 "Photo: John Gilchrist")
A group of aerospace engineering students will float in an aircraft 30,000 feet in the air, experiencing a zero-gravity environment, to conduct experiments over the Gulf of Mexico.
The seven-member UT Microgravity Team will travel to Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field, about 15 miles outside of Houston, on Thursday to undergo training and simulation before boarding NASA's "Weightless Wonder" aircraft. Some members of the team will board the aircraft on July 17 and 18, where they will test the behavior of nanosatellites - smaller satellites that perform the same functions as their full-sized counterparts.
"What they set out to do is very challenging because it is pretty much the same as what we'll fly in space," said Glenn Lightsey, aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics associate professor and adviser of the team. "Whenever you're building a system like that, there are a lot of details that have to be just right."
Most satellites range in size, from cars to buses. The nanosatellite, though, is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage.
Instead of sending one large, expensive satellite, nanosatellites are less expensive and more economical, said Johnny Sangree, team leader and aerospace engineering senior.
The students will join other universities' microgravity teams and NASA personnel for two two-hour flights on the Weightless Wonder.
The aircraft produces a weightless environment by creating a flightpath in the shape of a parabola. During the free falls, which last about 25 seconds each, the students will conduct their experiments 30 times.
Once the nanosatellites are deployed from a launch platform, which holds the satellites as a single unit, they separate from one another. After the separation, the students will determine the relative navigation of the separated objects, in addition to the satellites' ability to reconnect, or rendezvous.
The UT team includes: Sangree; seniors John Boiles, Jillian Marsh, Jeffrey Mikeska and Josh Payne; junior Karl McDonald and sophomore Joseph Gauthier. They built their nanosatellite prototype from scratch following 10 months of research and construction. The prototype measures 20 inches by 20 inches by 20 inches and weighs about 100 pounds. California Polytechnic State University loaned the team a launch platform to help the experiment.
The team based its research on the fact that two large satellites with significant amounts of fuel separate and then rendezvous once in orbit, said Robert Bishop, chairman of the department of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics. The team will test the nanosatellites they created to see if they react the same way as the larger satellites.
The University has participated in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program for the past five years. This year, two UT Microgravity Teams were accepted into the program among 70 proposals from universities across the nation. The program offered four different flight times in the spring and summer. One of the UT teams chose the first flight time, in April, and conducted their experiment to test different types of propulsion systems for small satellites.
Bishop said the results from both experiments will provide significant information for ongoing projects in the University's aerospace program.
"Even though this is a student project, it's actually a research project of the highest caliber," Bishop said.
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