Microgravity Research

Campaign I

 

 

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.

 

Undergraduate Students

Katrina Bogdon

Ryan Godsey

Noel Napieralski

Christy White

 

Ground Crew

Diann Schneider

Melissa Franzen

Sean Nichols

Paul Benoit

 

Faculty Advisor

Derek Sears

 

Accompanying Journalist

Kelly Beaty

 

Fight

March 2000

 

Resulting conference presentations

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).

 

Resulting journal publication

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.