late 80s and early 90s. The Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena community has been developed, through NASA's science grants, into a valuable base of expertise in microgravity science. This was achieved through both ground and flight scientific research. Commercial microgravity research has been primarily promoted thorough NASA sponsored Centers for Space Commercialization which develop cost sharing partnerships with industry. As an example, the Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing (CAMMP)at Northeastern University has been working with cost sharing industry partners in developing Zeolites and zeo-type materials as an efficient storage medium for hydrogen fuel. Greater commercial interest is emerging. The U.S. Congress has passed the Commercial Space Act of 1998 to encourage the development of a commercial space industry in the United States. The Act has provisions for the commercialization of the International Space Station (ISS). Increased efforts have been made by NASA to enable industrial ventures on-board the ISS. A Web site has been established at http://commercial/nasa/gov which includes two important special announcements. One is an open request for entrepreneurial offers related to the commercial development and use of the ISS. The second is a price structure and schedule for U.S. resources and accommodations. The purpose of the presentation is to make the Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena community, which understands the importance of microgravity experimentation, aware of important aspects of ISS commercial development. It is a desire that this awareness will be translated into a recognition of Fluid Physics and Transport Phenomena application opportunities coordinated through the broad contacts of this community with industry.

Detailed Multidimensional Simulations of the Structure and Dynamics of Flames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patnaik, G.; Kailasanath, K.

1999-01-01

Numerical simulations in which the various physical and chemical processes can be independently controlled can significantly advance our understanding of the structure, stability, dynamics and extinction of flames. Therefore, our approach has been to use detailed time-dependent, multidimensional, multispecies numerical models to perform carefully designed computational experiments of flames on Earth and in microgravity environments. Some of these computational experiments are complementary to physical experiments performed under the Microgravity Program while others provide a fundamental understanding that cannot be obtained from physical experiments alone. In this report, we provide a brief summary of our recent research highlighting the contributions since the previous microgravity combustion workshop. There are a number of mechanisms that can cause flame instabilities and result in the formation of dynamic multidimensional structures. In the past, we have used numerical simulations to show that it is the thermo-diffusive instability rather than an instability due to preferential diffusion that is the dominant mechanism for the formation of cellular flames in lean hydrogen-air mixtures. Other studies have explored the role of gravity on flame dynamics and extinguishment, multi-step kinetics and radiative losses on flame instabilities in rich hydrogen-air flames, and heat losses on burner-stabilized flames in microgravity. The recent emphasis of our work has been on exploring flame-vortex interactions and further investigating the structure and dynamics of lean hydrogen-air flames in microgravity. These topics are briefly discussed after a brief discussion of our computational approach for solving these problems.

Microgravity validation of a novel system for RNA isolation and multiplex quantitative real time PCR analysis of gene expression on the International Space Station.

PubMed

Parra, Macarena; Jung, Jimmy; Boone, Travis D; Tran, Luan; Blaber, Elizabeth A; Brown, Mark; Chin, Matthew; Chinn, Tori; Cohen, Jacob; Doebler, Robert; Hoang, Dzung; Hyde, Elizabeth; Lera, Matthew; Luzod, Louie T; Mallinson, Mark; Marcu, Oana; Mohamedaly, Youssef; Ricco, Antonio J; Rubins, Kathleen; Sgarlato, Gregory D; Talavera, Rafael O; Tong, Peter; Uribe, Eddie; Williams, Jeffrey; Wu, Diana; Yousuf, Rukhsana; Richey, Charles S; Schonfeld, Julie; Almeida, Eduardo A C

2017-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is dedicated to studying the effects of space on life and physical systems, and to developing new science and technologies for space exploration. A key aspect of achieving these goals is to operate the ISS National Lab more like an Earth-based laboratory, conducting complex end-to-end experimentation, not limited to simple microgravity exposure. Towards that end NASA developed a novel suite of molecular biology laboratory tools, reagents, and methods, named WetLab-2, uniquely designed to operate in microgravity, and to process biological samples for real-time gene expression analysis on-orbit. This includes a novel fluidic RNA Sample Preparation Module and fluid transfer devices, all-in-one lyophilized PCR assays, centrifuge, and a real-time PCR thermal cycler. Here we describe the results from the WetLab-2 validation experiments conducted in microgravity during ISS increment 47/SPX-8. Specifically, quantitative PCR was performed on a concentration series of DNA calibration standards, and Reverse Transcriptase-quantitative PCR was conducted on RNA extracted and purified on-orbit from frozen Escherichia coli and mouse liver tissue. Cycle threshold (Ct) values and PCR efficiencies obtained on-orbit from DNA standards were similar to Earth (1 g) controls. Also, on-orbit multiplex analysis of gene expression from bacterial cells and mammalian tissue RNA samples was successfully conducted in about 3 h, with data transmitted within 2 h of experiment completion. Thermal cycling in microgravity resulted in the trapping of gas bubbles inside septa cap assay tubes, causing small but measurable increases in Ct curve noise and variability. Bubble formation was successfully suppressed in a rapid follow-up on-orbit experiment using standard caps to pressurize PCR tubes and reduce gas release during heating cycles. The WetLab-2 facility now provides a novel operational on-orbit research capability for molecular biology and demonstrates the feasibility of more complex wet bench experiments in the ISS National Lab environment.

Microgravity validation of a novel system for RNA isolation and multiplex quantitative real time PCR analysis of gene expression on the International Space Station

PubMed Central

Boone, Travis D.; Tran, Luan; Blaber, Elizabeth A.; Brown, Mark; Chin, Matthew; Chinn, Tori; Cohen, Jacob; Doebler, Robert; Hoang, Dzung; Hyde, Elizabeth; Lera, Matthew; Luzod, Louie T.; Mallinson, Mark; Marcu, Oana; Mohamedaly, Youssef; Ricco, Antonio J.; Rubins, Kathleen; Sgarlato, Gregory D.; Talavera, Rafael O.; Tong, Peter; Uribe, Eddie; Williams, Jeffrey; Wu, Diana; Yousuf, Rukhsana; Richey, Charles S.; Schonfeld, Julie

2017-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is dedicated to studying the effects of space on life and physical systems, and to developing new science and technologies for space exploration. A key aspect of achieving these goals is to operate the ISS National Lab more like an Earth-based laboratory, conducting complex end-to-end experimentation, not limited to simple microgravity exposure. Towards that end NASA developed a novel suite of molecular biology laboratory tools, reagents, and methods, named WetLab-2, uniquely designed to operate in microgravity, and to process biological samples for real-time gene expression analysis on-orbit. This includes a novel fluidic RNA Sample Preparation Module and fluid transfer devices, all-in-one lyophilized PCR assays, centrifuge, and a real-time PCR thermal cycler. Here we describe the results from the WetLab-2 validation experiments conducted in microgravity during ISS increment 47/SPX-8. Specifically, quantitative PCR was performed on a concentration series of DNA calibration standards, and Reverse Transcriptase-quantitative PCR was conducted on RNA extracted and purified on-orbit from frozen Escherichia coli and mouse liver tissue. Cycle threshold (Ct) values and PCR efficiencies obtained on-orbit from DNA standards were similar to Earth (1 g) controls. Also, on-orbit multiplex analysis of gene expression from bacterial cells and mammalian tissue RNA samples was successfully conducted in about 3 h, with data transmitted within 2 h of experiment completion. Thermal cycling in microgravity resulted in the trapping of gas bubbles inside septa cap assay tubes, causing small but measurable increases in Ct curve noise and variability. Bubble formation was successfully suppressed in a rapid follow-up on-orbit experiment using standard caps to pressurize PCR tubes and reduce gas release during heating cycles. The WetLab-2 facility now provides a novel operational on-orbit research capability for molecular biology and demonstrates the feasibility of more complex wet bench experiments in the ISS National Lab environment. PMID:28877184

Physical examination during space flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harris, B. A. Jr; Billica, R. D.; Bishop, S. L.; Blackwell, T.; Layne, C. S.; Harm, D. L.; Sandoz, G. R.; Rosenow, E. C. 3rd

1997-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To develop techniques for conducting a physical examination in microgravity and to describe and document the physiologic changes noted with use of a modified basic physical examination. DESIGN: On the basis of data gathered from physical examinations on KC-135 flights, three physical variables were assessed serially in astronauts during two shuttle missions (of 8- and 10-day duration, respectively). Preflight, in-flight, and postflight examinations were conducted by trained physician-astronauts or flight surgeons, who used this modified examination. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Five male and two female crewmembers participated in the "hands-on" physical examination of all physiologic systems except the genitourinary system. Level of edema, intensity of bowel sounds, and peripheral reflexes were assessed and graded. RESULTS: This investigation identified unique elements of a physical examination performed during space flight that will assist in the development of standard methods for conducting examinations of astronauts in weightlessness. In addition, demonstrable changes induced by microgravity were noted in most physiologic systems examined. CONCLUSION: The data support the hypothesis that the microgravity examination differs from that conducted on earth or in a 1g environment. In addition, alterations in the physiologic response can be detected with use of hands-on technique. These data are invaluable in the development of optimal medical care for humans in space.

Priorities for Microgravity Combustion Research and Goals for Workshop Discussions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Faeth, Gerard M.

1993-01-01

Several concerns motivate fundamental research: combustion-generated pollutants are re-emerging as a major problem, new combustion technologies are needed for effective energy utilization, municipal and hazardous waste incineration are needed to replace landfills and storage, new combustion technologies are needed for advanced aircraft and spacecraft propulsion systems, and current understanding of fires and explosion hazards is limited - particularly for space-craft environments. Thus, it is of interest to determine how experimentation using microgravity facilities can advance research relevant to these problems.

The path to an experiment in space (from concept to flight)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salzman, Jack A.

1994-01-01

The following are discussed in this viewgraph presentation on developing flight experiments for NASA's Microgravity Science and Applications Program: time from flight PI selection to launch; key flight experiment phases and schedule drivers; microgravity experiment definition/development process; definition and engineering development phase; ground-based reduced gravity research facilities; project organization; responsibilities and duties of principle investigator/co-investigators, project scientist, and project manager; the science requirements document; flight development phase; experiment cost and schedule; and keys to experiment success.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The optical bench for the Fluid Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown in its operational configuration. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The combustion chamber for the Combustion Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The combustion chamber for the Combustion Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown in its operational configuration. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

KSC-97PC1457

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-15

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Here, a technician is monitoring the Confined Helium Experiment, or CHeX, that will use microgravity to study one of the basic influences on the behavior and properties of materials by using liquid helium confined between silicon disks. CHeX and several other experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-02-21

Vapor Crystal Growth System developed in IML-1, Mercuric Iodide Crystal grown in microgravity FES/VCGS (Fluids Experiment System/Vapor Crystal Growth Facility). During the mission, mercury iodide source material was heated, vaporized, and transported to a seed crystal where the vapor condensed. Mercury iodide crystals have practical uses as sensitive X-ray and gamma-ray detectors. In addition to their excellent optical properties, these crystals can operate at room temperature, which makes them useful for portable detector devices for nuclear power plant monitoring, natural resource prospecting, biomedical applications, and astronomical observing.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

Fluid Physics is study of the motion of fluids and the effects of such motion. When a liquid is heated from the bottom to the boiling point in Earth's microgravity, small bubbles of heated gas form near the bottom of the container and are carried to the top of the liquid by gravity-driven convective flows. In the same setup in microgravity, the lack of convection and buoyancy allows the heated gas bubbles to grow larger and remain attached to the container's bottom for a significantly longer period.

Damping Mechanisms for Microgravity Vibration Isolation (MSFC Center Director's Discretionary Fund Final Report, Project No. 94-07)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whorton, M. S.; Eldridge, J. T.; Ferebee, R. C.; Lassiter, J. O.; Redmon, J. W., Jr.

1998-01-01

As a research facility for microgravity science, the International Space Station (ISS) will be used for numerous investigations such as protein crystal growth, combustion, and fluid mechanics experiments which require a quiescent acceleration environment across a broad spectrum of frequencies. These experiments are most sensitive to low-frequency accelerations and can tolerate much higher accelerations at higher frequency. However, the anticipated acceleration environment on ISS significantly exceeds the required acceleration level. The ubiquity and difficulty in characterization of the disturbance sources precludes source isolation, requiring vibration isolation to attenuate the anticipated disturbances to an acceptable level. This memorandum reports the results of research in active control methods for microgravity vibration isolation.

Novel active driven drop tower facility for microgravity experiments investigating production technologies on the example of substrate-free additive manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lotz, Christoph; Wessarges, Yvonne; Hermsdorf, Jörg; Ertmer, Wolfgang; Overmeyer, Ludger

2018-04-01

Through the striving of humanity into space, new production processes and technologies for the use under microgravity will be essential in the future. Production of objects in space demands for new processes, like additive manufacturing. This paper presents the concept and the realization for a new machine to investigate microgravity production processes on earth. The machine is based on linear long stator drives and a vacuum chamber carrying up to 1000 kg. For the first time high repetition rate and associated low experimental costs can provide basic research. The paper also introduces the substrate-free additive manufacturing as a future research topic and one of our primary application.

Detachment of Tertiary Dendrite Arms during Controlled Directional Solidification in Aluminum - 7 wt Percent Silicon Alloys: Observations from Ground-based and Microgravity Processed Samples

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grugel, Richard N.; Erdman, Robert; Van Hoose, James R.; Tewari, Surendra; Poirier, David

2012-01-01

Electron Back Scattered Diffraction results from cross-sections of directionally solidified aluminum 7wt% silicon alloys unexpectedly revealed tertiary dendrite arms that were detached and mis-oriented from their parent arm. More surprisingly, the same phenomenon was observed in a sample similarly processed in the quiescent microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in support of the joint US-European MICAST investigation. The work presented here includes a brief introduction to MICAST and the directional solidification facilities, and their capabilities, available aboard the ISS. Results from the ground-based and microgravity processed samples are compared and possible mechanisms for the observed tertiary arm detachment are suggested.

Microgravity Combustion Research: 1999 Program and Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Friedman, Robert (Editor); Gokoglu, Suleyman A. (Editor); Urban, David L. (Editor)

1999-01-01

The use of the microgravity environment of space to expand scientific knowledge and to enable the commercial development of space for enhancing the quality of life on Earth is particularly suitable to the field of combustion. This document reviews the current status of microgravity combustion research and derived information. It is the fourth in a series of timely surveys, all published as NASA Technical Memoranda, and it covers largely the period from 1995 to early 1999. The scope of the review covers three program areas: fundamental studies, applications to fire safety and other fields. and general measurements and diagnostics. The document also describes the opportunities for Principal Investigator participation through the NASA Research Announcement program and the NASA Glenn Research Center low-gravity facilities available to researchers.

Technology development activities for housing research animals on Space Station Freedom

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jenner, Jeffrey W.; Garin, Vladimir M.; Nguyen, Frank D.

1991-01-01

The development and design of animal facilities are described in terms of the technological needs for NASA's Biological Flight Research Laboratory. Animal habitats are presented with illustrations which encompass waste-collection techniques for microgravity conditions that reduce the need for crew participation. The technology is intended to be highly compatible with animal morphology, and airflow is employed as the primary mechanism of waste control. The airflow can be utilized in the form of localized high-speed directed flow that simultaneously provides a clean animal habitat and low airflow rates. The design of an animal-habitat testbed is presented which capitalizes on contamination-control mechanisms and suitable materials for microgravity conditions. The developments in materials and technologies represent significant contributions for the design of the centrifuge facilities for the Space Station Freedom.

PIV Measurements in Weakly Buoyant Gas Jet Flames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sunderland, Peter B.; Greenbberg, Paul S.; Urban, David L.; Wernet, Mark P.; Yanis, William

2001-01-01

Despite numerous experimental investigations, the characterization of microgravity laminar jet diffusion flames remains incomplete. Measurements to date have included shapes, temperatures, soot properties, radiative emissions and compositions, but full-field quantitative measurements of velocity are lacking. Since the differences between normal-gravity and microgravity diffusion flames are fundamentally influenced by changes in velocities, it is imperative that the associated velocity fields be measured in microgravity flames. Velocity measurements in nonbuoyant flames will be helpful both in validating numerical models and in interpreting past microgravity combustion experiments. Pointwise velocity techniques are inadequate for full-field velocity measurements in microgravity facilities. In contrast, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) can capture the entire flow field in less than 1% of the time required with Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV). Although PIV is a mature diagnostic for normal-gravity flames , restrictions on size, power and data storage complicate these measurements in microgravity. Results from the application of PIV to gas jet flames in normal gravity are presented here. Ethane flames burning at 13, 25 and 50 kPa are considered. These results are presented in more detail in Wernet et al. (2000). The PIV system developed for these measurements recently has been adapted for on-rig use in the NASA Glenn 2.2-second drop tower.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Development of experimental facilities for processing metallic crystals in orbit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duncan, Bill J.

1990-01-01

This paper discusses the evolution, current status, and planning for facilities to exploit the microgravity environment of earth orbit in applied metallic materials science. Space-Shuttle based facilities and some precursor flight programs are reviewed. Current facility development programs and planned Space Station furnace capabilities are described. The reduced gravity levels available in earth orbit allow the processing of metallic materials without the disturbing influence of gravitationally induced thermal convection, stratification due to density differences in sample components, or the effects of hydrostatic pressure.

Microgravity Fluid Separation Physics: Experimental and Analytical Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shoemaker, J. Michael; Schrage, Dean S.

1997-01-01

Effective, low power, two-phase separation systems are vital for the cost-effective study and utilization of two-phase flow systems and flow physics of two-phase flows. The study of microgravity flows have the potential to reveal significant insight into the controlling mechanisms for the behavior of flows in both normal and reduced gravity environments. The microgravity environment results in a reduction in gravity induced buoyancy forces acting on the discrete phases. Thus, surface tension, viscous, and inertial forces exert an increased influence on the behavior of the flow as demonstrated by the axisymmetric flow patterns. Several space technology and operations groups have studied the flow behavior in reduced gravity since gas-liquid flows are encountered in several systems such as cabin humidity control, wastewater treatment, thermal management, and Rankine power systems.

