Pictured in the photo above are Undergrads Mallory Yates (MSE, first row), Dan Isla (ECE, second row), Ryan Bedell (ECE, second row) and Kyle Knori (MSE, third row) spent an afternoon at Gowen Field with members of the 124th Wing of the Idaho Air National Guard, which donated flight physicals to support Boise State's involvement in NASA's Microgravity University program. Campus communications specialist Erin Ryan (first row) accompanied the team, which includes several other undergraduates, grad students, professors and Barbara Morgan, former NASA astronaut and distinguished educator in residence at Boise State.
Research Team to Fly High in NASA Program
At the end of March, students and faculty from the College of Engineering will travel to Johnson Space Center in Houston to aid NASA in its mission to “advance human exploration, use and development of space.”
Boise State will join an elite group of colleges and universities involved in NASA’s Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program, also known as Microgravity University. The highly competitive program challenges students to successfully design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment conducted in a Boeing 727 that simulates Martian, lunar and zero gravity through a series of parabolic maneuvers executed in “roller coaster fashion” over the Gulf of Mexico. | more
A video explaining more about microgravity and why it is an important tool is available at the NASA Web site.
Microgravity U Schedule
Proposal due – October 22, 2008
Teams notified of selection – December 23, 2008
TEDP due – February 12, 2009
Physicals due – February 27, 2009
Flight Week – March 26-April 4, 2009
Final Report due – June 11, 2009
How to make microgravity
- Fly steady over the Gulf of Mexico.
- Fly up at an extremely steep pitch until the plane starts to “nose over.”
- As the plane crests and then descends toward the earth, enjoy the sensation of hypergravity (1.8G-2G), microgravity (0G) and “dirty air” (0-1.8G).
In “roller coaster fashion,” pull 30 such maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico.
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Quotes
Alex Miller: It was a crazy time during October, with lots of organizational things going on as far as the Mechanical Engineering Club, work in the C-MEMS laboratory, Senior Project deadlines and classes. Despite that, it obviously wasn’t too hard to get me interested in another project with “NASA” or “Zero-G” in its title … In the space of a few days we had accomplished a lot and grown into a tighter group. I think we also had the idea that we had become part of an effort much larger than just our little group of five or so engineering students
Dan Isla: Writing the proposal was a fast-paced engineering project in itself! … As a club officer I am often asked, “what does your club do?” Being able to tell people we are working on a flight project with NASA gets them excited about engineering and school. I expect that the success of this program will attract quality students to the university that will continue to apply for the Microgravity University program year after year.
Ryan Bedell: The faculty support we received while attempting this project was astounding, and we are appreciative of their support … I look forward to being a part of this team and working with all of the people who will be involved in making it a success this year, and for years to come!
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