Category Archives: micro-g R&D

micro-g R&D

Video: Oscillating flame in micro-g

NASA posts this brief clip showing a flame experiment as part of a Space Station microgravity combustion science study:

From the caption:

From ignition to pulsating-jellyfish then warp-drive ending! Understanding combustion may lead to more efficient engines and spectacular videos.

Science Objectives
The Flame Extinguishment – 2 (FLEX-2) experiment is the second experiment to fly on the ISS which uses small droplets of fuel to study the special spherical characteristics of burning fuel droplets in space. The FLEX-2 experiment studies how quickly fuel burns, the conditions required for soot to form, and how mixtures of fuels evaporate before burning. Understanding these processes could lead to the production of a safer spacecraft as well as increased fuel efficiency for engines using liquid fuel on Earth.

Earth Applications
Watching fuel burn in a perfect sphere provides a unique view of fire that would be impossible to recreate on Earth. Better knowledge of fire’s dynamics could lead to improved fuels for vehicles and aircraft, including efficient, environmentally friendly mixtures of chemicals that burn well together and produce less soot. Soot results from the incomplete burning of a hydrocarbon, and it is harmful to human and environmental health. The FLEX-2 experiment provides a unique view on soot formation that would be impossible under the influence of Earth’s gravity.

Space Applications
The FLEX-2 experiment measures soot buildup, flame heat and the burning rates of various types of fuels and fuel mixtures. Understanding how fuels burn in microgravity could improve the efficiency of fuel mixtures used for interplanetary missions by reducing cost and weight. It could also lead to improved safety measures for manned spacecraft.

Conditions for this test:
Test conducted with 50/50 fuel mixture of iso-octane and heptane in a standard air environment (21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen at 1 atm). Burn with 3-mm droplet experienced flame oscillations, which appear as a hole in the flame shell that repeatedly opens and closes. These oscillations create asymmetries in the flame, resulting in a force imbalance on the droplet.

For more FLEX-2 information, click on the link below: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sta…

Living in Space, micro-g R&D, Space Systems

Sizzling cooking in weightlessness

A Cornell University group experimented with cooking in weightlessness by taking “a specially constructed space galley” onto a plane doing parabolic flights:

From the Cornell Chronicle:

In a series of four flights launched from Houston, the team tossed tofu and shredded potatoes into pans of sizzling oil and filmed the resulting oil splatters as the plane climbed and dove in parabolic paths. Each cycle created a brief period of partial weightlessness, simulating the conditions astronauts would face during extended stays on the moon or Mars, which have one-sixth and one-third the gravity of Earth, respectively.

The experimenters positioned strips of paper inside the galley fume hood and dyed the oil bright red to help them see and collect splatter patterns. Under reduced gravity conditions, the food settled more slowly into the pan, and more oil appeared to fall outside of it. The oil droplets also traveled a greater distance from the pan than under Earth conditions – probably because it took longer for gravity to pull them down, Arquiza said.

Arquiza ended up with a collection of 200 red-speckled strips that might resemble evidence from a crime scene investigation, but could contribute greatly to our understanding of the basic science of cooking in space. He is now analyzing them to measure the particles’ size distribution and distance traveled. Results will be used to create computer models that could be extrapolated to inform the design of future terrestrial and extraterrestrial cooking technology.

Apollo Arquiza

Postdoctoral research associate Apollo Arquiza shows what the galley
(kitchen) looks like in the zero gravity G-Force 1 space simulator plane.
And they have many other tests planned as well:
The project is part of a larger investigation by Hunter’s lab into scientific and social aspects of food in space, including a simulated Mars mission in Hawaii to test resource use, menu fatigue and the benefits of home cooking in an enclosed environment, and a bed rest study to test the effects of simulated weightlessness on smell and taste perception.

Bryn Caldwell, Susana Carranza, Apollo Arquiza

From left, Cornell researcher Bryan Caldwell, Makel Engineering researcher
Susana Carranza and Cornell researcher Apollo Arquiza conduct low
gravity cooking experiments aboard the G-Force 1 space simulator plane.
Education, micro-g R&D, Space participation

Conference for Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) in D.C. July 2-3

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a U.S. national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education initiative created by a partnership of  the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) and NanoRacks, LLC that gives 300+ students the opportunity to design and propose real experiments to fly on the International Space Station. (Earlier rounds of the program put experiments on Shuttle flights.)

The program is having a conference in D.C. this week: 2014 SSEP National Conference, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC, July 2-3, 2014

Details

All students and student teams that were engaged in SSEP experiment design and proposal writing—across all eight SSEP flight opportunities to date (SSEP on STS-134 and STS-135, and Missions 1 through 6 to ISS)—are wholeheartedly invited to attend their conference with their teachers and school administrators, and their families.

The conference provides a formal gathering place where students present on their experiment designs, and those teams that flew experiments report results. We want to immerse students in the experience of a real science conference. It is fitting. If the SSEP is dedicated to letting students step into the shoes of scientists and engineers, then a conference should be part of the experience.

The SSEP National Conference is taking place in one of the most visited museums on the planet, and in the new Moving Beyond Earth gallery. A stanchioned-off, ‘standing room only’ section of the gallery will remain open to the public so that the conference can be part of the public visitorship experience. This is a truly remarkable once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for attendees.

The conference was also scheduled immediately before July 4th in the nation’s capital, so that attendees can stay on and watch the 4th of July fireworks on the National Mall.