The Drop Tower Bremen -An Overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Kampen, Peter; Könemann, Thorben; Rath, Hans J.

The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) was founded in 1985 as an institute of the University of Bremen, which focuses on research on gravitational and space-related phenomena. In 1988, the construction of ZARM`s drop tower began. Since its inau-guration in September 1990, the eye-catching Drop Tower Bremen with a height of 146m and its characteristic glass roof has become twice a landmark on the campus of the University of Bremen and the emblem of the technology park Bremen. As such an outstanding symbol of space science in Bremen the drop tower provides an european unique facility for experiments under conditions of high-quality weightlessness with residual gravitational accelerations in the microgravity regime. The period of maximum 4.74s of each freely falling experiment at the Drop Tower Bremen is only limited by the height of the drop tower vacuum tube, which was fully manufactured of steal and enclosed by an outer concrete shell. Thus, the pure free fall height of each microgravity drop experiment is approximately 110m. By using the later in-stalled catapult system established in 2004 ZARM`s short-term microgravity laboratory is able to nearly double the time of free fall. This world-wide inimitable capsule catapult system meets scientists` demand of extending the period of weightlessness. During the catapult operation the experiment capsule performs a vertical parabolic flight within the drop tower vacuum tube. In this way the time of microgravity can be extended to slightly over 9s. Either in the drop or in the catapult operation routine the repetition rates of microgravity experiments at ZARM`s drop tower facility are the same, generally up to 3 times per day. In comparison to orbital platforms the ground-based laboratory Drop Tower Bremen represents an economic alternative with a permanent access to weightlessness on earth. Moreover, the exceptional high quality of weightlessness in order of 1e-6 g (in the frequency range below 100Hz) demonstrates a perfect experimental environment for unperturbed investigations of scientific phenomena. Motivated by these prospects many national and international groups have initialized research programs taking advantage of this drop tower facility. In respect thereof the spectrum of research fields and technologies in space-related conditions can be continuously enhanced at ZARM. In the first of our two talks we will give you an overview about the inner structure of ZARM, as well as the service and the operation offered by the ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company (ZARM FAB mbH). The ZARM FAB mbH owned by the State Government of Bremen is a public company maintaining the drop tower facility and supporting experimentalists in scientific and technical questions before, during and after their drop or catapult campaigns. In detail, we will present you important technical drop tower informations, our support and the idea, how you can proceed with your microgravity-related experiment including all your requirements to successfully accomplish an entire drop or catapult campaign. In summary, we will illustrate the complete procedure, how to drop or to catapult an experiment capsule at the Drop Tower Bremen.

The BioDyn facility on ISS: Advancing biomaterial production in microgravity for commercial applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, Niki; Wessling, Francis; Deuser, Mark; Anderson, C. D.; Lewis, Marian

1999-01-01

The primary goals of the BioDyn program are to foster use of the microgravity environment for commercial production of bio-materials from cells, and to develop services and processes for obtaining these materials through space processing. The scope of products includes commercial bio-molecules such as cytokines, other cell growth regulatory proteins, hormones, monoclonal antibodies and enzymes; transplantable cells or tissues which can be improved by low-G processes, or which cannot be obtained through standard processes in earth gravity; agriculture biotechnology products from plant cells; microencapsulation for diabetes treatment; and factors regulating cellular aging. To facilitate BioDyn's commercial science driven goals, hardware designed for ISS incorporates the flexibility for interchange between the different ISS facilities including the glovebox, various thermal units and centrifuges. By providing a permanent research facility, ISS is the critical space-based platform required by scientists for carrying out the long-term experiments necessary for developing bio-molecules and tissues using several cell culture modalities including suspension and anchorage-dependent cell types.

A New Direction for the NASA Materials Science Research Using the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald A.; Stinson, Thomas N. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

In 2001 NASA created a fifth Strategic Enterprise, the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), to bring together physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to foster interdisciplinary research. The Materials Science Program is one of five Microgravity Research disciplines within this new Enterprise's Division of Physical Sciences Research. The Materials Science Program will participate within this new enterprise structure in order to facilitate effective use of ISS facilities, target scientific and technology questions and transfer results for Earth benefits. The Materials Science research will use a low gravity environment for flight and ground-based research in crystallization, fundamental processing, properties characterization, and biomaterials in order to obtain fundamental understanding of various phenomena effects and relationships to the structures, processing, and properties of materials. Completion of the International Space Station's (ISS) first major assembly, during the past year, provides new opportunities for on-orbit research and scientific utilization. The Enterprise has recently completed an assessment of the science prioritization from which the future materials science ISS type payloads will be implemented. Science accommodations will support a variety of Materials Science payload hardware both in the US and international partner modules with emphasis on early use of Express Rack and Glovebox facilities. This paper addresses the current scope of the flight and ground investigator program. These investigators will use the various capabilities of the ISS lab facilities to achieve their research objectives. The type of research and classification of materials being studied will be addressed. This includes the recent emphasis being placed on radiation shielding, nanomaterials, propulsion materials, and biomaterials type research. The Materials Science Program will pursue a new, interdisciplinary approach, which contributes, to Human Space Flight Exploration research. The Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and other related American and International experiment modules will serve as the foundation for the flight research environment. A summary will explain the concept for materials science research processing capabilities aboard the ISS along with the various ground facilities necessary to support the program.

SAMS-II Requirements and Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wald, Lawrence W.

1998-01-01

The Space Acceleration Measurements System (SAMS) II is the primary instrument for the measurement, storage, and communication of the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station (ISS). SAMS-II is being developed by the NASA Lewis Research Center Microgravity Science Division to primarily support the Office of Life and Microgravity Science and Applications (OLMSA) Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) payloads aboard the ISS. The SAMS-II is currently in the test and verification phase at NASA LeRC, prior to its first hardware delivery scheduled for July 1998. This paper will provide an overview of the SAMS-II instrument, including the system requirements and topology, physical and electrical characteristics, and the Concept of Operations for SAMS-II aboard the ISS.

Exobiology and life science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mckay, C. P.

1987-01-01

The following types of experiments for a proposed Space Station Microgravity Particle Research Facility are described: (1) biogenic elements in the interstellar medium; (2) organic material in the solar nebula; (3) volatiles in comets and icy planetesimals; (4) pre-biotic atmospheric chemistry; (5) analysis of cosmic dust particles; and (6) microbial exposure. The required capabilities and desired hardware for the facility are detailed.

Fiber-Supported Droplet Combustion Experiment-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colantonio, Renato O.

1998-01-01

A major portion of the energy produced in the world today comes from the burning of liquid hydrocarbon fuels in the form of droplets. Understanding the fundamental physical processes involved in droplet combustion is not only important in energy production but also in propulsion, in the mitigation of combustion-generated pollution, and in the control of the fire hazards associated with handling liquid combustibles. Microgravity makes spherically symmetric combustion possible, allowing investigators to easily validate their droplet models without the complicating effects of gravity. The Fiber-Supported Droplet Combustion (FSDC-2) investigation was conducted in the Microgravity Glovebox facility of the shuttles' Spacelab during the reflight of the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL- 1R) on STS-94 in July 1997. FSDC-2 studied fundamental phenomena related to liquid fuel droplet combustion in air. Pure fuels and mixtures of fuels were burned as isolated single and duo droplets with and without forced air convection. FSDC-2 is sponsored by the NASA Lewis Research Center, whose researchers are working in cooperation with several investigators from industry and academia. The rate at which a droplet burns is important in many commercial applications. The classical theory of droplet burning assumes that, for an isolated, spherically symmetric, single-fuel droplet, the gas-phase combustion processes are much faster than the droplet surface regression rate and that the liquid phase is at a uniform temperature equal to the boiling point. Recent, more advanced models predict that both the liquid and gas phases are unsteady during a substantial portion of the droplet's burning history, thus affecting the instantaneous and average burning rates, and that flame radiation is a dominant mechanism that can extinguish flames in a microgravity environment. FSDC-2 has provided well-defined, symmetric droplet burning data including radiative emissions to validate these theoretical models for heptane, decane, ethanol, and methanol fuels. Since most commercial combustion systems burn droplets in a convective environment, data were obtained without and with convective flow over the burning droplet (see the following photos).

NASA-sponsored containerless processing experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hofmeister, William H.

1990-01-01

An outline is presented of containerless processing and facilities at Intersonics which is sponsored by NASA. There are electromagnetic, acoustic, and aerodynamic levitation facilities. There are also laser beam and arc lamp heating systems along with state of the art noncontact temperature and optical property measurement facilities. Nonintrusive diagnostic techniques with Laser Induced Fluorescence and mass spectrometer are also available. Controlled atmosphere processing, gas quenching, and proven microgravity processing technology is part of the Intersonics capabilities.

A Test of Macromolecular Crystallization in Microgravity: Large, Well-Ordered Insulin Crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borgstahl, Gloria E. O.; Vahedi-Faridi, Ardeschir; Lovelace, Jeff; Bellamy, Henry D.; Snell, Edward H.; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Crystals of insulin grown in microgravity on space shuttle mission STS-95 were extremely well-ordered and unusually large (many > 2 mm). The physical characteristics of six microgravity and six earth-grown crystals were examined by X-ray analysis employing superfine f slicing and unfocused synchrotron radiation. This experimental setup allowed hundreds of reflections to be precisely examined for each crystal in a short period of time. The microgravity crystals were on average 34 times larger, had 7 times lower mosaicity, had 54 times higher reflection peak heights and diffracted to significantly higher resolution than their earth grown counterparts. A single mosaic domain model could account for reflections in microgravity crystals whereas reflections from earth crystals required a model with multiple mosaic domains. This statistically significant and unbiased characterization indicates that the microgravity environment was useful for the improvement of crystal growth and resultant diffraction quality in insulin crystals and may be similarly useful for macromolecular crystals in general.

The Biophysics Microgravity Initiative

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gorti, S.

2016-01-01

Biophysical microgravity research on the International Space Station using biological materials has been ongoing for several decades. The well-documented substantive effects of long duration microgravity include the facilitation of the assembly of biological macromolecules into large structures, e.g., formation of large protein crystals under micro-gravity. NASA is invested not only in understanding the possible physical mechanisms of crystal growth, but also promoting two flight investigations to determine the influence of µ-gravity on protein crystal quality. In addition to crystal growth, flight investigations to determine the effects of shear on nucleation and subsequent formation of complex structures (e.g., crystals, fibrils, etc.) are also supported. It is now considered that long duration microgravity research aboard the ISS could also make possible the formation of large complex biological and biomimetic materials. Investigations of various materials undergoing complex structure formation in microgravity will not only strengthen NASA science programs, but may also provide invaluable insight towards the construction of large complex tissues, organs, or biomimetic materials on Earth.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Members of the STS-98 crew check out equipment in the U.S. Lab Destiny during a Multi-Equipment Interface Test. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the International Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. Making up the five-member crew on STS-98 are Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell, Pilot Mark L. Polansky, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) and Marsha S. Ivins. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

STS-98 Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (left) and Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) check out equipment in the U.S. Lab Destiny during a Multi-Equipment Interface Test. During the mission, Jones will help install the Lab on the International Space Station in a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. Others in the five-member crew on STS-98 are Pilot Mark L. Polansky, and Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Marsha S. Ivins. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

KSC-00pp0867

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab moves overhead toward the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0846

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is centered over the three-story vacuum chamber in which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0850

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in the Operations and Checkout Building check the placement of the lid on the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0868

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab is lowered toward the floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0841

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-06-30

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is moved to the vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building for testing. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

KSC00pp0867

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab moves overhead toward the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0842

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A worker checks the cable fittings on the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, before it is lifted and placed inside the vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0844

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted above the three-story vacuum chamber into which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0862

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is ready to be lifted and removed from the chamber. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0845

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is moved toward the center over the three-story vacuum chamber in which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0852

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- With the lid of the three-story vacuum chamber in place, a worker on top checks release of the cables. Inside the chamber is the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0864

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted out of the chamber. A rotation and handling fixture holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0844

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted above the three-story vacuum chamber into which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0846

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is centered over the three-story vacuum chamber in which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0843

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted off the floor of the Operations and Checkout Building in order to be placed inside the vacuum chamber in the building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0864

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted out of the chamber. A rotation and handling fixture holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0841

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-06-30

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is moved to the vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building for testing. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

KSC00pp0851

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A worker in the Operations and Checkout Building checks the placement of the lid on the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0848

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lowered inside the three-story vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0851

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A worker in the Operations and Checkout Building checks the placement of the lid on the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0847

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lowered into a three-story vacuum chamber. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0869

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab is lowered toward the floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0842

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A worker checks the cable fittings on the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, before it is lifted and placed inside the vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0850

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Workers in the Operations and Checkout Building check the placement of the lid on the vacuum chamber containing the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0848

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lowered inside the three-story vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0862

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is ready to be lifted and removed from the chamber. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0852

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- With the lid of the three-story vacuum chamber in place, a worker on top checks release of the cables. Inside the chamber is the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0866

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab moves overhead after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0843

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lifted off the floor of the Operations and Checkout Building in order to be placed inside the vacuum chamber in the building. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0845

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is moved toward the center over the three-story vacuum chamber in which the Lab will be placed. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0847

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is lowered into a three-story vacuum chamber. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber for a leak test. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0865

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, after successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, is lifted up and away from the chamber. A rotation and handling fixture holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0865

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The U.S. Lab, after successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, is lifted up and away from the chamber. A rotation and handling fixture holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0866

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab moves overhead after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0870

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab reaches the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC00pp0868

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab is lowered toward the floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0869

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab is lowered toward the floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0870

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab reaches the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

Macromolecular Crystallization in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snell, Edward H.; Helliwell, John R.

2004-01-01

The key concepts that attracted crystal growers, macromolecular or solid state, to microgravity research is that density difference fluid flows and sedimentation of the growing crystals are greatly reduced. Thus, defects and flaws in the crystals can be reduced, even eliminated, and crystal volume can be increased. Macromolecular crystallography differs from the field of crystalline semiconductors. For the latter, crystals are harnessed for their electrical behaviors. A crystal of a biological macromolecule is used instead for diffraction experiments (X-ray or neutron) to determine the three-dimensional structure of the macromolecule. The better the internal order of the crystal of a biological macromolecule then the more molecular structure detail that can be extracted. This structural information that enables an understanding of how the molecule functions. This knowledge is changing the biological and chemical sciences with major potential in understanding disease pathologies. Macromolecular structural crystallography in general is a remarkable field where physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics meet to enable insight to the basic fundamentals of life. In this review, we examine the use of microgravity as an environment to grow macromolecular crystals. We describe the crystallization procedures used on the ground, how the resulting crystals are studied and the knowledge obtained from those crystals. We address the features desired in an ordered crystal and the techniques used to evaluate those features in detail. We then introduce the microgravity environment, the techniques to access that environment, and the theory and evidence behind the use of microgravity for crystallization experiments. We describe how ground-based laboratory techniques have been adapted to microgravity flights and look at some of the methods used to analyze the resulting data. Several case studies illustrate the physical crystal quality improvements and the macromolecular structural advances. Finally, limitations and alternatives to microgravity and future directions for this research are covered.

KSC-2010-4425

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay begin to close in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4423

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay begin to close in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Report on Computing and Networking in the Space Science Laboratory by the SSL Computer Committee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gallagher, D. L. (Editor)

1993-01-01

The Space Science Laboratory (SSL) at Marshall Space Flight Center is a multiprogram facility. Scientific research is conducted in four discipline areas: earth science and applications, solar-terrestrial physics, astrophysics, and microgravity science and applications. Representatives from each of these discipline areas participate in a Laboratory computer requirements committee, which developed this document. The purpose is to establish and discuss Laboratory objectives for computing and networking in support of science. The purpose is also to lay the foundation for a collective, multiprogram approach to providing these services. Special recognition is given to the importance of the national and international efforts of our research communities toward the development of interoperable, network-based computer applications.

KSC-2010-4430

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay close completely in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4431

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay close completely in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4429

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay close completely in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4432

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay are closed completely in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4422

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay begin to close in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

KSC-2010-4424

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-08-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In Orbiter Processing Facility-3 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the clamshell doors of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay begin to close in preparation for the its move to the Vehicle Assembly Building next month. There, it will be attached to its external fuel tank and a set of solid rocket boosters for launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station. Targeted to launch Nov. 1, STS-133 will carry the multipurpose logistics module, or PMM, packed with supplies and critical spare parts, as well as Robonaut 2, or R2, to the station. Discovery will leave the module behind so it can be used for microgravity experiments in fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Material Science Experiments on Mir

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kroes, Roger L.

1999-01-01

This paper describes the microgravity materials experiments carried out on the Shuttle/Mir program. There were six experiments, all of which investigated some aspect of diffusivity in liquid melts. The Liquid Metal Diffusion (LMD) experiment investigated the diffusivity of molten Indium samples at 185 C using a radioactive tracer, In-114m. By monitoring two different gamma ray energies (190 keV and 24 keV) emitted by the samples it was possible to measure independently the diffusion rates in the bulk and at the surface of the samples. The Queens University Experiment in Liquid Diffusion (QUELD) was the furnace facility used to process 213 samples for the five other experiments. These experiments investigated the diffusion, ripening, crystal growth, and glass formation in metal, semiconductor, and glass samples. This facility had the capability to process samples in an isothermal or gradient configuration for varying periods of time at temperatures up to 900 C. Both the LMD and the QUELD furnaces were mounted on the Microgravity Isolation Mount (MIM) which provided isolation from g-jitter. All the microgravity experiments were supported by the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS); a three head three axes acceleration monitoring system which measured and recorded the acceleration environment.

