An Opportunity to Fly Aboard the Weightless Wonder
Kate Bradley, an Associate Aerospace Engineer for Emergent Space
Technologies had the opportunity to fly aboard the NASA DC-9 Weightless
Wonder aircraft at Ellington Field in Houston, TX on Tuesday, March
7th, 2006. Kate was a member of a four person team from Purdue
University that was selected to fly and test their experiment through
the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Program.
Their experiment entitled “The Effect of Contact Geometry and Magnetic
Field on the Breakup of Rotating Sessile Ferrofluid Drops.” Ferrofluid
is made up of iron oxide particles immersed in a viscous and in our
case water based fluid. It is unique in its magnetic properties. When a
magnet is placed under a container of the fluid spikes will form in the
fluid which aligns with the magnetic field lines created by the magnet.
Kate’s team wanted to test the strength of this magnetic property by
seeing how long the fluid would stay on a rotating disc in microgravity
when a magnetic field was created around the disc. Her team was testing
the contact geometry of a drop of Ferrofluid on the surface of a disc.
They would test this contact geometry by depositing a drop on the disc,
ramping up the speed of the disc and then watching with a camera to see
when the drop would come free of the disc and at what speed. They also
tested the effect of changing the strength of the electromagnetic field
which was applied by two hemholtz coils that surrounded the disc.
The project began when Kate’s team submitted a proposal to NASA in the
fall of 2004. Her team was selected in November of 2005. Her team then
completed a technical report to NASA detailing the experiment's
dimensions, weight, construction materials, and containment apparatus.
Originally her team was scheduled to fly in Jan of 2005 however due to
the replacement of the KC-135 they were delayed until June of 2005. In
May of 2005, Kate accepted a position at Emergent Space Technologies to
work on the Orbit Determination Toolbox project at NASA Goddard. The
flight was again delayed in June and rescheduled for October of 2005.
However, at the last minute the flight was delayed once more due to
aircraft maintenance and the flight was rescheduled one final time for
March of 2006.
While in Houston Kate underwent Hyperbaric Chamber testing where she
was taken to 25,000 feet simulated altitude and then given the
opportunity to remove her mask for 5 minutes to experience the
sensation of hypoxia. Before going into the chamber she went through
approximately 7 hours of training detailing the emergency procedures
and physiological effects of going to high altitudes. She was also
given a tour of the Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL),
which is where the astronauts train for their Extra-vehicular
activities (EVAs) or spacewalks.
The next week Kate’s team performed their Technical Readiness Review
(TRR) where they explained the containment of their experiment and were
cleared to fly. The flight consisted of 42 parabolas, where each
parabola provided about 20-30 seconds of weightlessness. The first 40
parabolas were microgravity parabolas and the last two parabolas
simulated the gravity which would be felt on the Moon and Mars
respectively. Kate was glad to have this amazing experience, “I had
spent years dreaming about what it would be like to experience
microgravity on the Weightless Wonder, it was everything I imagined and
I hope I have another opportunity to fly in the future.”
Now that Kate’s team has completed the experiment portion of the
Student Flight Program, her team will work to write and submit a report
to NASA detailing the results of their experiment. If you would like to
view pictures from Kate’s flight you can take a look at the following
links. There is also a link to the program page which provides a
description of the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Program.
Additional Information
Program page:
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/students/index.cfm
Pictures from the flight: http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043490&l=6cb09&id=13710678
Pictures of the Technical Readiness Review: http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043525&l=831e1&id=13710678
Pictures from the hyperbaric chamber: http://purdue.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2043518&l=35721&id=13710678
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