Microgravity Research |
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Our group is
interested in the way materials behave in microgravity, such as might be
present on asteroid surfaces and in the interplanetary medium. By understanding how solids move in
microgravity conditions, and how minerals and phases of different size and
density might be separated, we might better understand the properties of
primitive solar system objects like meteorites. Understanding how dust behaves under microgravity
conditions might also help us to build spacecraft and spacecraft instruments
to explore the dusty regions of space such as the surfaces of asteroids and
comets. |
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Our microgravity
“laboratory” is a special aircraft that NASA operates. This aircraft flies out of Ellington
Field, near the Johnson Space Center, and flies over the Gulf of Mexico. By climbing steeply and then
plunging, it generates about 25 seconds of microgravity inside the plane as
it goes “over the top”, and it can do this about 40 times before it runs out
of fuel. To date, we flown four
campaigns, two were flown by teams of undergraduate students, two were flown
by researchers from our group and engineers from industry. |
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Campaign 1. |
Campaign 3. |
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Campaign
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Campaign 4. |
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Overview of campaigns 1-3 with
reference to mission operations at asteroids. |
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Back to the Cosmochemistry Group's Homepage |
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