Microgravity Combustion Science: 1995 Program Update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, Howard D. (Editor); Gokoglu, Suleyman A. (Editor); Friedman, Robert (Editor)

1995-01-01

Microgravity greatly benefits the study of fundamental combustion processes. In this environment, buoyancy-induced flow is nearly eliminated, weak or normally obscured forces and flows can be isolated, gravitational settling or sedimentation is nearly eliminated, and temporal and spatial scales can be expanded. This document reviews the state of knowledge in microgravity combustion science with the emphasis on NASA-sponsored developments in the current period of 1992 to early 1995. The subjects cover basic research in gaseous premixed and diffusion-flame systems, flame structure and sooting, liquid droplets and pools, and solid-surface ignition and flame spread. They also cover applied research in combustion synthesis of ceramic-metal composites, advanced diagnostic instrumentation, and on-orbit fire safety. The review promotes continuing research by describing the opportunities for Principal Investigator participation through the NASA Research Announcement program and the available NASA Lewis Research Center ground-based facilities and spaceflight accommodations. This review is compiled by the members and associates of the NASA Lewis Microgravity Combustion Branch, and it serves as an update of two previous overview reports.

Reproducible Crystal Growth Experiments in Microgravity Science Glovebox at the International Space Station (SUBSA Investigation)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostrogorsky, A.; Marin, C.; Volz, M. P.; Bonner, W. A.

2005-01-01

Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) is the first investigation conducted in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility at the International Space Station (ISS) Alpha. 8 single crystals of InSb, doped with Te and Zn, were directionally solidified in microgravity. The experiments were conducted in a furnace with a transparent gradient section, and a video camera, sending images to the earth. The real time images (i) helped seeding, (ii) allowed a direct measurement of the solidification rate. The post-flight characterization of the crystals includes: computed x-ray tomography, Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), Hall measurements, Atomic Absorption (AA), and 4 point probe analysis. For the first time in microgravity, several crystals having nearly identical initial transients were grown. Reproducible initial transients were obtained with Te-doped InSb. Furthermore, the diffusion controlled end-transient was demonstrated experimentally (SUBSA 02). From the initial transients, the diffusivity of Te and Zn in InSb was determined.

A TREETOPS Simulation of the STABLE Microgravity Vibration Isolation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nurre, G. S.; Whorton, M. S.; Kim, Y. K.

1999-01-01

As a research facility for microgravity science, the International Space Station (ISS) will be used for numerous experiments which require a quiescent acceleration environment across a broad spectrum of frequencies. For many micro-gravity science experiments, the ambient acceleration environment on ISS will significantly exceed desirable levels. The ubiquity of acceleration disturbance sources and the difficulty in characterization of these sources precludes source isolation, requiring, vibration isolation to attenuate the disturbances to an acceptable level at the experiment. To provide a more quiescent acceleration environment, a vibration isolation system named STABLE (Suppression of Transient Accelerations By LEvitation) was developed. STABLE was the first successful flight test of an active isolation device for micro-gravity science payloads and was flown on STS-73/USML-2 in October 1995. This report documents the development of the high fidelity, nonlinear, multibody simulation developed using TREETOPS which was used to design the control laws and define the expected performance of the STABLE isolation system.

Plant Growth and Development in the ASTROCULTURE(trademark) Space-Based Growth Unit-Ground Based Experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bula, R. J.

1997-01-01

The ASTROCULTURE(trademark) plant growth unit flown as part on the STS-63 mission in February 1995, represented the first time plants were flown in microgravity in a enclosed controlled environment plant growth facility. In addition to control of the major environmental parameters, nutrients were provided to the plants with the ZEOPONICS system developed by NASA Johnson Space Center scientists. Two plant species were included in this space experiment, dwarf wheat (Triticum aestivum) and a unique mustard called "Wisconsin Fast Plants" (Brassica rapa). Extensive post-flight analyses have been performed on the plant material and it has been concluded that plant growth and development was normal during the period the plants were in the microgravity environment of space. However, adequate plant growth and development control data were not available for direct comparisons of plant responses to the microgravity environment with those of plants grown at 1 g. Such data would allow for a more complete interpretation of the extent that microgravity affects plant growth and development.

KSC-97PC1379

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-08

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Seen in the foreground at right is the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), which will be used to study the dendritic solidification of molten materials in the microgravity environment. The metallic breadbox-like structure behind the IDGE is the Confined Helium Experiment (CHeX) that will study one of the basic influences on the behavior and properties of materials by using liquid helium confined between solid surfaces and microgravity. The large white vertical cylinder at left is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) and the horizontal tube behind it is MEPHISTO, the French acronym for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of crystal growth. Just below the left end of MEPHISTO is the Space Acceleration Measurement System, or SAMS, which measures the microgravity conditions in which the experiments are conducted. All of these experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC

Microgravity Science Glovebox

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

The Microgravity Science Glovebox is being developed by the European Space Agency and NASA to provide a large working volume for hands-on experiments aboard the International Space Station. Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. (Credit: NASA/Marshall)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-05-31

The Microgravity Science Glovebox is being developed by the European Space Agency and NASA to provide a large working volume for hands-on experiments aboard the International Space Station. Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. (Credit: NASA/Marshall)

Suppression of Hydroxycinnamate Network Formation in Cell Walls of Rice Shoots Grown under Microgravity Conditions in Space

PubMed Central

Wakabayashi, Kazuyuki; Soga, Kouichi; Hoson, Takayuki; Kotake, Toshihisa; Yamazaki, Takashi; Higashibata, Akira; Ishioka, Noriaki; Shimazu, Toru; Fukui, Keiji; Osada, Ikuko; Kasahara, Haruo; Kamada, Motoshi

2015-01-01

Network structures created by hydroxycinnamate cross-links within the cell wall architecture of gramineous plants make the cell wall resistant to the gravitational force of the earth. In this study, the effects of microgravity on the formation of cell wall-bound hydroxycinnamates were examined using etiolated rice shoots simultaneously grown under artificial 1 g and microgravity conditions in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility on the International Space Station. Measurement of the mechanical properties of cell walls showed that shoot cell walls became stiff during the growth period and that microgravity suppressed this stiffening. Amounts of cell wall polysaccharides, cell wall-bound phenolic acids, and lignin in rice shoots increased as the shoot grew. Microgravity did not influence changes in the amounts of cell wall polysaccharides or phenolic acid monomers such as ferulic acid (FA) and p-coumaric acid, but it suppressed increases in diferulic acid (DFA) isomers and lignin. Activities of the enzymes phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and cell wall-bound peroxidase (CW-PRX) in shoots also increased as the shoot grew. PAL activity in microgravity-grown shoots was almost comparable to that in artificial 1 g-grown shoots, while CW-PRX activity increased less in microgravity-grown shoots than in artificial 1 g-grown shoots. Furthermore, the increases in expression levels of some class III peroxidase genes were reduced under microgravity conditions. These results suggest that a microgravity environment modifies the expression levels of certain class III peroxidase genes in rice shoots, that the resultant reduction of CW-PRX activity may be involved in suppressing DFA formation and lignin polymerization, and that this suppression may cause a decrease in cross-linkages within the cell wall architecture. The reduction in intra-network structures may contribute to keeping the cell wall loose under microgravity conditions. PMID:26378793

Spacelab

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-10-22

This is a Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-52) onboard photograph of the United States Microgravity Payload-1 (USMP-1) in the cargo bay. The USMP program is a series of missions developed by NASA to provide scientists with the opportunity to conduct research in the unique microgravity environment of the Space Shuttle's payload bay. The USMP-1 mission was designed for microgravity experiments that do not require the hands-on environment of the Spacelab. Science teams on the ground would remotely command and monitor instruments and analyze data from work stations at NASA's Spacelab Mission Operation Control facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The USMP-1 payload carried three investigations: two studied basic fluid and metallurgical processes in microgravity, and the third would characterize the microgravity environment onboard the Space Shuttle. The three experiments that made up USMP-1 were the Lambda Point Experiment, the Space Acceleration Measurement System, and the Materials for the Study of Interesting Phenomena of Solidification Earth and in Orbit (MEPHISTO). The three experiments were mounted on two cornected Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structures (MPESS) mounted in the orbiter's cargo bay. The USMP program was managed by the MSFC and the MPESS was developed by the MSFC.

NASA's Microgravity Science Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salzman, Jack A.

1994-01-01

Since the late 1980s, the NASA Microgravity Science Program has implemented a systematic effort to expand microgravity research. In 1992, 114 new investigators were selected to enter the program and more US microgravity experiments were conducted in space than in all the years combined since Skylab (1973-74). The use of NASA Research Announcements (NRA's) to solicit research proposals has proven to be highly successful in building a strong base of high-quality peer-reviewed science in both the ground-based and flight experiment elements of the program. The ground-based part of the program provides facilities for low gravity experiments including drop towers and aircraft for making parabolic flights. Program policy is that investigations should not proceed to the flight phase until all ground-based investigative capabilities have been exhausted. In the space experiments program, the greatest increase in flight opportunities has been achieved through dedicated or primary payload Shuttle missions. These missions will continue to be augmented by both mid-deck and GAS-Can accommodated experiments. A US-Russian cooperative flight program envisioned for 1995-97 will provide opportunities for more microgravity research as well as technology demonstration and systems validation efforts important for preparing for experiment operations on the Space Station.

New technique for simulation of microgravity and variable gravity conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de la Rosa, R.; Alonso, A.; Abasolo, D. E.; Hornero, R.; Abasolo, D. E.

2005-08-01

This paper suggests a microgravity or variable gravity conditions simulator based on a Neuromuscular Control System (NCS), working as a man-machine interface. The subject under training lies on an active platform that counteracts his weight. And a Virtual Reality (VR) system displays a simulated environment, where the subject can interact a number of settings: extravehicular activity (EVA), walking on the Moon or training the limb response faced with variable acceleration scenes. Results related to real-time voluntary control have been achieved with neuromuscular interfaces at the Bioengineering Group in the University of Valladolid. It has been employed a custom real-time system to train arm movements. This paper outlines a more complex design that can complement other training facilities, like the buoyancy pool, in the task of microgravity simulation.

Microgravity science experiment integration - When the PI and the PED differ

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baer-Peckham, M. S.; Mccarley, K. S.

1991-01-01

This paper addresses issues related to the integration of principal investigators (PIs) and payload-element developers (PEDs) for conducting effective microgravity experiments. The Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) is used as an example to demonstrate the key issues related to the integration of a PI's sample into a facility run by a different organization. Attention is given to the typical preflight timeline, documentation required for experimental implementation, and hardware deliverables. A flow chart delineates the payload-integration process flow, and PI inputs required for an experiment include equipment and procedure definitions, detailed design and fabrication of the experiment-specific equipment, and specifications of the contract-end item. The present analysis is of interest to the coordination of effective microgravity experiments on the Space Station Freedom that incorporate PIs and PEDs from different organizations.

Current Results and Proposed Activities in Microgravity Fluid Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polezhaev, V. I.

1996-01-01

The Institute for Problems in Mechanics' Laboratory work in mathematical and physical modelling of fluid mechanics develops models, methods, and software for analysis of fluid flow, instability analysis, direct numerical modelling and semi-empirical models of turbulence, as well as experimental research and verification of these models and their applications in technological fluid dynamics, microgravity fluid mechanics, geophysics, and a number of engineering problems. This paper presents an overview of the results in microgravity fluid dynamics research during the last two years. Nonlinear problems of weakly compressible and compressible fluid flows are discussed.

Accessing space: A catalogue of process, equipment and resources for commercial users

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

This catalogue, produced by NASA's Office of Commercial Programs, provides a broad source of information for the commercial developer interested in the areas of microgravity research and remote sensing. Methods for accessing space for research are reviewed including the shuttle, expendable launch vehicles, suborbital sounding rockets, experimental aircraft, and drop towers and other ground-based facilities. Procedures for using these vehicles and facilities are described along with funding options to pay for their use. Experiment apparatus and carriers for microgravity research are also described. A separate directory of resources and services is also included which contains a listing of transportation products and services, a listing of businesses and industries which provide space-related services and products, and a listing of the NASA and CCDS (Center for the Commercial Development of Space) points of contact.

Materials Science Research Rack Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reagan, Shawn; Frazier, Natalie; Lehman, John; Aicher, Winfried

2013-01-01

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a research facility developed under a cooperative research agreement between NASA and ESA for materials science investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). MSRR was launched on STS-128 in August 2009 and currently resides in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module. Since that time, MSRR has logged more than 1000 hours of operating time. The MSRR accommodates advanced investigations in the microgravity environment on the ISS for basic materials science research in areas such as solidification of metals and alloys. The purpose is to advance the scientific understanding of materials processing as affected by microgravity and to gain insight into the physical behavior of materials processing. MSRR allows for the study of a variety of materials, including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses. Materials science research benefits from the microgravity environment of space, where the researcher can better isolate chemical and thermal properties of materials from the effects of gravity. With this knowledge, reliable predictions can be made about the conditions required on Earth to achieve improved materials. MSRR is a highly automated facility with a modular design capable of supporting multiple types of investigations. The NASA-provided Rack Support Subsystem provides services (power, thermal control, vacuum access, and command and data handling) to the ESA-developed Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) that accommodates interchangeable Furnace Inserts (FI). Two ESA-developed FIs are presently available on the ISS: the Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) and the Solidification and Quenching Furnace (SQF). Sample Cartridge Assemblies (SCAs), each containing one or more material samples, are installed in the FI by the crew and can be processed at temperatures up to 1400C. ESA continues to develop samples with 14 planned for launch and processing in the near future. Additionally NASA has begun developing SCAs to support US PIs and their partners. The first of these Flight SCAs are being developed for investigations to support research in the areas of crystal growth and liquid phase sintering. Subsequent investigations are in various stages of development. US investigations will include a ground test program in order to distinguish the particular effects of the absence of gravity.

Materials Science Research Rack Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reagan, S. E.; Lehman, J. R.; Frazier, N. C.

2016-01-01

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a research facility developed under a cooperative research agreement between NASA and ESA for materials science investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). MSRR was launched on STS-128 in August 2009 and currently resides in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module. Since that time, MSRR has logged more than 1400 hours of operating time. The MSRR accommodates advanced investigations in the microgravity environment on the ISS for basic materials science research in areas such as solidification of metals and alloys. The purpose is to advance the scientific understanding of materials processing as affected by microgravity and to gain insight into the physical behavior of materials processing. MSRR allows for the study of a variety of materials, including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses. Materials science research benefits from the microgravity environment of space, where the researcher can better isolate chemical and thermal properties of materials from the effects of gravity. With this knowledge, reliable predictions can be made about the conditions required on Earth to achieve improved materials. MSRR is a highly automated facility with a modular design capable of supporting multiple types of investigations. The NASA-provided Rack Support Subsystem provides services (power, thermal control, vacuum access, and command and data handling) to the ESA-developed Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) that accommodates interchangeable Furnace Inserts (FI). Two ESA-developed FIs are presently available on the ISS: the Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) and the Solidification and Quenching Furnace (SQF). Sample Cartridge Assemblies (SCAs), each containing one or more material samples, are installed in the FI by the crew and can be processed at temperatures up to 1400degC. ESA continues to develop samples with 14 planned for launch and processing in the near future. Additionally NASA has begun developing SCAs to support US PIs and their partners. The first of these Flight SCAs are being developed for investigations to support research in the areas of crystal growth and liquid phase sintering. Subsequent investigations are in various stages of development. US investigations will include a ground test program in order to distinguish the particular effects of the absence of gravity.

Materials Science Research Rack Onboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reagan, Shawn; Frazier, Natalie; Lehman, John

2016-01-01

The Materials Science Research Rack (MSRR) is a research facility developed under a cooperative research agreement between NASA and ESA for materials science investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). MSRR was launched on STS-128 in August 2009 and currently resides in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory Module. Since that time, MSRR has logged more than 1400 hours of operating time. The MSRR accommodates advanced investigations in the microgravity environment on the ISS for basic materials science research in areas such as solidification of metals and alloys. The purpose is to advance the scientific understanding of materials processing as affected by microgravity and to gain insight into the physical behavior of materials processing. MSRR allows for the study of a variety of materials, including metals, ceramics, semiconductor crystals, and glasses. Materials science research benefits from the microgravity environment of space, where the researcher can better isolate chemical and thermal properties of materials from the effects of gravity. With this knowledge, reliable predictions can be made about the conditions required on Earth to achieve improved materials. MSRR is a highly automated facility with a modular design capable of supporting multiple types of investigations. The NASA-provided Rack Support Subsystem provides services (power, thermal control, vacuum access, and command and data handling) to the ESA-developed Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) that accommodates interchangeable Furnace Inserts (FI). Two ESA-developed FIs are presently available on the ISS: the Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) and the Solidification and Quenching Furnace (SQF). Sample Cartridge Assemblies (SCAs), each containing one or more material samples, are installed in the FI by the crew and can be processed at temperatures up to 1400?C. ESA continues to develop samples with 14 planned for launch and processing in the near future. Additionally NASA has begun developing SCAs to support US PIs and their partners. The first of these Flight SCAs are being developed for investigations to support research in the areas of crystal growth and liquid phase sintering. Subsequent investigations are in various stages of development. US investigations will include a ground test program in order to distinguish the particular effects of the absence of gravity.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The combustion chamber for the Combustion Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown opened for installation of burn specimens. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

The M512 Materials Processing Facility (MPF) with the M518 Multipurpose Electric Facility (MEF) tested and demonstrated a facility approach for materials process experimentation in space. It also provided a basic apparatus and a common interface for a group of metallic and nonmetallic materials experiments. The MPF consisted of a vacuum work chamber and associated mechanical and electrical controls. The M518 Multipurpose Electric Furnace (MEF) was an electric furnace system in which solidification, crystal growth, and other experiments involving phase changes were performed.

MOBI and FEANICS Programming in Labview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Jeffrey N.

