Undergraduate Students Fly High for Weightless Science
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HOUSTON -- NASA has selected 28 undergraduate student teams to test
their science experiments in simulated weightlessness. The teams were
selected to fly in the summer of 2010 with NASA's Reduced Gravity
Student Flight Opportunities and Systems Engineering Educational
Discovery (SEED) programs.
Selected teams will test and evaluate their experiments aboard an
aircraft modified to simulate a reduced-gravity environment. The
aircraft will fly approximately 30 roller-coaster-like climbs and
dips during experiment flights to produce periods of weightlessness
and hyper-gravity ranging from 0 g to 2 g.
"Today's students will be the ones going to the moon and beyond to
live, explore and work," said Douglas Goforth, the Reduced Gravity
Education Flight Program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston."This project gives them a head start in preparing for those
future ventures by allowing them to conduct hands-on research and
engineering today in a unique reduced-gravity laboratory."
The Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program provides a
rare academic experience for undergraduate students to propose,
design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced-gravity experiment. The
overall experience includes scientific research, hands-on
experimental design, test operations and outreach activities.
Teams selected to participate in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight
Opportunities Program are from Utah State University, San Jacinto
College North, the College of New Jersey, State University of New
York at Buffalo, West Virginia University, Purdue University, Yale
University, Austin Community College, the University of Washington,
the University of Wisconsin at Madison, two teams from Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University, and two teams from the University of
Michigan. Teams also may invite a full-time, accredited journalist to
fly with them and document the team's experiment and experiences.
Teams selected to participate in the SEED program will work with NASA
scientists, engineers and researchers on systems engineering projects
that use a reduced gravity environment to test spaceflight hardware,
spacecraft components and spaceflight procedures. Each team is
assigned a NASA principal investigator to help prepare their
experiment for flight. The SEED teams also will participate in at
least two videoconferences through NASA's Digital Learning Network to
work with other engineering and agency organizations.
The SEED teams for 2010 are from Washington University, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, the University of Wisconsin, Auburn
University, the Ohio State University, the University of Nebraska,
the University of Toledo, Carthage College, Yale University, the
University of Kentucky, the University of Colorado, and Boise State
University, from which two teams were selected.
Under these programs, NASA continues its investment in the nation's
education programs. It is directly tied the agency's education goal
of strengthening NASA and the nation's future workforce. Through this
and other college and university programs, NASA will identify and
develop the critical skills and capabilities needed to carry out its
space exploration mission.
The flights are provided in cooperation with the Reduced Gravity
Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center. For more information about the
Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program or to view abstracts of the
selected team's experiments visit:
http://microgravityuniversity.
For more information about SEED, visit:
http://microgravityuniversity.
For more information about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
Source: NASA
