[Aviation_Students] NASA opportunity

[Harl, Tara L.]

RELEASE: 06-328

NASA SEEKS UNDERGRADS TO EXPERIMENT IN LUNAR AND ZERO GRAVITY


NASA is calling on college undergraduates interested in performing 
reduced gravity experiments onboard the agency's "Weightless Wonder" 
aircraft to submit their proposals by Monday, Oct. 30.

The Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program at NASA's 
Johnson Space Center, Houston, has given undergraduate teams the 
chance to research, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate reduced 
gravity experiments annually since 1995. This will be the first time 
students can design their experiment for lunar gravity, which is 
one-sixth of Earth's.

NASA's modified McDonnell Douglas DC-9 jet aircraft will give flyers 
the feel of space, as it performs a series of steep climbs and 
freefalls over the Gulf of Mexico, creating multiple periods of 
reduced gravity. Each parabolic maneuver produces about 25 seconds of 
weightlessness, and by changing its flight path, the jet can produce 
periods of lunar gravity.


"These students will be the ones helping to design our trips back to 
the moon and beyond," said Donn Sickorez, university affairs officer 
at Johnson. "By putting them through the same procedures as our space 
research scientists and providing them with a three-dimensional 
reduced gravity laboratory, we're better preparing students for these 
future missions."


Each proposal will be evaluated for technical merit, safety and an 
outreach plan. The selected proposals will be announced Dec. 11 and 
flown in 2007. Selected teams may also invite a full-time, accredited 
journalist to participate with them to document the experience.
With this project, NASA continues the agency's tradition of investing 
in the nation's education programs. It is directly tied the agency's 
major 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 achieve the Vision for Space Exploration.

For more information about the Reduced Gravity Student Flight 
Opportunities Program or submitting a proposal, contact Mat Bartley 
at: 281-483-7185; or by e-mail at: mathew.bartley-1 at nasa.gov; or 
visit:
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home

 

Debbie V. Nguyen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761

________________________________

 

Tara L. Harl

Assistant Professor Aviation

St. Cloud State University

103 Headley Hall

720 Fourth Avenue South

St. Cloud, MN. 56301-4498

Phone: 320 308-4167

Fax:     320 308-5122

 

"Courage is the price life exacts for granting peace"

                                         Amelia Earhart 1930s

 

"The air is the only place free of prejudice"

                                         Bessie Coleman 1921

 

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