2004-01-01

The flight software engineering branch provides design and development of embedded real-time software applications for flight and supporting ground systems to support the NASA Aeronautics and Space Programs. In addition, this branch evaluates, develops and implements new technologies for embedded real-time systems, and maintains a laboratory for applications of embedded technology. This branch supports other divisions and is involved with many other projects. My mentor Rochelle and I are involved in the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) project, the MOBI project, and the FEANICS project. The Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) will occupy two powered racks on the International Space Station (ISS). It will be a permanent modular, multiuser facility to accommodate microgravity science experiments onboard the ISS's U.S. Laboratory Module. FCF will support NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space program objectives requiring sustained, systematic research in the disciplines of fluid physics and combustion science. The fluids experiment is called FIR and the combustion experiment is called CIR. The MOBI Experiment is an experiment that is performed to understand the physics of bubble segregation and resuspension in an inertia, monodisperse gas-liquid suspension, and to understand how bubble pressure resists segregation in suspensions with continuous phase inertia. The main focus of FEANICS and the solid combustion experiments will be to conduct basic and applied scientific investigations in fire-safety to support NASA's Bioastronautics Initiative. Based on data obtained in microgravity and experience gained from the beginning of the U.S. manned space program, these normal gravity flammability assessments have been assumed to be conservative with respect to flammability in all environments. However, some of the complex interactions that govern ignition and flame growth can only be evaluated in the long durations of microgravity available on the ISS. Before any of these projects actually go to the ISS, they are going to be tested on NASA's KC-135 Low-G airplane, the KC-135 Low-G Flight Research aircraft (a predecessor of the Boeing 707) is used to fly parabolas to create 20-25 seconds of weightlessness so that the astronauts can experience and researchers can investigate the effects of zero gravity. My mentor and I have been working with Labview to write the programs that are going to acquire, analyze and present the data acquired from these Test flights on the KC-135. We have been working closely with electrical, and mechanical engineers to make sure the program and the hardware can communicate and perform the operations necessary for the flight test. LabVIEW delivers a powerful graphical development environment for signal acquisition, measurement analysis, and data presentation, giving you the flexibility of a programming language without the complexity of traditional development tools. The programming of the control panel and the code are both done in GUIs which allow for flexibility in the code and the program.

Gas-Grain Simulation Facility: Fundamental studies of particle formation and interactions. Volume 1: Executive summary and overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fogleman, Guy (Editor); Huntington, Judith L. (Editor); Schwartz, Deborah E. (Editor); Fonda, Mark L. (Editor)

1989-01-01

An overview of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility (GGSF) project and its current status is provided. The proceedings of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility Experiments Workshop are recorded. The goal of the workshop was to define experiments for the GGSF--a small particle microgravity research facility. The workshop addressed the opportunity for performing, in Earth orbit, a wide variety of experiments that involve single small particles (grains) or clouds of particles. The first volume includes the executive summary, overview, scientific justification, history, and planned development of the Facility.

Centrifuge facility conceptual system study. Volume 2: Facility systems and study summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Synnestvedt, Robert (Editor); Blair, Patricia; Cartledge, Alan; Garces-Porcile, Jorge; Garin, Vladimir; Guerrero, Mike; Haddeland, Peter; Horkachuck, Mike; Kuebler, Ulrich; Nguyen, Frank

1991-01-01

The Centrifuge Facility is a major element of the biological research facility for the implementation of NASA's Life Science Research Program on Space Station Freedom using nonhuman species (small primates, rodents, plants, insects, cell tissues, etc.). The Centrifuge Facility consists of a variable gravity Centrifuge to provide artificial gravity up to 2 earth G's' a Holding System to maintain specimens at microgravity levels, a Glovebox, and a Service Unit for servicing specimen chambers. The following subject areas are covered: (1) Holding System; (2) Centrifuge System; (3) Glovebox System; (4) Service System; and (5) system study summary.

Moon and Mars gravity environment during parabolic flights: a new European approach to prepare for planetary exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pletser, Vladimir; Clervoy, Jean-Fran; Gharib, Thierry; Gai, Frederic; Mora, Christophe; Rosier, Patrice

Aircraft parabolic flights provide repetitively up to 20 seconds of reduced gravity during ballis-tic flight manoeuvres. Parabolic flights are used to conduct short microgravity investigations in Physical and Life Sciences and in Technology, to test instrumentation prior to space flights and to train astronauts before a space mission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has organized since 1984 more than fifty parabolic flight campaigns for microgravity research experiments utilizing six different airplanes. More than 600 experiments were conducted spanning several fields in Physical Sciences and Life Sciences, namely Fluid Physics, Combustion Physics, Ma-terial Sciences, fundamental Physics and Technology tests, Human Physiology, cell and animal Biology, and technical tests of Life Sciences instrumentation. Since 1997, ESA uses the Airbus A300 'Zero G', the largest airplane in the world used for this type of experimental research flight and managed by the French company Novespace, a subsidiary of the French space agency CNES. From 2010 onwards, ESA and Novespace will offer the possibility of flying Martian and Moon parabolas during which reduced gravity levels equivalent to those on the Moon and Mars will be achieved repetitively for periods of more than 20 seconds. Scientists are invited to submit experiment proposals to be conducted at these partial gravity levels. This paper presents the technical capabilities of the Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft used by ESA to support and conduct investigations at Moon-, Mars-and micro-gravity levels to prepare research and exploration during space flights and future planetary exploration missions. Some Physiology and Technology experiments performed during past ESA campaigns at 0, 1/6 an 1/3 g are presented to show the interest of this unique research tool for microgravity and partial gravity investigations.

Plant Science in Reduced Gravity: Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stutte, Gary W.; Monje, Oscar; Wheeler, Raymond M.

2012-01-01

The effect of gravity on the growth and development of plants has been the subject of scientific investigation for over a century. The results obtained in space to test specific hypotheses on gravitropism, gene expression, seed formation, or growth rate are affected by both the primary effect of the microgravity and secondary effects of the spaceflight environment. The secondary effects of the spaceflight environment include physical effects arising from physical changes, such as the absence of buoyancy driven convective mixing, altered behavior of liquids and gases, and the environmental conditions in the spacecraft atmosphere. Thus, the design of biological experiments (e.g. cells, plants, animals, etc.) conducted in microgravity must account for changes in the physical forces, as well as the environmental conditions, imposed by the specific spaceflight vehicle and experimental hardware. In addition, researchers must become familiar with other aspects of spaceflight experiments: payload integration with hardware developers, safety documentation and crew procedures, and the logistics of conducting flight and ground controls. This report reviews the physical and environmental factors that directly and indirectly affect the results of plant science experiments in microgravity and is intended to serve as a guide in the design and implementation plant experiments in space.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

This photo shows the interior reach in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity Playscapes: Play in Long-Term Space Missions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liapi, Marianthi; Ackermann, Edith

2016-01-01

Th?e authors examine the potential impact of play on astronauts adapting to the extreme conditions of space travel. Th?ey cite research showing that well-trained astronauts, though in general physically fi?t and emotionally stable, can suffer from--among other things--boredom and sensory deprivation in the con?fines of the microgravity capsules…

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

Inside a darkened U.S. Lab module, in the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), astronaut James Voss (left) joins STS-98 crew members Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (foreground), and Pilot Mark Polansky (right) to check out equipment in the Lab. They are taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT) on this significant element of the International Space Station. Also participating in the MEIT is STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.). Voss is assigned to mission STS-102 as part of the second crew to occupy the International Space Station. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the station during a series of three space walks. The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

STS-98 crew takes part in Multi-Equipment Interface Test.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Space Station Processing Facility, STS-98 Mission Specialist Thomas D. Jones (Ph.D.) examines a power data grapple fixture outside the U.S. Lab Destiny. Jones is taking part in a Multi-Equipment Interface Test (MEIT), along with other crew members Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and Pilot Mark Polansky. The remaining members of the crew (not present for the MEIT) are Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and Marsha S. Ivins. During the STS-98 mission, the crew will install the Lab on the International Space Station during a series of three space walks. The grapple fixture will be the base of operations for the robotic arm on later flights The mission will provide the station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Laboratory Module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research. The Lab is planned for launch aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on the sixth ISS flight, currently targeted no earlier than Aug. 19, 2000.

Wiring test program insulation material related properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reher, Heinz-Josef

1995-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of activities at DASA-RI concerning the testing of wires for manned spacecraft, including test facilities, arc-tracking tests, flammability tests, microgravity tests, and standardization, and outlines future activities.

Estimating the center of mass of a free-floating body in microgravity.

PubMed

Lejeune, L; Casellato, C; Pattyn, N; Neyt, X; Migeotte, P-F

2013-01-01

This paper addresses the issue of estimating the position of the center of mass (CoM) of a free-floating object of unknown mass distribution in microgravity using a stereoscopic imaging system. The method presented here is applied to an object of known mass distribution for validation purposes. In the context of a study of 3-dimensional ballistocardiography in microgravity, and the elaboration of a physical model of the cardiovascular adaptation to weightlessness, the hypothesis that the fluid shift towards the head of astronauts induces a significant shift of their CoM needs to be tested. The experiments were conducted during the 57th parabolic flight campaign of the European Space Agency (ESA). At the beginning of the microgravity phase, the object was given an initial translational and rotational velocity. A 3D point cloud corresponding to the object was then generated, to which a motion-based method inspired by rigid body physics was applied. Through simulations, the effects of the centroid-to-CoM distance and the number of frames of the sequence are investigated. In experimental conditions, considering the important residual accelerations of the airplane during the microgravity phases, CoM estimation errors (16 to 76 mm) were consistent with simulations. Overall, our results suggest that the method has a good potential for its later generalization to a free-floating human body in a weightless environment.

Nonlinear Dynamics of the Superfluid Transition: What may We learn on orbit?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duncan, Rob

2003-01-01

Linear response (specifically, Fourier's Law) in He-4 has been observed to fail in heat flow experiments near the superfluid transition. A detailed analysis of the data suggests that the hydrostatic pressure gradient across the helium column limits the divergence of the correlation length in our earth-based experiments. This is consistent with other observations, such as the surprising lack of mutual friction and hysteresis near the superfluid transition, and a 'rounding' of the transition that appears to be independent of heat flux in the low heat flux limit. I will discuss these unusual results from earth-based measurements, and will show predictions for the very different results that may result when we make our measurements on orbit as part of the M1 Mission of the Low- Temperature, Microgravity Physics Facility. This work has been funded by the Fundamental Physics Discipline within the Physical Sciences Research Office of NASA, and is conducted by the DYNAMX (UNM) and CQ (Caltech) Groups, with assistance from the Low Temperature Science and Quantum Sensors Group at JPL.

Fundamental results from microgravity cell experiments with possible commericial applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Winget, Charles M.; Fast, Thomas N.; Hinds, Williams E.; Schaefer, R. L.; Callahan, Paul X.

1989-01-01

Some of the major milestones are presented for studies in cell biology that were conducted by the Soviet Union and the United States in the upper layers of the atmosphere and in outer space for more than thirty-five years. The goals have changed as new knowledge is acquired and the priorities for the use of microgravity have shifted toward basic research and commercial applications. Certain details concerning the impact of microgravity on cell systems is presented. However, it needs to be emphasized that in planning and conducting microgravity experiments, there are some important prerequisites not normally taken into account. Apart from the required background knowledge of previous microgravity and ground-based experiments, the investigator should have the understanding of the hardware as a physical unit, the complete knowledge of its operation, the range of its capabilities and the anticipation of problems that may occur. Moreover, if the production of commercial products in space is to be manifested, data obtained from previous microgravity experiments must be used to optimize the design of flight hardware.

NASA Microgravity Science and Applications Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Key elements of the microgravity research program as conducted by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) within the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) during fiscal year (FY) 1992 are described. This NASA funded program supported investigators from the university, industry, and government research communities. The program's goals, the approach taken to achieve those goals, and the resources that were available are summarized. It provides a 'snapshot' of the Program's status at the end of FY 1992 and reviews highlights and progress in the ground and flight-based research during the year. It also describes four major space missions that flew during FY 1992, the advanced technology development (ATD) activities, and the plans to use the research potential of Space Station Freedom and other advanced carriers. The MSAD program structure encompassed five research areas: (1) Biotechnology, (2) Combustion Science, (3) Fluid Physics, (4) Materials Science, and (5) Benchmark Physics.

How to Demonstrate Microgravity in your Classroom

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLombard, Richard; Hall, Nancy Rabel

2013-01-01

Learn why zero gravity is a misnomer and learn how to demonstrate microgravity to students and the general public. In this session, a short theory segment will explain and reinforce these concepts so that you may explain to others. Session participants will also see simple equipment that demonstrates microgravity during the session and can just as well be done in the classroom or museum exhibit hall. The hands-on demonstration devices range from a leaky water bottle to an electronic drop tower with an on-board camera. The session will also include demonstration techniques for Physics, Forces & Motion, and orbits. This material is useful for middle school forces and motions instruction, high school physics instruction, public demonstrations at conferences & school open houses, travelling museum exhibits, fixed museum exhibits, and independent student projects or experiments. These activities also connect the terrestrial demonstration with planetary & moon motion, comet trajectory, and more.

Microgravity combustion science: Progress, plans, and opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

An earlier overview is updated which introduced the promise of microgravity combustion research and provided a brief survey of results and then current research participants, the available set of reduced gravity facilities, and plans for experimental capabilities in the space station era. Since that time, several research studies have been completed in drop towers and aircraft, and the first space based combustion experiments since Skylab have been conducted on the Shuttle. The microgravity environment enables a new range of experiments to be performed since buoyancy induced flows are nearly eliminated, normally obscured forces and flows may be isolated, gravitational settling or sedimentation is nearly eliminated, and larger time or length scales in experiments are feasible. In addition to new examinations of classical problems, (e.g., droplet burning), current areas of interest include soot formation and weak turbulence, as influenced by gravity.

Venipuncture and intravenous infusion access during zero-gravity flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krupa, Debra T.; Gosbee, John; Billica, Roger; Bechtle, Perry; Creager, Gerald J.; Boyce, Joey B.

1991-01-01

The purpose of this experiment is to establish the difficulty associated with securing an intravenous (IV) catheter in place in microgravity flight and the techniques applicable in training the Crew Medical Officer (CMO) for Space Station Freedom, as well as aiding in the selection of appropriate hardware and supplies for the Health Maintenance Facility (HMF). The objectives are the following: (1) to determine the difficulties associated with venipuncture in a microgravity environment; (2) to evaluate the various methods of securing an IV catheter and attached tubing for infusion with regard to the unique environment; (3) to evaluate the various materials available for securing an intravenous catheter in place; and (4) to evaluate the fluid therapy administration system when functioning in a complete system. The inflight test procedures and other aspects of the KC-135 parabolic flight test to simulate microgravity are presented.

Life sciences and space research XXIV(1) - Gravitational biology; Proceedings of Symposia 10 and 13 of the Topical Meeting of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Commission F (Meetings F1 and F2) of the COSPAR 28th Plenary Meeting, The Hague, Netherlands, June 25-July 6, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, R. S. (Editor); Cogoli, A. (Editor); Planel, H. (Editor); Ubbels, G. A. (Editor); Sievers, A. (Editor); Oser, H. (Editor); Horneck, G. (Editor); Wagner, H. (Editor)

1992-01-01

Topics presented include an introduction to theories and models of biological response to gravity, gravity effects on biological systems, the function of calcium in plant graviperception, developmental biology on unmanned spacecraft, and the effect of microgravity on the development of plant protoplasts flown on Biocosmos 9. Also presented are the mechanism by which an asymmetric distribution of plant growth hormone is attained, the perception of gravity by plants, an animal research facility for Space Station Freedom, the long-term effects of microgravity and possible countermeasures, and an experimental system for determining the influence of microgravity on B lymphocyte activation and cell fusion.

Characterization of Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jesser, W. A.

1998-01-01

A series of experimental and numerical investigations to develop a more complete understanding of the reactive fluid dynamics of chemical vapor deposition were conducted. In the experimental phases of the effort, a horizontal CVD reactor configuration was used for the growth of InP at UVA and for laser velocimetry measurements of the flow fields in the reactor at LaRC. This horizontal reactor configuration was developed for the growth of III-V semiconductors and has been used by our research group in the past to study the deposition of both GaAs and InP. While the ultimate resolution of many of the heat and mass transport issues will require access to a reduced-gravity environment, the series of groundbased research makes direct contributions to this area while attempting to answer the design questions for future experiments of how low must gravity be reduced and for how long must this gravity level be maintained to make the necessary measurements. It is hoped that the terrestrial experiments will be useful for the design of future microgravity experiments which likely will be designed to employ a core set of measurements for applications in the microgravity environment such as HOLOC, the Fluid Physics/Dynamics Facility, or the Schlieren photography, the Laser Imaging Velocimetry and the Laser Doppler Velocimetry instruments under development for the Advanced Fluids Experiment Module.

Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, M. B. (Compiler)

1998-01-01

The MSL-1 payload first flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-83) April 4-8, 1997. Due to a fuel cell problem, the mission was cut short, and the payload flew again on Columbia (STS-94) July 1-17, 1997. The MSL-1 investigations were performed in a pressurized Spacelab module and the Shuttle middeck. Twenty-nine experiments were performed and represented disciplines such as fluid physics, combustion, materials science, biotechnology, and plant growth. Four accelerometers were used to record and characterize the microgravity environment. The results demonstrate the range of quality science that can be conducted utilizing orbital laboratories in microgravity.

Microgravity Science and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

The report presents fifteen papers from a workshop on microgravity science and applications held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on December 3 to 4, 1984. The workshop and panel were formed by the Solid State Sciences Committee of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council in response to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The goal was to review the microgravity science and applications (MSA) program of NASA and to evaluate the quality of the program. The topics for the papers are metals and alloys, electronic materials, ceramics and glasses, biotechnology, combustion science, and fluid dynamics.

International Space Station Research: Accomplishments and Pathways for Exploration and Fundamental Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robinson, Julie A.

