AEM Students to Participate in Microgravity Experiments

For several years NASA and the Texas Space Grant have sponsored an opportunity for students to participate in reduced gravity flight experiments (see web site at http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/floatn/) . In the spring of 2001, two teams from the University of Minnesota will participate in this opportunity. The students are designing experiments to be performed on the NASA KC-135 aircraft, which is used for astronaut training, as well as experiments, which require short periods of reduced gravity. The students will travel to Texas to undergo training and perform their inflight experiments while the aircraft is performing maneuvers which produce microgravity for about 30 seconds. The flight path of the aircraft is like a roller coaster and student will experience relatively large “g” forces as well as reduced gravity, so the ride should be very exciting.

One student team is comprised of Eric Euteneuer, Cecilia Ortiz, Travis Schauer, and Christopher Teeuwen whose project is entitled Study of Pinch-Off and Reconnection of Liquid-Liquid Flows in Micro- and Macro-Gravity. Professor Ellen Longmire is mentoring this team. The other team is comprised of Jeffrey Rollings, Dakri Nelson, Nick Velander, Tim Jackson, and William Hambleton. Their project is Nitinol Vibration Damping in Microgravity. (Nitinol is an alloy which is has damping properties which may be useful in space applications). Professors William Garrard and Thomas Shield mentor this team.