Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Connor McMullen, Plainville junior, describes his zero gravity experience as riding a rollercoaster in slow motion.
“Everything you feel is amplified much more,” he said.
McMullen was part of a group of 12 students who worked with NASA this summer and performed research projects in zero gravity.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Three teams from the University of Kansas were among 32 from across the country that participated in the NASA Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. In the program, undergraduates tested their experiments in NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA started the program in 1995 to broaden student interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, said Douglas Goforth, NASA’s Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program manager.
“The project introduces young scholars to careers with NASA and the space program, encouraging research and testing of serious scientific and engineering ideas,” Goforth said.
The students designed their projects on campus and then applied to NASA to test them because NASA had the equipment needed to test different levels of gravity.
“That was pretty cool for us to have three teams represented,” said Emily Arnold, Hillsboro senior.
Each KU team consists of four to five students from engineering and physics. The teams spent about a year to preparing for their projects.
Laura Stiles, 2008 graduate, said the program allowed her to experience all of the phases of an engineering project: the conception, design, building, testing and data analysis.
The teams brought their projects to Johnson Space Center during summer to test them in a microgravity environment, which meant that gravity was present but had little effect.
Each of the KU teams spent two weeks at Johnson Space Center. The teams conducted their experiments in a high altitude research aircraft, which created a microgravity environment. They took training lessons to avoid motion sickness and to learn how to deal with the different environment before they went aboard.
Aron Terrell, New York City senior, said the aircraft changed gravity inside by adjusting its altitude and angle. He said free-falling from high altitudes created a zero gravity environment.
“It’s the closest thing to outer space for zero gravity simulation,” Terrell said.
This was Stiles and Terrell’s teams’ second year participating in the program.
“The microgravity environment is very foreign and hard to maneuver in,” Stiles said. “This year we designed from what we learned and had a very successful flight.”
Their team found the arm could operate better in a microgravity environment than the gravity of Earth. She said the experiment verified their hypothesis.
Jackie Paschang, Stilwell senior, said networking at NASA was another benefit she gained through the program. She met students who participated in the program from different schools as well as KU graduates. She said she would like to be an astronaut, and the program brought those hopes closer to her.
“It’s a great feeling getting to know engineers and scientists and people who work for NASA,” Paschang said.
— — Edited by Lauren Keith
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