2007-01-01

Beginning with the launch of the European Columbus module planned for December 2007, we approach a transition in the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) that is of great importance for the sciences. During the following 18 months, we will operate the first experiments in Columbus physical science resource facilities and also launch and commission the Japanese Kibo module. In addition, two Multi-purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) flights will deliver the U.S. Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) and Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) along with their first science experiments. These facilities provide significant new capabilities for basic and applied physical science research in microgravity. New life support technologies will come online throughout 2008, and we will reach the milestone of a 6-person crew planned for April 2009. A larger crew enables significant more scientific use of all the facilities for the life of ISS. Planning for the use of the International Space Station as a national laboratory is also maturing as we near the completion of assembly, enabling access to ISS as a research platform for other government agencies and the private sector. The latest updates on National Laboratory implementation will also be provided in this presentation. At the same time as these significant increases in scientific capability, there have been significant ongoing accomplishments in NASA's early ISS research both exploration related and fundamental research. These accomplishments will be reviewed in context as harbingers of the capabilities of the International Space Station when assembly is complete. The Vision for Space Exploration serves to focus NASA's applied investigations in the physical sciences. However, the broader capability of the space station as a National Laboratory and as a nexus for international collaboration will also influence the study of gravity-dependent processes by researchers around the world.

The USML-1 wire insulation flammability glovebox experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenberg, Paul S.; Sacksteder, Kurt R.; Kashiwagi, Takashi

1995-01-01

Flame spreading tests have been conducted using thin fuels in microgravity where buoyant convection is suppressed. In spacecraft experiments flames were ignited in quiescent atmospheres with an elevated oxygen content, demonstrating that diffusional mechanisms can be sufficient alone to sustain flame spreading. In ground-based facilities (i.e. drop towers and parabolic aircraft) low-speed convection sustains flames at much lower concentrations of atmospheric oxygen than in quiescent microgravity. Ground-based experiments are limited to very thin fuels (e.g., tissue paper); practical fuels, which are thicker, require more test time than is available. The Glovebox Facility provided for the USML 1 mission provided an opportunity to obtain flame spreading data for thicker fuel Herein we report the results from the Wire Insulation Flammability (WIF) Experiment performed in the Glovebox Facility. This experiment explored the heating, ignition and burning of 0.65 mm thick polyethylene wire insulation in low-speed flows in a reduced gravity environment. Four tests were conducted, two each in concurrent flow (WIF A and C) and opposed flow (WIF B and D), providing the first demonstration of flame spreading in controlled forced convection conducted in space.

Study of fluid behaviour under gravity compensated by a magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatain, D.; Beysens, D.; Madet, K.; Nikolayev, V.; Mailfert, A.

2006-09-01

Fluids, and especially cryogenic fluids like hydrogen and oxygen, are widely used in space technology for propulsion and cooling. The knowledge of fluid behaviour during the acceleration variation and under reduced gravity is necessary for an efficient management of fluids in space. Such a management also rises fundamental questions about thermo-hydrodynamics and phase change once buoyancy forces are cancelled. For security reasons, it is nearly impossible to use the classical microgravity means to experiment with such cryofluids. However, it is possible to counterbalance gravity by using the paramagnetic (O2) or diamagnetic (H2) properties of fluids. By applying a magnetic field gradient on these materials, a volume force is created that is able to impose to the fluid a varying effective gravity, including microgravity. We have set up a magnetic levitation facility for H2 in which numerous experiments have been performed. A new facility for O2 is under construction. It will enable fast change in the effective gravity by quenching down the magnetic field. The facilities and some particularly representative experimental results are presented.

iss038e024791

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-02

ISS038-E-024791 (2 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, performs troubleshooting on the Biorack centrifuge for NanoRacks, a facility that provides lower-cost microgravity research facilities for small payloads utilizing a standardized "plug-and-play" interface. Mastracchio checked the three settings of the centrifuge, which is designed to simulate the gravity of Earth, the moon and Mars.

Smoke-Point Properties of Non-Buoyant Round Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames. Appendix J

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, D. L.; Yuan, Z.-G.; Sunderland, P. B.; Lin, K.-C.; Dai, Z.; Faeth, G. M.

2000-01-01

The laminar smoke-point properties of non-buoyant round laminar jet diffusion flames were studied emphasizing results from long-duration (100-230 s) experiments at microgravity carried out in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Experimental conditions included ethylene- and propane-fueled flames burning in still air at an ambient temperature of 300 K, pressures of 35-130 kPa, jet exit diameters of 1.6 and 2.7 mm, jet exit velocities of 170-690 mm/s, jet exit Reynolds numbers of 46-172, characteristic flame residence times of 40-302 ms, and luminous flame lengths of 15-63 mm. Contrary to the normal-gravity laminar smoke point, in microgravity, the onset of laminar smoke-point conditions involved two flame configurations: closed-tip flames with soot emissions along the flame axis and open-tip flames with soot emissions from an annular ring about the flame axis. Open-tip flames were observed at large characteristic flame residence times with the onset of soot emissions associated with radiative quenching near the flame tip: nevertheless, unified correlations of laminar smoke-point properties were obtained that included both flame configurations. Flame lengths at laminar smoke-point conditions were well correlated in terms of a corrected fuel flow rate suggested by a simplified analysis of flame shape. The present steady and non-buoyant flames emitted soot more readily than non-buoyant flames in earlier tests using ground-based microgravity facilities and than buoyant flames at normal gravity, as a result of reduced effects of unsteadiness, flame disturbances, and buoyant motion. For example, present measurements of laminar smoke-point flame lengths at comparable conditions were up to 2.3 times shorter than ground-based microgravity measurements and up to 6.4 times shorter than buoyant flame measurements. Finally, present laminar smoke-point flame lengths were roughly inversely proportional to pressure to a degree that is a somewhat smaller than observed during earlier tests both at microgravity (using ground-based facilities) and at normal gravity.

Smoke-Point Properties of Nonbuoyant Round Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames. Appendix B

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, D. L.; Yuan, Z.-G.; Sunderland, P. B.; Lin, K.-C.; Dai, Z.; Faeth, G. M.; Ross, H. D. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The laminar smoke-point properties of non-buoyant round laminar jet diffusion flames were studied emphasizing results from long-duration (100-230 s) experiments at microgravity carried out in orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia. Experimental conditions included ethylene- and propane-fueled flames burning in still air at an ambient temperature of 300 K, pressures of 35-130 kPa, jet exit diameters of 1.6 and 2.7 mm, jet exit velocities of 170-690 mm/s, jet exit Reynolds numbers of 46-172, characteristic flame residence times of 40-302 ms, and luminous flame lengths of 15-63 mm. Contrary to the normal-gravity laminar smoke point, in microgravity the onset of laminar smoke-point conditions involved two flame configurations: closed-tip flames with soot emissions along the flame axis and open-tip flames with soot emissions from an annular ring about the flame axis. Open-tip flames were observed at large characteristic flame residence times with the onset of soot emissions associated with radiative quenching near the flame tip: nevertheless, unified correlations of laminar smoke-point properties were obtained that included both flame configurations. Flame lengths at laminar smoke-point conditions were well correlated in terms of a corrected fuel flow rate suggested by a simplified analysis of flame shape. The present steady and nonbuoyant flames emitted soot more readily than non-buoyant flames in earlier tests using ground-based microgravity facilities and than buoyant flames at normal gravity, as a result of reduced effects of unsteadiness, flame disturbances, and buoyant motion. For example, present measurements of laminar smokepoint flame lengths at comparable conditions were up to 2.3 times shorter than ground-based microgravity measurements and up to 6.4 times shorter than buoyant flame measurements. Finally, present laminar smoke-point flame lengths were roughly inversely proportional to pressure to a degree that is a somewhat smaller than observed during earlier tests both at microgravity (using ground-based facilities) and at normal gravity,

Ants in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-12

ISS038-E-029062 (12 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat Facility which will study ant behavior and colonization in microgravity.

Ants in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-12

ISS038-E-029077 (12 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Harmony node, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, Expedition 38 flight engineer, uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat Facility which will study ant behavior and colonization in microgravity.

Ants in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-12

ISS038-E-029065 (12 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat Facility which will study ant behavior and colonization in microgravity.

Ants in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-01-12

ISS038-E-029059 (12 Jan. 2014) --- In the International Space Station's Destiny laboratory, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, uses a video camera to photograph the Ant Forage Habitat Facility which will study ant behavior and colonization in microgravity.

The Gateway Garden — A Prototype Food Production Facility for Deep Space Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritsche, R. F.; Romeyn, M. W.; Massa, G.

2018-02-01

CIS-lunar space provides a unique opportunity to perform deep space microgravity crop science research while also addressing and advancing food production technologies that will be deployed on the Deep Space Transport.

Science and Technology Research Directions for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique and unprecedented space research facility. Never before have scientists and engineers had access to such a robust, multidisciplinary, long-duration microgravity laboratory. To date, the research community has enjoyed success aboard such platforms as Skylab, the Space Shuttle, and the Russian Mir space station. However, these platforms were and are limited in ways that the ISS is not. Encompassing four times the volume of Mir, the ISS will support dedicated research facilities for at least a dozen scientific and engineering disciplines. Unlike the Space Shuttle, which must return to Earth after less than three weeks in space, the ISS will accommodate experiments that require many weeks even months to complete. Continual access to a microgravity laboratory will allow selected scientific disciplines to progress at a rate far greater than that obtainable with current space vehicles.

An Overview of the NIRA Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, William

2003-01-01

The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has been tasked by NASA JSC's ISS Payloads Office to perform the NIRA (Non-Isolated Rack Assessment) microgravity prediction analysis task for the International Space Station. Previously, the NIRA analysis task had been performed by Boeing/Houston. Boeing's last NIRA analysis was released in 1999 and was denoted as "NIRA 99." GRC is currently close to completing our first full-NIRA analysis (encompassing the frequency range from 0 to 50 Hz) to be released as "NIRA 2003." This presentation will focus on describing the NIRA analysis, the transition of this analysis task from Boeing to GRC, and the current status and schedule for release of the NIRA 2003 results. Additionally, the results obtained from a mini-NIRA analysis requested by ESA and completed by GRC in the Spring of 2003 will be shown. This mini-analysis focused solely on predicting the microgravity environment at the COF-EPF (Columbus Orbiting Facility - External Payload Facility).

Containerless Processing on ISS: Ground Support Program for EML

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diefenbach, Angelika; Schneider, Stephan; Willnecker, Rainer

2012-01-01

EML is an electromagnetic levitation facility planned for the ISS aiming at processing and investigating liquid metals or semiconductors by using electromagnetic levitation technique under microgravity with reduced electromagnetic fields and convection conditions. Its diagnostics and processing methods allow to measure thermophysical properties in the liquid state over an extended temperature range and to investigate solidification phenomena in undercooled melts. The EML project is a common effort of The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Space Agency DLR. The Microgravity User Support Centre MUSC at Cologne, Germany, has been assigned the responsibility for EML operations. For the EML experiment preparation an extensive scientific ground support program is established at MUSC, providing scientific and technical services in the preparation, performance and evaluation of the experiments. Its final output is the transcription of the scientific goals and requirements into validated facility control parameters for the experiment execution onboard the ISS.

Electrostatic Levitation: A Tool to Support Materials Research in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Jan; SanSoucie, Mike

2012-01-01

Containerless processing represents an important topic for materials research in microgravity. Levitated specimens are free from contact with a container, which permits studies of deeply undercooled melts, and high-temperature, highly reactive materials. Containerless processing provides data for studies of thermophysical properties, phase equilibria, metastable state formation, microstructure formation, undercooling, and nucleation. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) jointly developed an electromagnetic levitator facility (MSL-EML) for containerless materials processing in space. The electrostatic levitator (ESL) facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center provides support for the development of containerless processing studies for the ISS. Apparatus and techniques have been developed to use the ESL to provide data for phase diagram determination, creep resistance, emissivity, specific heat, density/thermal expansion, viscosity, surface tension and triggered nucleation of melts. The capabilities and results from selected ESL-based characterization studies performed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center will be presented.

The IPE facility in the ISS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orr, Astrid

IPE is a micro-gravity experiment that addresses planetary science. It is an ESA study in phase B and is intended to be installed on the Internaional Space Station. The goals of IPE are to: 1) understand the formation of planetesimals, or planet precursors, by studying the mutual interactions of micron-sized dust particles and their agglomeration in conditions representative of pre-planetary conditions 2) study the light scattering behavior of proto-planterary dust aggregates IPE (= ICAPS Precursor Experiment) is linked to a scientific program of ESA to study the Interactions in Cosmic and Atmospheric Particle systems under microgravity: ICAPS. The IPE collaboration includes an international Facility Science Team composed of leading scientists from France, Germany, Belgium, Canada and Spain. It also envolves a European industrial consortium. This paper will present the current status of the IPE project, the scientific objectives and the current payload configuration.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata looks over the Pressurized Module, or PM, part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The PM provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts on the International Space Station can conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-09-24

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata looks over the Pressurized Module, or PM, part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The PM provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts on the International Space Station can conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, technicians on the floor watch as a tray is extended from inside the Pressurized Module, or PM, part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The PM provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts on the International Space Station can conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-09-24

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the Space Station Processing Facility, technicians on the floor watch as a tray is extended from inside the Pressurized Module, or PM, part of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The PM provides a shirt-sleeve environment in which astronauts on the International Space Station can conduct microgravity experiments. There are a total of 23 racks, including 10 experiment racks, inside the PM providing a power supply, communications, air conditioning, hardware cooling, water control and experiment support functions.

Phase partitioning, crystal growth, electrodeposition and cosmic ray experiments in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wessling, Francis C.

1987-01-01

Five experiments are contained in one Get Away Special Canister (5 cu ft). The first utilizes microgravity to separate biological cells and to study the mechanism of phase partitioning in 12 separate cuvettes. Two experiments are designed to grow organic crystals by physical vapor transport. One experiment consists of eight electroplating cells with various chemicals to produce surfaces electroplated in microgravity. Some of the surfaces have micron sized particles of hard materials co-deposited during electrodeposition. The fifth experiment intercepts cosmic ray particles and records their paths on photographic emulsions. The first four experiments are controlled by an on-board C-MOS controller. The fifth experiment is totally passive. These are the first in Space. Their purpose is to create new commercial products with microgravity processing.

Overview of NASA's microgravity combustion science and fire safety program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ross, Howard D.

1993-01-01

The study of fundamental combustion processes in a microgravity environment is a relatively new scientific endeavor. A few simple, precursor experiments were conducted in the early 1970's. Today the advent of the U.S. space shuttle and the anticipation of the Space Station Freedom provide for scientists and engineers a special opportunity -- in the form of long duration microgravity laboratories -- and need -- in the form of spacecraft fire safety and a variety of terrestrial applications -- to pursue fresh insight into the basic physics of combustion. Through microgravity, a new range of experiments can be performed since: (1) Buoyancy-induced flows are nearly eliminated; (2) Normally obscured forces and flows may be isolated; (3) Gravitational settling or sedimentation is nearly eliminated; and (4) Larger time or length scales in experiments become permissible.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

This photo shows one of three arrays of air filters inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Glove

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

This photo shows a rubber glove and its attachment ring for the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Interior Reach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

This photo shows the interior reach in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

Interior lights give the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) the appearance of a high-tech juke box. The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are developing the MSG for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

This photo shows a rubber glove and its attachment ring for the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

This photo shows the access through the internal airlock (bottom right) on the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-06-05

This computer-generated image depicts the Materials Science Research Rack-1 (MSRR-1) being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the European Space Agency (ESA) for placement in the Destiny laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. The rack is part of the plarned Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and is expected to include two furnace module inserts, a Quench Module Insert (being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center) to study directional solidification in rapidly cooled alloys and a Diffusion Module Insert (being developed by the European Space Agency) to study crystal growth, and a transparent furnace (being developed by NASA's Space Product Development program). Multi-user equipment in the rack is being developed under the auspices of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) and ESA. Key elements are labeled in other images (0101754, 0101830, and TBD).

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-06-05

This computer-generated image depicts the Materials Science Research Rack-1 (MSRR-1) being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the European Space Agency (ESA) for placement in the Destiny laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. The rack is part of the plarned Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and is expected to include two furnace module inserts, a Quench Module Insert (being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center) to study directional solidification in rapidly cooled alloys and a Diffusion Module Insert (being developed by the European Space Agency) to study crystal growth, and a transparent furnace (being developed by NASA's Space Product Development program). Multi-user equipment in the rack is being developed under the auspices of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) and ESA. Key elements are labeled in other images (0101754, 0101829, 0101830).

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-06-05

This computer-generated image depicts the Materials Science Research Rack-1 (MSRR-1) being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the European Space Agency (ESA) for placement in the Destiny laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. The rack is part of the plarned Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and is expected to include two furnace module inserts, a Quench Module Insert (being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center) to study directional solidification in rapidly cooled alloys and a Diffusion Module Insert (being developed by the European Space Agency) to study crystal growth, and a transparent furnace (being developed by NASA's Space Product Development program). Multi-user equipment in the rack is being developed under the auspices of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) and ESA. A larger image is available without labels (No. 0101755).

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-06-05

This scale model depicts the Materials Science Research Rack-1 (MSRR-1) being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the European Space Agency (ESA) for placement in the Destiny laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. The rack is part of the plarned Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and is expected to include two furnace module inserts, a Quench Module Insert (being developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center) to study directional solidification in rapidly cooled alloys and a Diffusion Module Insert (being developed by the European Space Agency) to study crystal growth, and a transparent furnace (being developed by NASA's Space Product Development program). Multi-user equipment in the rack is being developed under the auspices of NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) and ESA. Key elements are labeled in other images (0101754, 0101829, 0101830, and TBD).

High-Speed Rainbow Schlieren Visualization of an Oscillating Helium Jet Undergoing Gravitational Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptuch, Peter A.; Agrawal, Ajay K.

