March 12, 1997
UW students to conduct Zero-G experiments
Two teams of UW students will take their laboratories to the air April 7-19 aboard a NASA research aircraft that simulates the reduced gravity of space. They will join 23 other student teams at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to attend SURF Academy (Students Understanding Reduced-gravity Flight), a pilot program funded by NASA and administered by the Texas Space Grant Consortium.
“The UW can take pride in knowing that two teams were selected for this program from hundreds of applications,” said Physics Professor Tom Matula, who is coaching one of the teams. “Not only will students enjoy the thrill of a lifetime, but they will learn firsthand what it takes to prepare and perform experiments in a weightless environment.”
The students will conduct experiments aboard a KC-135A reduced-gravity aircraft that follows a roller coaster-like flight pattern over the Gulf of Mexico. During each two- to three-hour flight, the aircraft maneuvers through steep climbs and descents. At the top of each ascent, passengers inside the aircraft will experience the weightlessness of zero gravity. The aircraft is used for training astronauts for space flight and for carrying out experiments by NASA scientists.
Each student team will fly twice and each flight will include 30 to 50 stomach-turning parabolic arcs. Depending on the precise trajectory, the student teams and their experiments can be exposed to about 25 seconds of zero gravity, 30 seconds of one-sixth gravity (the same as on the surface of the moon), or 40 seconds of one-third gravity (the same as on Mars).
The student teams have designed and built experiments that take advantage of the reduced-gravity environment provided by the NASA aircraft.
One UW team — comprised of undergraduate students Jarred Swalwell, Vassilious Bezzerides, Mike Chittick and Paul Hilmo along with Matula as coach — will study the effects of microgravity on single-bubble sonoluminescence.
Sonoluminescence is the emission of light caused by sound energy, which scientists believe may be useful in detecting and destroying harmful pollutants. To generate sonoluminescence scientists use sound waves to suspend a bubble in a liquid. Then the sound pressure is increased and the bubble expands until it becomes unstable and collapses violently, releasing a flash of visible, bluish light. Some scientists theorize that the light emission is due to the bubble’s buoyancy, which is caused by gravity. The UW team will test that theory by measuring the light emission from sonoluminescence in micro-gravity aboard the NASA aircraft.
The other UW team — undergraduates Shanti Rao and Kevin Strecker, coached by Rich Mittleman, research assistant professor of physics — will test the feasibility of using a magnetic-optical trap in microgravity as an atomic clock to create a more accurate time standard.
A magnetic-optical trap is a new technique for capturing a cloud of atoms for use in experiments. In this experiment, the student researchers will measure the frequency of electron transition of the trapped atoms in microgravity. In terrestrial experiments, gravity and other forces tend to push the atoms out of the trap. If electron transition frequency were used as the basis for measuring time, researchers say it could be four times more accurate than the current time standard.
In addition to conducting the experiments, each team will develop a program for sharing its research results with teachers, students and the public. Participants must analyze their data, prepare educational or informational materials and submit final reports.
The UW teams will both receive travel support from the Washington Space Grant Program.
###
For more information, contact Matula at (206) 685-7654 and matula@apl.washington.edu; or Burke Fort of the Texas Space Grant Consortium at (512) 471-3585 and fort@mail.utexas.edu.
<!—at end of each paragraph insert
—>
