Students to ‘Drop’ Microgravity Experiments at NASA

March 17, 2011 – Cleveland — What’s the effect of microgravity on air bubbles in water? Give up? But a group of high school students from Troy, Michigan isn’t giving up. Next week, they’ll test their experiment, without having to go to space. The group of students, selected by NASA as one of four high school teams to test their science experiments in a competition that simulates the microgravity in space, will drop their experiments into a 79-foot tower at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The experiments will each experience weightlessness for 2.2 seconds. The experiments are part of NASA's national science competition, "Dropping In a Microgravity Environment," or DIME. NASA provides the funding for up to four students and one adult adviser from each team to travel to Glenn to conduct its experiment and review the results with Glenn engineers and scientists. While at the center, they will tour Glenn facilities and participate in workshops. Student teams from Ransom Everglades School, of Coconut Grove, Florida, and Troy High School, of Troy, Michigan, will conduct their experiments on March 21-22. The teams’ proposal titles are "How Hot is Hot Enough? — Temperature and Capillary Action" and "Effect of Microgravity on the Motion of Air Bubbles in Water." Student teams from Ozaukee High School, of Fredonia, Wisconsin, and St. Ursula Academy, of Toledo, Ohio, will conduct their experiments on March 24-25. The teams' proposal titles are "Influence of Microgravity of the Weissenberg Effect" and "Convection Evaluation in Microgravity." In addition, approximately four other DIME proposals will be selected for Tier II participation. These teams will design their experiments, build it, and send it to NASA Glenn. The drop tower staff will then operate the experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower and provide the video and other data for the team's analysis. These experiments will be subject to the same constraints and safety review as the Tier I experiments. DIME and other NASA educational programs are meant to help the agency attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics - disciplines critical to space exploration.		The view from the 8th floor as technicians ready the drag shield assembly. Photo credit: NASA Workers experiment hardware being installed in a drop frame. Photo credit: NASA

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