2005-01-01

Rainbow schlieren deflectometry combined with high-speed digital imaging was used to study buoyancy effects on flow structure of a helium jet discharged vertically into air. The experimental data were taken using the 2.2-sec drop tower facility at the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The test conditions pertained to jet Reynolds number of 490 and jet Richardson number of 0.11, for which buoyancy is often considered unimportant. Experimental results show global oscillations at a frequency of 27 Hz in Earth gravity. In microgravity, the jet oscillations vanished and the jet width increased. Results provide a direct physical evidence of the importance of buoyancy on the flow structure of low-density gas jets at a Richardson number considered too small to account for gravity.

Spacelab

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-06-25

The first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) was one of NASA's science and technology programs and provided scientists an opportunity to research various scientific investigations in a weightless environment inside the Spacelab module. It also provided demonstrations of new equipment to help prepare for advanced microgravity research and processing aboard the Space Station. The USML-1 flew in orbit for extended periods, providing greater opportunities for research in materials science, fluid dynamics, biotechnology, and combustion science. In this photograph, astronaut Carl Meade is reviewing the manual to activate the Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (GBA) inside the Spacelab module. The GBA for the USML-1 mission was a multipurpose facility that could help us answer important questions about the relationship between gravity and biology. This unique facility allowed scientists to study biological processes in samples ranging from molecules to small organisms. For example, scientists would examine how collagen, a protein substance found in cornective tissue, bones, and cartilage, forms fibers. In microgravity, it might be possible to alter collagen fiber assembly so that this material could be used more effectively as artificial skin, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. The USML-1 was managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and waslaunched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia (STS-50) on June 25, 1992.

STS-50 USML-1, Onboard Photo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

The first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) was one of NASA's science and technology programs and provided scientists an opportunity to research various scientific investigations in a weightless environment inside the Spacelab module. It also provided demonstrations of new equipment to help prepare for advanced microgravity research and processing aboard the Space Station. The USML-1 flew in orbit for extended periods, providing greater opportunities for research in materials science, fluid dynamics, biotechnology, and combustion science. In this photograph, astronaut Carl Meade is reviewing the manual to activate the Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (GBA) inside the Spacelab module. The GBA for the USML-1 mission was a multipurpose facility that could help us answer important questions about the relationship between gravity and biology. This unique facility allowed scientists to study biological processes in samples ranging from molecules to small organisms. For example, scientists would examine how collagen, a protein substance found in cornective tissue, bones, and cartilage, forms fibers. In microgravity, it might be possible to alter collagen fiber assembly so that this material could be used more effectively as artificial skin, blood vessels, and other parts of the body. The USML-1 was managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and waslaunched aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia (STS-50) on June 25, 1992.

Terrestrial Testing of the CapiBRIC, a Microgravity Optimized Brine Processor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Callahan, Michael R.; Weislogel, Mark M.

2016-01-01

Utilizing geometry based static phase separation exhibited in the radial vaned capillary drying tray, a system was conceived to recover water from brine. This technology has been named the Capillary BRIC; abbreviated CapiBRIC. The CapiBRIC utilizes a capillary drying tray within a drying chamber. Water is recovered from clean water vapor evaporating from the free surface leaving waste brine solids behind. A novel approach of optimizing the containment geometry to support passive capillary flow and static phase separation provides the opportunity for a low power system that is not as susceptible to fouling as membranes or other technologies employing physical barriers across the free brine surface to achieve phase separation in microgravity. Having been optimized for operation in microgravity, full-scale testing of the CapiBRIC as designed cannot be performed on the ground as the force of gravity would dominate over the capillary forces. However, subscale units relevant to full-scale design were used to characterize fill rates, containment stability, and interaction with a variable volume reservoir in the PSU Dryden Drop Tower (DDT) facility. PSU also using tested units scaled such that capillary forces dominated in a 1-g environment to characterize evaporation from a free-surface in 1-g upward, sideways and downward orientations. In order to augment the subscale testing performed by PSU, a full scale 1-g analogue of the CapiBRIC drying unit was initiated to help validate performance predictions regarding expected water recovery ratio, estimated processing time, and interface definitions for inlets, outlets, and internal processes, including vent gas composition. This paper describes the design, development and test of the terrestrial CapiBRIC prototypes.

Microgravity Level Measurement of the Beijing Drop Tower Using a Sensitive Accelerometer

PubMed Central

Liu, T. Y.; Wu, Q. P.; Sun, B. Q.; Han, F. T.

2016-01-01

Drop tower is the most common ground-based facility to provide microgravity environment and widely used in many science experiments. A differential space accelerometer has been proposed to test the spin-gravity interaction between rotating extended bodies onboard a drag-free satellite. In order to assist design and test of this inertial sensor in a series of ground- based pre-flight experiments, it is very important to know accurately the residual acceleration of drop towers. In this report, a sensitive instrument for this purpose was built with a high-performance servo quartz accelerometer, and the dedicated interface electronics design providing small full-scale range and high sensitivity, up to 136.8 V/g0. The residual acceleration at the Beijing drop tower was measured using two different drop capsules. The experimental result shows that the microgravity level of the free-falling double capsule is better than 2 × 10−4g0 (Earth’s gravity). The measured data in this report provides critical microgravity information for design of the following ground experiments. PMID:27530726

The venture space alliance commercial application of microgravity research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitton, Dave

1999-01-01

The Venture Space Alliance is a Canadian commercial enterprise formed to develop a successful sustainable business, providing industrial and institutional clients with cost effective timely access to space and microgravity facilities for commercial and scientific benefit. The goal is to offer users a comprehensive and reliable set of products and services from the early stages of research, where access to short duration microgravity such as drop towers, aircraft and sub-orbital rockets is required, to more complex missions requiring free flyers, shuttle or Space Station. The service is designed to relieve the researcher from having to be concerned with the special processes associated with space flight, and to assist in the commercial application of their research through the development of business plans and investment strategy. Much of this research could lead to new and better medicines, high disease tolerant and more prolific agricultural products, new materials and alloys, and improvements in fundamental human health. This paper will describe the commercial successes derived from microgravity research, and the anticipated growth of this segment particularly with the completion of the International Space Station.

Preliminary flight results from the second U.S. Microgravity Payload (USMP-2)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curreri, Peter; Reiss, Donald

1994-01-01

The second U.S. Microgravity Payload (USMP-2) was flown on the Space Shuttle in March 1994. It carried four major microgravity experiments plus a sophisticated accelerometer system to record the microgravity environment during USMP-2 operations. The USMP program is designed to accommodate experiments requiring extensive resources short of a full Spacelab mission, and the experiments are remotely operated and monitored. Results are reviewed from the four experiments: the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Facility (AADSF), the Isothermal Dendrite Growth Experiment (IDGE), the Materiel por Etude des Phenomenes Interessant la Soldification sur Terre et en Orbite (MEPHISTO), and the Critical Fluid Light Scattering Experiment (Zeno). AASDF grew what is expected to be the largest steady-state sample ever of HgCdTe during 240 hours of operation. IDGE provided 60 growth cycles over a wide range of supercooling conditions studying the dendritic solidification of succinonitrile. MEPHISTO achieved 55 melt-solidify cycles and grew over 1 m of Bi/Sn alloy. Zeno located the critical point temperature for liquid Xe to 0.00001 K. IDGE and Zeno also provided the most extensive demonstrations to date of telescience.

KSC-97PC1380

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-08

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Seen at right in the circular white cover is the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), which will be used to study the dendritic solidification of molten materials in the microgravity environment. The large white vertical cylinder in the center of the photo is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) and the horizontal tube to the left of it is MEPHISTO, a French acronym for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of crystal growth. Just below MEPHISTO is the Space Acceleration Measurement System, or SAMS, which measures the microgravity conditions in which the experiments are conducted. The The metallic breadbox-like structure behind the AADSF is the Confined Helium Experiment (CHeX) that will study one of the basic influences on the behavior and properties of materials by using liquid helium confined between solid surfaces and microgravity. All of these experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC

A New Direction for NASA Materials Science Research Using the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schlagheck, Ronald; Trach, Brian; Geveden, Rex D. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

NASA recently created a fifth Strategic Enterprise, the Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR), to bring together physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to foster interdisciplinary research. The Materials Science Program is one of five Microgravity Research disciplines within this new enterprise's Division of Physical Sciences Research. The Materials Science Program will participate within this new enterprise structure in order to facilitate effective use of ISS facilities, target scientific and technology questions and transfer scientific and technology results for Earth benefits. The Materials Science research will use a low gravity environment for flight and ground-based research in crystallization, fundamental processing, properties characterization, and biomaterials in order to obtain fundamental understanding of various phenomena effects and relationships to the structures, processing, and properties of materials. Completion of the International Space Station's (ISS) first major assembly, during the past year, provides new opportunities for on-orbit research and scientific utilization. Accommodations will support a variety of Materials Science payload hardware both in the US and international partner modules with emphasis on early use of Express Rack and Glovebox facilities. This paper addresses the current scope of the flight investigator program. These investigators will use the various capabilities of the ISS to achieve their research objectives. The type of research and classification of materials being studied will be addressed. This includes the recent emphasis being placed on nanomaterials and biomaterials type research. Materials Science Program will pursue a new, interdisciplinary approach, which contributes, to Human Space Flight Exploration research. The Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) and other related American and International experiment modules will serve as the foundation for this research. Discussion will be included to explain the changing concept for materials science research processing capabilities aboard the ISS along with the various ground facilities necessary to support the program. Finally, the paper will address the initial utilization schedule and strategy for the various materials science payloads including their corresponding hardware.

National space test centers - Lewis Research Center Facilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roskilly, Ronald R.

1990-01-01

The Lewis Research Center, NASA, presently has a number of test facilities that constitute a significant national space test resource. It is expected this capability will continue to find wide application in work involving this country's future in space. Testing from basic research to applied technology, to systems development, to ground support will be performed, supporting such activities as Space Station Freedom, the Space Exploration Initiative, Mission to Planet Earth, and many others. The major space test facilities at both Cleveland and Lewis' Plum Brook Station are described. Primary emphasis is on space propulsion facilities; other facilities of importance in space power and microgravity are also included.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing and with the optical bench rotated 90 degrees for access to the rear elements. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The optical bench for the Fluids Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing and with the optical bench rotated 90 degrees to access the rear elements. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-01-31

The combustion chamber for the Combustion Integrated Rack section of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) is shown extracted for servicing and with the optical bench rotated 90 degrees for access to the rear elements. The FCF will be installed, in phases, in the Destiny, the U.S. Laboratory Module of the International Space Station (ISS), and will accommodate multiple users for a range of investigations. This is an engineering mockup; the flight hardware is subject to change as designs are refined. The FCF is being developed by the Microgravity Science Division (MSD) at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center)

A technician monitors the CHeX, a USMP-4 experiment which will be flown on STS-87, in the SSPF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Here, a technician is monitoring the Confined Helium Experiment, or CHeX, that will use microgravity to study one of the basic influences on the behavior and properties of materials by using liquid helium confined between silicon disks. CHeX and several other experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC.

Short-term, daily exposure to cold temperature may be an efficient way to prevent muscle atrophy and bone loss in a microgravity environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Claudia; Wang, Ping; Zhang, Xiangming; Wang, Ya

2015-04-01

Microgravity induces less pressure on muscle/bone, which is a major reason for muscle atrophy as well as bone loss. Currently, physical exercise is the only countermeasure used consistently in the U.S. human space program to counteract the microgravity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and bone loss. However, the routinely almost daily time commitment is significant and represents a potential risk to the accomplishment of other mission operational tasks. Therefore, development of more efficient exercise programs (with less time) to prevent astronauts from muscle atrophy and bone loss are needed. Consider the two types of muscle contraction: exercising forces muscle contraction and prevents microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss, which is a voluntary response through the motor nervous system; and cold temperature exposure-induced muscle contraction is an involuntary response through the vegetative nervous system, we formed a new hypothesis. The main purpose of this pilot study was to test our hypothesis that exercise at 4 °C is more efficient than at room temperature to prevent microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss and, consequently reduces physical exercise time. Twenty mice were divided into two groups with or without daily short-term (10 min × 2, at 12 h interval) cold temperature (4 °C) exposure for 30 days. The whole bodyweight, muscle strength and bone density were measured after terminating the experiments. The results from the one-month pilot study support our hypothesis and suggest that it would be reasonable to use more mice, in a microgravity environment and observe for a longer period to obtain a conclusion. We believe that the results from such a study will help to develop efficient exercise, which will finally benefit astronauts' heath and NASA's missions.

Short-term, daily exposure to cold temperature may be an efficient way to prevent muscle atrophy and bone loss in a microgravity environment

PubMed Central

Deng, Claudia; Wang, Ping; Zhang, Xiangming; Wang, Ya

2015-01-01

Microgravity induces less pressure on muscle/bone, which is a major reason for muscle atrophy as well as bone loss. Currently, physical exercise is the only countermeasure used consistently in the U.S. human space program to counteract the microgravity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy and bone loss. However, the routinely almost daily time commitment is significant and represents a potential risk to the accomplishment of other mission operational tasks. Therefore, development of more efficient exercise programs (with less time) to prevent astronauts from muscle atrophy and bone loss are needed. Consider the two types of muscle contraction: exercising forces muscle contraction and prevents microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss, which is a voluntary response through the motor nervous system; and cold temperature exposure-induced muscle contraction is an involuntary response through the vegetative nervous system, we formed a new hypothesis. The main purpose of this pilot study was to test our hypothesis that exercise at 4°C is more efficient than at room temperature to prevent microgravity-induced muscle atrophy/bone loss and, consequently reduces physical exercise time. Twenty mice were divided into two groups with or without daily short-term (10 min × 2, at 12 h interval) cold temperature (4°C) exposure for 30 days. The whole bodyweight, muscle strength and bone density were measured after terminating the experiments. The results from the one-month pilot study support our hypothesis and suggest that it would be reasonable to use more mice, in a microgravity environment and observe for a longer period to obtain a conclusion. We believe that the results from such a study will help to develop efficient exercise, which will finally benefit astronauts’ heath and NASA’s mission. PMID:25821722

A novel sequential vegetable production facility for life support system in space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Hui; Berkovich, Yuliy A.; Liu, Hong; Fu, Yuming; Shao, Lingzhi; Erokhin, A. N.; Wang, Minjuan

2012-07-01

Vegetable cultivation plays a crucial role for dietary supplements and psychosocial benefits of the crew during manned space flight. The idea of onboard vegetables cultivation was generally proposed as the first step of food regeneration in life support system of space. Here a novel sequential vegetable production facility was developed, which was able to simulate microgravity conditions and carry out modularized-cultivation of leaf-vegetables. Its growth chamber (GC) had conic form and volume of 0.12 m ^{3}. Its planting surface of 0.154 m ^{2} was comprised of six ring-shaped root modules with a fibrous ion-exchange resin substrate. Root modules were fastened to a central porous tube supplying water, and moved on along with plant growth. The total illuminated crop area of 0.567 m ^{2} was provided by a combination of both red and white light emitting diodes distributed on the GC cone internal surface. In tests with a 24-hr photoperiod, the productivity of the facility at 0.3 kW for lettuce achieved 254.3 g eatable biomass per week. Compared to lettuce from market, the quality of lettuce of the facility did not change significantly during long-term cultivation. Our results demonstrate that the facility is high efficiency in vegetable production, and basically meets the application requirements of space microgravity environment. Keywords:, vegetable; modularized-cultivation; sequential production; life support system

Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mudawar, Issam; Hasan, Mohammad M.; Kharangate, Chirag; O'Neill, Lucas; Konishi, Chris; Nahra, Henry; Hall, Nancy; Balasubramaniam, R.; Mackey, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

The proposed research aims to develop an integrated two-phase flow boiling/condensation facility for the International Space Station (ISS) to serve as primary platform for obtaining two-phase flow and heat transfer data in microgravity.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-01-01

Engineering mockup shows the general arrangement of the plarned Biotechnology Facility inside an EXPRESS rack aboard the International Space Station. This layout includes a gas supply module (bottom left), control computer and laptop interface (bottom right), two rotating wall vessels (top right), and support systems.

The concept of a facility for cosmic dust research on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blum, Juergen; Cabane, Michel; Fonda, Mark; Giovane, Frank; Gustafson, Bo A. S.; Keller, Horst U.; Markiewicz, Wojciech J.; Levasseur-Regourd, Any-Chantal; Worms, Jean-Claude; Nuth, Joseph A.;

Spacelab

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-06-01

The first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) was one of NASA's science and technology programs that provided scientists an opportunity to research various scientific investigations in a weightlessness environment inside the Spacelab module. It also provided demonstrations of new equipment to help prepare for advanced microgravity research and processing aboard the Space Station. The USML-1 flew in orbit for extended periods, providing greater opportunities for research in materials science, fluid dynamics, biotechnology (crystal growth), and combustion science. This is a close-up view of the Drop Physics Module (DPM) in the USML science laboratory. The DPM was dedicated to the detailed study of the dynamics of fluid drops in microgravity: their equilibrium shapes, the dynamics of their flows, and their stable and chaotic behaviors. It also demonstrated a technique known as containerless processing. The DPM and microgravity combine to remove the effects of the container, such as chemical contamination and shape, on the sample being studied. Sound waves, generating acoustic forces, were used to suspend a sample in microgravity and to hold a sample of free drops away from the walls of the experiment chamber, which isolated the sample from potentially harmful external influences. The DPM gave scientists the opportunity to test theories of classical fluid physics, which have not been confirmed by experiments conducted on Earth. This image is a close-up view of the DPM. The USML-1 flew aboard the STS-50 mission on June 1992, and was managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Airlock

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

This photo shows the access through the internal airlock (bottom right) on the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Working Volume

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Interior lights give the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) the appearance of a high-tech juke box. The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are developing the MSG for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Labels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Labels are overlaid on a photo (0003837) of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The MSG is being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are developing the MSG for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-03-11

An array of miniature lamps will provide illumination to help scientists as they conduct experiments inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are developing the MSG for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Summary Report of Mission Acceleration Measurements for STS-73, Launched October 20, 1995

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Melissa J. B.; DeLombard, Richard

1996-01-01

The microgravity environment of the Space Shuttle Columbia was measured during the STS-73 mission using accelerometers from five different instruments: the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment, the Space Acceleration Measurement System, the Three-dimensional Microgravity Accelerometer, the Microgravity Measuring Device, and Suppression of Transient Accelerations by Levitation Evaluation System. The Microgravity Analysis Workstation quasi-steady environment calculation and comparison of this calculation with Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment data was used to assess how appropriate a planned attitude was expected to be for one Crystal Growth Facility experiment sample. The microgravity environment related to several different Orbiter, crew, and experiment operations is presented and interpreted in this report. Data are examined to show the effects of vernier reaction control system jet firings for Orbiter attitude control. This is compared to examples of data when no thrusters were firing, when the primary reaction control system jets were used for attitude control, and when single vernier jets were fired for test purposes. In general, vernier jets, when used for attitude control, cause accelerations in the 3 x 10(exp -4) g to 7 x 10(exp -4) g range. Primary jets used in this manner cause accelerations in the 0.01 to 0.025 g range. Other significant disturbance sources characterized are water dump operations, with Y(sub b) axis acceleration deviations of about 1 x 10(exp -6) g; payload bay door opening motion, with Y(sub o) and Z(sub o) axis accelerations of frequency 0.4 Hz; and probable Glovebox fan operations with notable frequency components at 20, 38, 43, 48, and 53 Hz. The STS-73 microgravity environment is comparable to the environments measured on earlier microgravity science missions.

