H.A.W.G.S.: High
Altitude Weightless and Gravitational Separation |
Gaze up at the night sky
what do you see? Stars glitter, flung across a black velvet backdrop. What is
unseen, however, is a wealth of planetoids, meteors, asteroids, and comets.
What are they like? What would we see if we were to walk upon them? Current
theory suggests that some may have a surface of loose soil, possibly metal
rich. This soil bed has probably undergone some type of sorting over the
course of its existence and the particles within it will have sorted
themselves into distinct strata, according to size and density. If this were
happen via gas flow to the surface, the sorting would depend on the velocity
of the gas as well as the gravity of the body in question. This type of
behavior has been simulated in a laboratory setting with a fluidization
column, but is restricted there by the Earth's gravity. The trick then is to
perform the same experiments in different gravities. As we can't bring lower
gravities to the lab, we need to take the lab to them. Our experiment will
examine the fluidization behavior of 310 sand and iron soil beds at some of
the various gravities experienced on KC-135, as well as various air
velocities we control. The end result will be beautifully sorted soil beds, a
sense of accomplishment, solid scientific data, and a story to tell people
for years to come. |
Katrina Bogdon
Ryan Godsey
Noel Napieralski
Christy White
Kelly Beaty
March 2000
Bogdon K., White C., Godsey R., Napieralski N.,
Schneider D., Benoit P.H., and Sears D.W.G. (2000) The origin of
chondrites: Metal-silicate separation
experiments under microgravity conditions.
Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 35, A30.
Sears
D.W.G., Moore S.R., Nichols S., Kareev M., Benoit P.H. (2002) Intuition and experience: Asteroid surfaces, meteorites and planetary
geosciences in microgravity. Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 33, 1054.
Moore,
S. R.; Franzen, M.; Benoit, P. H.; Sears, D. W. G.; Holley, A.; Meyers, M.;
Godsey, R.; Czlapinski, J. (2003) The
Origin of Chondrites: Metal-Silicate Separation Experiments Under Microgravity
Conditions. 34th Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference, Houston, TX, Abstract #1046, Lunar and Planetary Institute
(CD-ROM).
Franzen M. A., Nichols S., Bogdon K., White C., Godsey R., Napieralski N., Benoit P. H., and Sears D. W. G. (2003) The origin of chondrites: Metal silicate separation experiments under microgravity conditions. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, Issue 14, pp. SSC 7-1, Cite ID 1780, DOI 10.1029/2003GL017659.