Engineering News at NC State

November 6, 2000

NC State Aerospace Engineering Students Prepare for Flight on NASA's Reduced Gravity Aircraft

While other college students are relaxing during spring break, four aerospace engineering students from NC State will "float" aboard a NASA research aircraft as part of NASA's 2000 Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. The NCSU Microgravity Team consists of one senior and three juniors: Greg McGowan of Creswell, Jennifer Odynski of Havelock, Tawney Schwarz of Fayetteville and William Yelverton of Wilson. The team is coordinated by Jennifer Price and advised by Dr. Ndaona Chokani, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. The North Carolina Space Grant Consortium, NC State's College of Engineering and NC State's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering are supporting the students' project.

On March 8, 2001, the students will report to Ellington Field, near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, to begin a week of flight preparations. During the following week, the students will have an opportunity to board NASA's KC-135 aircraft for a two- to three-hour flight. The KC-135 is used by NASA to train astronauts for space shuttle and international space station missions. It was also used to film scenes in the hit movie "Apollo 13." The KC-135, which provides a reduced-gravity environment for conducting research, is also known as the "Vomit Comet" because of the effect its parabolic flight pattern has on passengers. The aircraft climbs and descends at 45-degree angles. At the top of each climb, the students and the experimental apparatus will experience 25 to 40 seconds of weightlessness (near zero gravity). At the bottom of each descent, they will experience a 90-second, stomach-turning force caused by the descent maneuver.

Approximately 30 to 50 parabolas are performed on each flight, giving the students sufficient time to perform experiments. The 2000-2001 NCSU Microgravity Team's research evaluates the effectiveness of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) in reduced-gravity environments. Wires made from these alloys shorten when current is passed through the wire, exert a large force for their size and recover their initial shape when the current is no longer applied. The data collected during the flight will be compared with data from identical experiments conducted in normal-gravity conditions. The NC State team will submit a final report of their scientific findings to NASA. They will also prepare informational materials and make presentations about their research experience for high school students and civic groups in the Research Triangle area. A Web site for sharing the research results with the general public will also be created.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Information for this article was provided by the 2000-2001 NCSU Microgravity Team.

-- rudd --

Technical Contact: Jennifer Price, 919-515-5671, jlprice@eos.ncsu.edu
Dr. Ndaona Chokani, 919-515-5667, nd@ncsu.edu

Media Contact: Linda E. Rudd, linda_rudd@ncsu.edu

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