Characteristics of Non-Premixed Turbulent Flames in Microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hegde, U.; Yuan, Z. G.; Stocker, D. P.; Bahadori, M. Y.

2001-01-01

This project is concerned with the characteristics of turbulent hydrocarbon (primarily propane) gas-jet diffusion flames in microgravity. A microgravity environment provides the opportunity to study the structure of turbulent diffusion flames under momentum-dominated conditions (large Froude number) at moderate Reynolds number which is a combination not achievable in normal gravity. This paper summarizes progress made since the last workshop. Primarily, the features of flame radiation from microgravity turbulent jet diffusion flames in a reduced gravity environment are described. Tests were conducted for non-premixed, nitrogen diluted propane flames burning in quiescent air in the NASA Glenn 5.18 Second Zero Gravity Facility. Measured flame radiation from wedge-shaped, axial slices of the flame are compared for microgravity and normal gravity flames. Results from numerical computations of the flame using a k-e model for the turbulence are also presented to show the effects of flame radiation on the thermal field. Flame radiation is an important quantity that is impacted by buoyancy as has been shown in previous studies by the authors and also by Urban et al. It was found that jet diffusion flames burning under microgravity conditions have significantly higher radiative loss (about five to seven times higher) compared to their normal gravity counterparts because of larger flame size in microgravity and larger convective heat loss fraction from the flame in normal gravity. These studies, however, were confined to laminar flames. For the case of turbulent flames, the flame radiation is a function of time and both the time-averaged and time-dependent components are of interest. In this paper, attention is focused primarily on the time-averaged level of the radiation but the turbulent structure of the flame is also assessed from considerations of the radiation power spectra.

Microgravity Crystallization of Alpha-Crustacyanin Onboard the Unmanned Carrier, EURECA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boggon, T. J.; Snell, E. H.; Helliwell, J. R.; Chayen, N. E.; Zagalsky, P. F.

1998-01-01

alpha-Crustacyanin, the lobster carapace astaxanthin-protein, was crystallized using the European Space Agency's (ESA) automated Protein Crystallization Facility (PCF) which flew onboard the unmanned EUropean REtrievable CArrier (EURECA). A free interface linear, liquid - liquid diffusion, method was used. Crystals grew larger and thicker in the microgravity case compared to the biggest crystals grown on earth. Video observation on EURECA revealed variations in crystal sizes through-out the reactor neatly correlated with depletion of this coloured protein from the solution. The video observations most importantly revealed no visible movement of crystals over the initial 7 weeks of the experiment, although an obvious temperature induced jump occurred at that time in a mission spanning 11 months. An important observation from this mission, over the first 7 weeks, of completely stationary crystal growth contrasts with crystal motions viewed on manned microgravity missions, even using linear liquid - liquid geometries, and much shorter flights (eg. 12 to 16 days).

Compact field color schlieren system for use in microgravity materials processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poteet, W. M.; Owen, R. B.

1986-01-01

A compact color schlieren system designed for field measurement of materials processing parameters has been built and tested in a microgravity environment. Improvements in the color filter design and a compact optical arrangement allowed the system described here to retain the traditional advantages of schlieren, such as simplicity, sensitivity, and ease of data interpretation. Testing was accomplished by successfully flying the instrument on a series of parabolic trajectories on the NASA KC-135 microgravity simulation aircraft. A variety of samples of interest in materials processing were examined. Although the present system was designed for aircraft use, the technique is well suited to space flight experimentation. A major goal of this effort was to accommodate the main optical system within a volume approximately equal to that of a Space Shuttle middeck locker. Future plans include the development of an automated space-qualified facility for use on the Shuttle and Space Station.

KSC-97PC1458

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-15

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The large white vertical cylinder in the center of the photo is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) and the horizontal tube to the left of it is MEPHISTO, a French acronym for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of crystal growth. Seen at right behind the AADSF in the circular white cover is the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), which will be used to study the dendritic solidification of molten materials in the microgravity environment. Under the multi-layer insulation with the American flag and mission logo is the Space Acceleration Measurement System, or SAMS, which measures the microgravity conditions in which the experiments are conducted. All of these experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC

KSC-97PC1461

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-09-15

United States Microgravity Payload-4 (USMP-4) experiments are prepared to be flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-87 in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The large white vertical cylinder in the middle of the photo is the Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (AADSF) and the horizontal tube to its left is MEPHISTO, the French acronym for a cooperative American-French investigation of the fundamentals of crystal growth. Seen to the right of the AADSF is the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE), which will be used to study the dendritic solidification of molten materials in the microgravity environment. Under the multi-layer insulation with the American flag and mission logo is the Space Acceleration Measurement System, or SAMS, which measures the microgravity conditions in which the experiments are conducted. All of these experiments are scheduled for launch aboard STS-87 on Nov. 19 from KSC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-05-02

John Henson (grade 12) and Suzi Bryce (grade 10) from DuPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky, conduct a drop with NASA's Microgravity Demonstrator. A camera and a TV/VCR unit let students play back recordings of how different physical devices behave differently during freefall as compared to 1-g. The activity was part of the education outreach segment of the Pan-Pacific Basin Workshop on Microgravity Sciences held in Pasadena, California. The event originated at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The DuPont Manual students patched in to the event through the distance learning lab at the Louisville Science Center. This image is from a digital still camera; higher resolution is not available.

Flame-Vortex Interactions in Microgravity to Improve Models of Turbulent Combustion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Driscoll, James F.

1999-01-01

A unique flame-vortex interaction experiment is being operated in microgravity in order to obtain fundamental data to assess the Theory of Flame Stretch which will be used to improve models of turbulent combustion. The experiment provides visual images of the physical process by which an individual eddy in a turbulent flow increases the flame surface area, changes the local flame propagation speed, and can extinguish the reaction. The high quality microgravity images provide benchmark data that are free from buoyancy effects. Results are used to assess Direct Numerical Simulations of Dr. K. Kailasanath at NRL, which were run for the same conditions.

Microgravity science and applications. Program tasks and bibliography for FY 1994

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This annual report includes research projects funded by the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, Microgravity Science and Applications Division, during FY 1994. It is a compilation of program tasks (objective, description, significance, progress, students funded under research, and bibliographic citations) for flight research and ground-based research in five major scientific disciplines: benchmark science, biotechnology, combustion science, fluid physics, and materials science. ATD (Advanced Technology Development) program task descriptions are also included. The bibliography cites the related PI (Principal Investigator) publications and presentations for these program tasks in FY 1994. Three appendices include Table of Acronyms, Guest Investigator Index, and Principal Investigator Index.

Third United States Microgravity Payload: One Year Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Currieri, P. A. (Compiler); McCauley, D. (Compiler); Walker, C. (Compiler)

1998-01-01

This document reports the one year science results for the Third United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-3). The USMP-3 major experiments were on a support structure in the Space Shuttle's payload bay and operated almost completely by the Principal Investigators through telescience. The mission included a Glovebox where the crew performed additional experiments for the investigators. Together about seven major scientific experiments were performed, advancing the state of knowledge in fields such as low temperature physics, solidification, and combustion. The results demonstrate the range of quality science that can be conducted utilizing orbital laboratories in microgravity and provide a look forward to a highly productive space station era.

Fourth United States Microgravity Payload: One Year Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ethridge, Edwin C. (Compiler); Curreri, Peter A. (Compiler); McCauley, D. E. (Compiler)

1999-01-01

This document reports the one year science results for the Fourth United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4). The USMP-4 major experiments were on a support structure in the Space Shuttle's payload bay and operated almost completely by the Principal Investigators through telescience. The mission included a Glovebox where the crew performed additional experiments for the investigators. Together about eight major scientific experiments were performed, advancing the state of knowledge in fields such as low temperature physics, solidification, and combustion. The results demonstrate the range of quality science that can be conducted utilizing orbital laboratories in microgravity and provide a look forward to a highly productive Space Station era.

Microgravity science & applications. Program tasks and bibliography for FY 1995

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1996-01-01

This annual report includes research projects funded by the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, Microgravity Science and Applications Division, during FY 1994. It is a compilation of program tasks (objective, description, significance, progress, students funded under research, and bibliographic citations) for flight research and ground based research in five major scientific disciplines: benchmark science, biotechnology, combustion science, fluid physics, and materials science. Advanced technology development (ATD) program task descriptions are also included. The bibliography cites the related principle investigator (PI) publications and presentations for these program tasks in FY 1994. Three appendices include a Table of Acronyms, a Guest Investigator index and a Principle Investigator index.

Using space-based investigations to inform cancer research on Earth.

PubMed

Becker, Jeanne L; Souza, Glauco R

2013-05-01

Experiments conducted in the microgravity environment of space are not typically at the forefront of the mind of a cancer biologist. However, space provides physical conditions that are not achievable on Earth, as well as conditions that can be exploited to study mechanisms and pathways that control cell growth and function. Over the past four decades, studies have shown how exposure to microgravity alters biological processes that may be relevant to cancer. In this Review, we explore the influence of microgravity on cell biology, focusing on tumour cells grown in space together with work carried out using models in ground-based investigations.

Modeling of two-phase flow in membranes and porous media in microgravity as applied to plant irrigation in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scovazzo, P.; Illangasekare, T. H.; Hoehn, A.; Todd, P.

2001-01-01

In traditional applications in soil physics it is convention to scale porous media properties, such as hydraulic conductivity, soil water diffusivity, and capillary head, with the gravitational acceleration. In addition, the Richards equation for water flux in partially saturated porous media also contains a gravity term. With the plans to develop plant habitats in space, such as in the International Space Station, it becomes necessary to evaluate these properties and this equation under conditions of microgravitational acceleration. This article develops models for microgravity steady state two-phase flow, as found in irrigation systems, that addresses critical design issues. Conventional dimensionless groups in two-phase mathematical models are scaled with gravity, which must be assigned a value of zero for microgravity modeling. The use of these conventional solutions in microgravity, therefore, is not possible. This article therefore introduces new dimensionless groups for two-phase models. The microgravity models introduced here determined that in addition to porous media properties, important design factors for microgravity systems include applied water potential and the ratio of inner to outer radii for cylindrical and spherical porous media systems.

KSC00pp0863

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is ready to be removed from the chamber. Workers check a crane being attached to the rotation and handling fixture that holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

KSC-00pp0863

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-07-07

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- After successfully completing a leak test inside a vacuum chamber in the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab, a component of the International Space Station, is ready to be removed from the chamber. Workers check a crane being attached to the rotation and handling fixture that holds the Lab. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research

The U.S. Lab is moved toward the open floor in the O&C Building

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

In the Operations and Checkout Building, the U.S. Lab moves overhead toward the open floor after being lifted out of the vacuum chamber where it was tested for leaks. The test was very successful. The 32,000-pound scientific research lab, named Destiny, is the first Space Station element to spend seven days in the renovated vacuum chamber. Destiny is scheduled to be launched on Shuttle mission STS-98, the 5A assembly mission, targeted for Jan. 18, 2001. During the mission, the crew will install the Lab in the Space Station during a series of three space walks. The STS-98 mission will provide the Station with science research facilities and expand its power, life support and control capabilities. The U.S. Lab module continues a long tradition of microgravity materials research, first conducted by Skylab and later Shuttle and Spacelab missions. Destiny is expected to be a major feature in future research, providing facilities for biotechnology, fluid physics, combustion, and life sciences research.

ARADISH - Development of a Standardized Plant Growth Chamber for Experiments in Gravitational Biology Using Ground Based Facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schüler, Oliver; Krause, Lars; Görög, Mark; Hauslage, Jens; Kesseler, Leona; Böhmer, Maik; Hemmersbach, Ruth

2016-06-01

Plant development strongly relies on environmental conditions. Growth of plants in Biological Life Support Systems (BLSS), which are a necessity to allow human survival during long-term space exploration missions, poses a particular problem for plant growth, as in addition to the traditional environmental factors, microgravity (or reduced gravity such as on Moon or Mars) and limited gas exchange hamper plant growth. Studying the effects of reduced gravity on plants requires real or simulated microgravity experiments under highly standardized conditions, in order to avoid the influence of other environmental factors. Analysis of a large number of biological replicates, which is necessary for the detection of subtle phenotypical differences, can so far only be achieved in Ground Based Facilities (GBF). Besides different experimental conditions, the usage of a variety of different plant growth chambers was a major factor that led to a lack of reproducibility and comparability in previous studies. We have developed a flexible and customizable plant growth chamber, called ARAbidopsis DISH (ARADISH), which allows plant growth from seed to seedling, being realized in a hydroponic system or on Agar. By developing a special holder, the ARADISH can be used for experiments with Arabidopsis thaliana or a plant with a similar habitus on common GBF hardware, including 2D clinostats and Random Positioning Machines (RPM). The ARADISH growth chamber has a controlled illumination system of red and blue light emitting diodes (LED), which allows the user to apply defined light conditions. As a proof of concept we tested a prototype in a proteomic experiment in which plants were exposed to simulated microgravity or a 90° stimulus. We optimized the design and performed viability tests after several days of growth in the hardware that underline the utility of ARADISH in microgravity research.

14 CFR 1201.200 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... development in astrophysics, life sciences, Earth sciences and applications, solar system exploration, space physics, communications, microgravity science and applications, and communications and information systems... computational and experimental fluid dynamics and aerodynamics; fluid and thermal physics; rotorcraft, powered...

14 CFR § 1201.200 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... development in astrophysics, life sciences, Earth sciences and applications, solar system exploration, space physics, communications, microgravity science and applications, and communications and information systems... computational and experimental fluid dynamics and aerodynamics; fluid and thermal physics; rotorcraft, powered...

14 CFR 1201.200 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... development in astrophysics, life sciences, Earth sciences and applications, solar system exploration, space physics, communications, microgravity science and applications, and communications and information systems... computational and experimental fluid dynamics and aerodynamics; fluid and thermal physics; rotorcraft, powered...

Phase Distribution Phenomena for Simulated Microgravity Conditions: Experimental Work

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singhal, Maneesh; Bonetto, Fabian J.; Lahey, R. T., Jr.

1996-01-01

This report summarizes the work accomplished at Rensselaer to study phase distribution phenomenon under simulated microgravity conditions. Our group at Rensselaer has been able to develop sophisticated analytical models to predict phase distribution in two-phase flows under a variety of conditions. These models are based on physics and data obtained from carefully controlled experiments that are being conducted here. These experiments also serve to verify the models developed.

Phase Distribution Phenomena for Simulated Microgravity Conditions: Experimental Work

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singhal, Maneesh; Bonetto, Fabian J.; Lahey, R. T., Jr.

1996-01-01

This report summarizes the work accomplished at Rensselaer to study phase distribution phenomenon under simulated microgravity conditions. Our group at Rensselaer has been able to develop sophisticated analytical models to predict phase distribution in two-phase flows under variety of conditions. These models are based on physics and data obtained from carefully controlled experiments that are being conducted here. These experiments also serve to verify the models developed.

Microgravity Science Glovebox - Interior Lamps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

An array of miniature lamps will provide illumination to help scientists as they conduct experiments inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA are developing the MSG for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists will use the MSG to carry out multidisciplinary studies in combustion science, fluid physics and materials science. The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Photo Credit: NASA/MSFC

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-06-05

Prof. Kerneth Kelton of Washington University in St. Lous, MO, (L) and Dr. Michael Robinson of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) examine a titanium-iron silicate (TiFeSiO)sample processed in MSFC's Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) Facility (background). Kelton is investigating undercooling of polytetrahedral phase-forming liquids.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-01-01

Line drawing depicts the location of one of three racks that will make up the Materials Science Research Facility in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module to be attached to the International Space Station (ISS). Other positions will be occupied by a variety of racks supporting research in combustion, fluids, biotechnology, and human physiology, and racks to support lab and station opertions. The Materials Science Research Facility is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Photo credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center

VEG-03

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-11

iss053e143976 (Nov. 11, 2017) --- Red lettuce is pictured being cultivated inside the Veggie facility for the Veg-03 botany experiment. Future long-duration space missions will look to have crew members grow their own food, so understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important step toward that goal. Veg-03 uses the Veggie plant growth facility to cultivate a type of cabbage, lettuce and mizuna which are harvested on-orbit with samples returned to Earth for testing.

VEG-03

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-14

iss053e180041 (Nov. 14, 2017) --- Mizuna is pictured being cultivated inside the Veggie facility for the Veg-03 botany experiment. Future long-duration missions will look to have crew members grow their own food, so understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important step toward that goal. Veg-03 uses the Veggie plant growth facility to cultivate a type of cabbage, lettuce and mizuna which are harvested on-orbit with samples returned to Earth for testing.

