{"id":3168,"date":"2011-12-19T18:13:12","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T18:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/?p=3168"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T17:30:46","slug":"two-teams-test-experiments-in-reduced-gravity-nasa-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/stories\/two-teams-test-experiments-in-reduced-gravity-nasa-plane\/","title":{"rendered":"Two teams of MAE students test experiments in reduced-gravity NASA plane"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>J<\/strong><strong>enni Stone <\/strong>tried guessing what reduced gravity would feel like.\u00a0 \u201cI expected it to be like swimming without the water,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it\u2019s not like that at all.\u201d\u00a0 Feeling no physical support for the first time, Stone was in one of two UF teams to float in NASA\u2019s \u201cWeightless Wonder,\u201d an aircraft that produces the feeling of weightlessness by flying in a parabolic pattern over the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Stone led a team of six Gator undergraduates, who boarded the plane and conducted experiments on July 14 and 15 as part of the \u201cGrant Us Space\u201d flight week, sponsored by NASA\u2019s Microgravity University and the National Space Grant Consortium.\u00a0 The project was <strong>Professor Jacob Chung\u2019s <\/strong>idea, and he went on to organize the team and serve as a technical consultant.\u00a0 In Houston, the participants first went through 12 days of physiological training, safety briefings and equipment instruction before they were allowed on the plane \u2014 the same training NASA employees go through.<\/p>\n<p>The flights were a little less than two hours long and consisted of 34 periods of reduced gravity that lasted for about 17 seconds each. The conducted experiments went flawlessly, said<strong> John Abbitt<\/strong>, a faculty adviser.<\/p>\n<p>Stone\u2019s team characterized the heat transfer and boiling activity of cryogenic fuels that travel in the piping from fuel tanks to spacecrafts \u2014 a process necessary for long-range space missions. When fuel hits the pipes, it immediately starts to boil, which hinders the transfer. In order to understand the cool-down process of the liquid, the students had to study the phenomenon in a reduced-gravity environment to account for space-like conditions.<\/p>\n<p>They took video of the microgravity flow patterns using a high-speed camera and gathered data on the maximum wall heat flux both in gravity and reduced gravity. Stone had to really focus on the experiment while the sensation of floating in the aircraft distracted her. She\u2019d heard that people\u2019s first experiences with reduced gravity involved laughing or screaming. She belonged in the former category and found herself involuntarily giggling like a child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jennifer Traylor, <\/strong>a junior aerospace engineering major, was a member of the other UF team that performed experiments on the plane earlier in the summer. She said the reduced gravity environment was a once in a lifetime feeling.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s almost indescribable,\u201d she said. \u201cYou could do whatever you wanted. You could pretend the floor was the ceiling and the ceiling was the floor and just have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her team \u2014 the UF Small Satellite Design club \u2014 flew in the \u201cWeightless Wonder\u201d on June 10 and tested the full-access control of small satellites using control moment gyroscopes.\u00a0 Having the ability to more adequately control small satellites would open a whole new field of possibilities for small satellite use in orbit, Traylor said, like being able to help with space debris mitigation.<\/p>\n<p>The experiments performed adequately, but because of the unstable nature of the aircraft movement, it was hard not to get variations in data. Her team\u2019s goal is to work on planning for this outside influence and applying to try the experiment out again next year.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Traylor was glad to be part of the project.\u00a0 \u201cI loved it,\u201d she said. \u201cI wish I could go again every summer.\u00a0 In fact, I wish I could go every day. It\u2019s just a lot of fun.\u201d\u00a0 Stone had a similar opinion and said the experience was unlike anything she could have ever imagined.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m so thankful I was able to be involved in this project and that this opportunity presented itself at UF,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever forget the experiences I had out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jenni Stone tried guessing what reduced gravity would feel like.\u00a0 \u201cI expected it to be like swimming without the water,\u201d she said, \u201cbut it\u2019s not like that at all.\u201d\u00a0 Feeling no physical support for the first time, Stone was in one of two UF teams to float in NASA\u2019s \u201cWeightless Wonder,\u201d an aircraft that produces [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[61,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-innovation","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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