Dynamics of physical performance during long-duration space flight (first results of "Countermeasure" experiment).

PubMed

Popov, D V; Khusnutdinova, D R; Shenkman, B S; Vinogradova, O L; Kozlovskaya, I B

2004-07-01

The efficacy of countermeasure exercise for diminishing disturbances induced by microgravity in motor system and its visceral supply during different stages of long-duration flight was evaluated. The results of both bicycle and locomotor testing indicate that physical fitness of cosmonaut does not become worse in the course of the long-duration flight. On the contrary, the lowest fitness was recorded at the first stage of mission, just after one month of flight. The "dead period" at the beginning of space flight seems to be a manifestation of the acute decrease in physical condition on transition from 1 G to microgravity, when none of the regular countermeasure regimes is sufficiently effective and acute increase of volume and intensity of training is impossible under the conditions of space flight.

Flow Effects on the Flammability Diagrams of Solid Fuels: Microgravity Influence on Ignition Delay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cordova, J. L.; Walther, D. C.; Fernandez-Pello, A. C.; Steinhaus, T.; Torero, J. L.; Quintere, J. G.; Ross, H. D.

1999-01-01

The possibility of an accidental fire in space-based facilities is a primary concern of space exploration programs. Spacecraft environments generally present low velocity air currents produced by ventilation and heating systems (of the order of 0.1 m/s), and fluctuating oxygen concentrations around that of air due to CO2 removal systems. Recent experiments of flame spread in microgravity show the spread rate to be faster and the limiting oxygen concentration lower than in normal-gravity. To date, there is not a material flammability-testing protocol that specifically addresses issues related to microgravity conditions. The present project (FIST) aims to establish a testing methodology that is suitable for the specific conditions of reduced gravity. The concepts underlying the operation of the LIFT apparatus, ASTM-E 1321-93, have been used to develop the Forced-flow Ignition and flame-Spread Test (FIST). As in the LIFT, the FIST is used to obtain the flammability diagrams of the material, i.e., graphs of ignition delay time and flame spread rate as a function of the externally applied radiant flux, but under forced flow rather than natural convection conditions, and for different oxygen concentrations. Although the flammability diagrams are similar, the flammability properties obtained with the FIST are found to depend on the flow characteristics. A research program is currently underway with the purpose of implementing the FIST as a protocol to characterize the flammability performance of solid materials to be used in microgravity facilities. To this point, tests have been performed with the FIST apparatus in both normal-gravity and microgravity conditions to determine the effects of oxidizer flow characteristics on the flammability diagrams of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) fuel samples. The experiments are conducted at reduced gravity in a KC- 135 aircraft following a parabolic flight trajectory that provides up to 25 seconds of low gravity. The objective of the experiments is to obtain data of ignition delay and flame spread rate at low flow velocities (0.1 to 0.2 m/s), which cannot be obtained under normal gravity because of the natural convection induced flows (approx. 0.5 m/s). Due to the limited reduced gravity time, the data can only be obtained for high radiant fluxes, and are consequently limited in scope. These tests do, however, provide insight into the flammability diagram characteristics at low velocity and reduced gravity, and also into the implications of the flow-dependence of the flammability properties under environments similar to those encountered in space facilities.

Innovative quantum technologies for microgravity fundamental physics and biological research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kierk, I. K.

2002-01-01

This paper presents a new technology program, within the fundamental physics, focusing on four quantum technology areas: quantum atomics, quantum optics, space superconductivity and quantum sensor technology, and quantum field based sensor and modeling technology.

Joint Launch + One Year Science Review of USML-1 and USMP-1 with the Microgravity Measurement Group. Volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N. (Editor); Frazier, D. O. (Editor); Lehoczky, S. L. (Editor); Baugher, C. R. (Editor)

1994-01-01

On September 22-24, 1993, investigators from the First United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-1) and the First United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-1) Missions met with the Microgravity Measurement Group (MGMG) in Huntsville, Alabama, to discuss science results and the microgravity environments from the respective missions. USML-1 was launched June 1992, and USMP-1 was launched October 1992. This document summarizes from the various investigations, the comprehensive results and highlights, and also serves as a combined mission report for the two missions. USML-1 was the first totally U.S.-sponsored mission dedicated to microgravity research and included 31 investigations in fluid dynamics, crystal growth, combustion, biotechnology, and technology demonstrations supported by 11 facilities. The papers in these proceedings attest to the wealth of information gleaned from the highly successful mission. On the USMP-1 mission, both the MEPHISTO and the Lambda Point experiments exceeded by over 100% their planned science objectives. The mission also marked the first time that acceleration data were down-linked and analyzed in real-time. The meeting, which concentrated on flight results, brought low-gravity investigators, accelerometer designers, and acceleration data analysis experts together. This format facilitated a tremendous amount of information exchange between these varied groups. Several of the experimenters showed results, sane for the very first time, of the effects of residual accelerations on their experiment. The proceedings which are published in two volumes also contain transcriptions of the discussion periods following talks and also submittals from a simultaneous poster session.

Microgravity Materials Science Conference 2000. Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Narayanan (Editor); Bennett, Nancy (Editor); McCauley, Dannah (Editor); Murphy, Karen (Editor); Poindexter, Samantha (Editor)

2001-01-01

This is Volume 1 of 3 of the 2000 Microgravity Material Science Conference that was held June 6-8 at the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama. It was organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division (MRD) at NASA Headquarters, and hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Alliance for Microgravity Materials Science and Applications (AMMSA). It was the fourth NASA conference of this type in the microgravity materials science discipline. The microgravity science program sponsored approx. 200 investigators, all of whom made oral or poster presentations at this conference. In addition, posters and exhibits covering NASA microgravity facilities, advanced technology development projects sponsored by the NASA Microgravity Research Division at NASA Headquarters, and commercial interests were exhibited. The purpose of the conference was to inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity and to highlight the Spring 2001 release of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) to solicit proposals for future investigations. It also served to review the current research and activities in materials science, to discuss the envisioned long-term goals. and to highlight new crosscutting research areas of particular interest to MRD. The conference was aimed at materials science researchers from academia, industry, and government. A workshop on in situ resource utilization (ISRU) was held in conjunction with the conference with the goal of evaluating and prioritizing processing issues in Lunar and Martian type environments. The workshop participation included invited speakers and investigators currently funded in the material science program under the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) initiative. The conference featured a plenary session every day with an invited speaker that was followed by three parallel breakout sessions in subdisciplines. Attendance was close to 350 people. Posters were available for viewing during the conference and a dedicated poster session was held on the second day. Nanotechnology radiation shielding materials, Space Station science opportunities, biomaterials research, and outreach and educational aspects of the program were featured in the plenary talks. This volume, the first to be released on CD-ROM for materials science, is comprised of the research reports submitted by the Principal Investigators at the conference.

Microgravity Materials Science Conference 2000. Volume 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Narayanan; Bennett, Nancy; McCauley, Dannah; Murphy, Karen; Poindexter, Samantha

2001-01-01

This is Volume 3 of 3 of the 2000 Microgravity Materials Science Conference that was held June 6-8 at the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama. It was organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division (MRD) at NASA Headquarters, and hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Alliance for Microgravity Materials Science and Applications (AMMSA). It was the fourth NASA conference of this type in the Microgravity materials science discipline. The microgravity science program sponsored 200 investigators, all of whom made oral or poster presentations at this conference- In addition, posters and exhibits covering NASA microgravity facilities, advanced technology development projects sponsored by the NASA Microgravity Research Division at NASA Headquarters, and commercial interests were exhibited. The purpose of the conference was to inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity and to highlight the Spring 2001 release of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) to solicit proposals for future investigations. It also served to review the current research and activities in material,, science, to discuss the envisioned long-term goals. and to highlight new crosscutting research areas of particular interest to MRD. The conference was aimed at materials science researchers from academia, industry, and government. A workshop on in situ resource utilization (ISRU) was held in conjunction with the conference with the goal of evaluating and prioritizing processing issues in Lunar and Martian type environments. The workshop participation included invited speakers and investigators currently funded in the material science program under the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) initiative. The conference featured a plenary session every day with an invited speaker that was followed by three parallel breakout sessions in subdisciplines. Attendance was close to 350 people, Posters were available for viewing during the conference and a dedicated poster session was held on the second day. Nanotechnology, radiation shielding materials, Space Station science opportunities, biomaterials research, and outreach and educational aspects of the program were featured in the plenary talks. This volume, the first to be released on CD-ROM for materials science, is comprised of the research reports submitted by the Principal Investigators at the conference.

Microgravity Materials Science Conference 2000. Volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Narayanan (Editor); Bennett, Nancy (Editor); McCauley, Dannah (Editor); Murphy, Karen (Editor); Poindexter, Samantha (Editor)

2001-01-01

This is Volume 2 of 3 of the 2000 Microgravity Materials Science Conference that was held June 6-8 at the Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama. It was organized by the Microgravity Materials Science Discipline Working Group, sponsored by the Microgravity Research Division (MRD) at NASA Headquarters, and hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the Alliance for Microgravity Materials Science and Applications (AMMSA). It was the fourth NASA conference of this type in the Microgravity materials science discipline. The microgravity science program sponsored approx. 200 investigators, all of whom made oral or poster presentations at this conference- In addition, posters and exhibits covering NASA microgravity facilities, advanced technology development projects sponsored by the NASA Microgravity Research Division at NASA Headquarters, and commercial interests were exhibited. The purpose of the conference %%,its to inform the materials science community of research opportunities in reduced gravity and to highlight the Spring 2001 release of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) to solicit proposals for future investigations. It also served to review the current research and activities in material,, science, to discuss the envisioned long-term goals. and to highlight new crosscutting research areas of particular interest to MRD. The conference was aimed at materials science researchers from academia, industry, and government. A workshop on in situ resource utilization (ISRU) was held in conjunction with the conference with the goal of evaluating and prioritizing processing issues in Lunar and Martian type environments. The workshop participation included invited speakers and investigators currently funded in the material science program under the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) initiative. The conference featured a plenary session every day with an invited speaker that was followed by three parallel breakout sessions in subdisciplines. Attendance was close to 350 people, Posters were available for viewing during the conference and a dedicated poster session was held on the second day. Nanotechnology, radiation shielding materials, Space Station science opportunities, biomaterials research, and outreach and educational aspects of the program were featured in the plenary talks. This volume, the first to be released on CD-ROM for materials science, is comprised of the research reports submitted by the Principal Investigators at the conference.

Investigation of the Utilization of Modern Industrial Methods, Processes, Ergonomics, and the Internet in the Scientific Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Myer, Spencer S., Jr.

2005-01-01

On Oct. 1, 2001 Cleveland State University and NASA Glenn Research Center embarked on the above named cooperative agreement. Because NASA's research facilities often exhibit instances where the failure to use state-of-the-art technologies and methods to improve on outmoded systems of interface and control, and this runs contrary to the NASA philosophy of "faster, better, and cheaper", it was deemed an ideal opportunity for this collaboration. The main objectives of the proposed effort were to research and investigate the use of the latest technologies, methods, techniques, etc. which pertain to control and interface with industrial and research systems and facilities. The work was done in large part at NASA Glenn Research Center, using selected research facilities as real-world laboratories; such as certain Microgravity Science Division and Space Station projects. Microgravity Science Division at Glenn Research Center designs and builds experiments to be flown on the Space Shuttle and eventually on the International Space Station. Economy of space, weight, complexity, data storage, ergonomics, and many other factors present problems that also exist in industry. Many of the solutions can come from the same areas of study mentioned above.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

Researchers have found that as melted metals and alloys (combinations of metals) solidify, they can form with different arrangements of atoms, called microstructures. These microstructures depend on the shape of the interface (boundary) between the melted metal and the solid crystal it is forming. There are generally three shapes that the interface can take: planar, or flat; cellular, which looks like the cells of a beehive; and dendritic, which resembles tiny fir trees. Convection at this interface can affect the interface shape and hide the other phenomena (physical events). To reduce the effects of convection, researchers conduct experiments that examine and control conditions at the interface in microgravity. Microgravity also helps in the study of alloys composed of two metals that do not mix. On Earth, the liquid mixtures of these alloys settle into different layers due to gravity. In microgravity, the liquid metals do not settle, and a solid more uniform mixture of both metals can be formed.

In vivo nuclear magnetic resonance imaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leblanc, A.; Evans, H.; Bryan, R. N.; Johnson, P.; Schonfeld, E.; Jhingran, S. G.

1984-01-01

A number of physiological changes have been demonstrated in bone, muscle and blood after exposure of humans and animals to microgravity. Determining mechanisms and the development of effective countermeasures for long duration space missions is an important NASA goal. The advent of tomographic nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMR or MRI) gives NASA a way to greatly extend early studies of this phenomena in ways not previously possible; NMR is also noninvasive and safe. NMR provides both superb anatomical images for volume assessments of individual organs and quantification of chemical/physical changes induced in the examined tissues. The feasibility of NMR as a tool for human physiological research as it is affected by microgravity is demonstrated. The animal studies employed the rear limb suspended rat as a model of mucle atrophy that results from microgravity. And bedrest of normal male subjects was used to simulate the effects of microgravity on bone and muscle.

Radiative Heat Loss Measurements During Microgravity Droplet Combustion in a Slow Convective Flow

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hicks, Michael C.; Kaib, Nathan; Easton, John; Nayagam, Vedha; Williams, Forman A.

2003-01-01

Radiative heat loss from burning droplets in a slow convective flow under microgravity conditions is measured using a broad-band (0.6 to 40 microns) radiometer. In addition, backlit images of the droplet as well as color images of the flame were obtained using CCD cameras to estimate the burning rates and the flame dimensions, respectively. Tests were carried out in air at atmospheric pressure using n-heptane and methanol fuels with imposed forced flow velocities varied from 0 to 10 centimeters per second and initial droplet diameters varied from 1 to 3 millimeters. Slow convective flows were generated using three different experimental configurations in three different facilities in preparation for the proposed International Space Station droplet experiments. In the 2.2 Second Drop-Tower Facility a droplet supported on the leading edge of a quartz fiber is placed within a flow tunnel supplied by compressed air. In the Zero-Gravity Facility (five-second drop tower) a tethered droplet is translated in a quiescent ambient atmosphere to establish a uniform flow field around the droplet. In the KC 135 aircraft an electric fan was used to draw a uniform flow past a tethered droplet. Experimental results show that the burn rate increases and the overall flame size decreases with increases in forced-flow velocities over the range of flow velocities and droplet sizes tested. The total radiative heat loss rate, Q(sub r), decreases as the imposed flow velocity increases with the spherically symmetric combustion having the highest values. These observations are in contrast to the trends observed for gas-jet flames in microgravity, but consistent with the observations during flame spread over solid fuels where the burning rate is coupled to the forced flow as here.

Advanced user support programme—TEMPUS IML-2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diefenbach, A.; Kratz, M.; Uffelmann, D.; Willnecker, R.

1995-05-01

The DLR Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC) in Cologne has supported microgravity experiments in the field of materials and life sciences since 1979. In the beginning of user support activities, MUSC tasks comprised the basic ground and mission support, whereas present programmes are expanded on, for example, powerful telescience and advanced real time data acquisition capabilities for efficient experiment operation and monitoring. In view of the Space Station era, user support functions will increase further. Additional tasks and growing responsibilities must be covered, e.g. extended science support as well as experiment and facility operations. The user support for TEMPUS IML-2, under contract of the German Space Agency DARA, represents a further step towards the required new-generation of future ground programme. TEMPUS is a new highly sophisticated Spacelab multi-user facility for containerless processing of metallic samples. Electromagnetic levitation technique is applied and various experiment diagnosis tools are offered. Experiments from eight U.S. and German investigator groups have been selected for flight on the second International Microgravity Laboratory Mission IML-2 in 1994. Based on the experience gained in the research programme of the DLR Institute for Space Simulation since 1984, MUSC is performing a comprehensive experiment preparation programme in close collaboration with the investigator teams. Complex laboratory equipment has been built up for technology and experiment preparation development. New experiment techniques have been developed for experiment verification tests. The MUSC programme includes thorough analysis and testing of scientific requirements of every proposed experiment with respect to the facility hard- and software capabilities. In addition, studies on the experiment-specific operation requirements have been performed and suitable telescience scenarios were analysed. The present paper will give a survey of the TEMPUS user support tasks emphasizing the advanced science support activities, which are considered significant for future ground programmes.

Microgravity Emissions Laboratory Testing of the Light Microscopy Module Control Box Fan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNelis, Anne M.; Samorezov, Sergey; Haecker, Anthony H.

2003-01-01

The Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL) was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center for the characterization, simulation, and verification of the International Space Station (ISS) microgravity environment. This Glenn lab was developed in support of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). The MEL is a six-degrees-of-freedom inertial measurement system that can characterize the inertial response forces (emissions) of components, subrack payloads, or rack-level payloads down to 10 7g. The inertial force output data generated from the steady-state or transient operations of the test article are used with finite element analysis, statistical energy analysis, and other analysis tools to predict the on-orbit environment at specific science or rack interface locations. Customers of the MEL have used benefits in isolation performance testing in defining available attenuation during the engineering hardware design phase of their experiment s development. The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) Control Box (LCB) fan was tested in the MEL in June and July of 2002. The LMM is planned as a remotely controllable on-orbit microscope subrack facility that will be accommodated in an FCF Fluids Integrated Rack on the ISS. The disturbances measured in the MEL test resulted from operation of the air-circulation fan within the LCB. The objectives of the testing were (1) to identify an isolator to be added to the LCB fan assembly to reduce fan-speed harmonics and (2) to identify the fan-disturbance forcing functions for use in rack-response analysis of the LMM and Fluids Integrated Rack facility. This report describes the MEL, the testing process, and the results from ground-based MEL LCB fan testing.