|
Program
turns students’ world upside down
By
Joe Kleinsasser
Imagine
for a moment that you’re an engineering student and you read
the following announcement — Wanted: students to participate
in micro-gravity combustion research project at NASA-Glenn in Cleveland.
Then
you read the fine print and see the following — By the way,
did we mention that you get to test your project in what’s
known as the "vomit comet?"
Maybe
that sounds a little unnerving, but it’s also fair to say that
the experience is unforgettable for students who participate in
such research at NASA-Glenn, according to David Koert, associate
professor of mechanical engineering and fellow in the National Institute
for Aviation Research.
Four
College of Engineering seniors have participated in micro-gravity
combustion research at NASA-Glenn since 1995. The interns worked
in the NASA program for six to nine months.
The
students were funded under NASA educational grants to WSU together
with summer internship grants from NASA.
Courtesy
Photo
David Nordling flies in NASA’s "vomit comet."
The aircraft goes through several steep climbs and descents,
causing the occupants to experience about 25 or 30 seconds
of weightlessness on each dip. Nordling rode the plane as
part of a WSU internship at NASA.
|
In
an effort to take Wichita State’s involvement with NASA-Glenn
to another level, Koert is working with a NASA program director
to develop a WSU student design team project for the NASA Reduced
Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program next year.
One
reason Koert is so enthusiastic about the new NASA research program
is because the current program has had a significant impact on WSU
students.
Koert
cites the experience of former WSU engineering student David Nordling
who was an intern at NASA-Glenn in 1995.
Nordling’s
experience included drop tower experiments and helping develop a
glove box experimental package for the space shuttle.
Since
graduating from WSU, Nordling has continued working with advanced
space propulsion systems as a research engineer at Boeing Rocketdyne
in Los Angeles.
The
new NASA program is designed to allow engineering senior design
groups to plan, build and perform experiments aboard a DC-9 or KC-135.
The aircraft is aptly named the "vomit comet" because the first
experience in this aircraft is usually more than most people can
stomach.
Astronauts
use the plane to train for space flight. During a two-to three-hour
flight, the aircraft goes through several steep climbs and descents,
causing the occupants to experience about 25 or 30 seconds of weightlessness
on each dip.
Fortunately,
most students are able to adapt after a couple of experiences in
a simulator.
If
Koert develops a student team with a successful proposal, Wichita
State will be one of only a handful of universities nationwide to
participate in NASA’s new micro-gravity combustion research
program.
"It
has to be student driven, so we’re going to work through our
engineering capstone design program," says Koert.
All
engineering students work in teams on a semester-long senior design
project. Students interested in working with the new NASA program
for their capstone project would need to be identified in their
junior year, however.
With
the right students and adequate financial backing, Koert is optimistic
that WSU will qualify for the NASA program. Most of the expenses
will involve funds to build an experiment and to pay for travel
and lodging. The cost of the test flight is picked up by NASA.
Koert
says that the team doesn’t have to come up with an idea worthy
of a Nobel Prize. It simply needs to have an interesting idea worth
testing.
For
example, students at Drexel University built a candle-flame device
and looked at how soot is formed at zero gravity.
Dave
Koert
|
"Once
a proposal is approved the students have to build a simple apparatus,"
says Koert. "When the aircraft goes up to zero gravity, they’ve
got 20-30 seconds to run the experiment and take data."
The
research results, though, are secondary to NASA. Generating student
interest in science and space science is more important.
"NASA
doesn’t get a lot of science bang for the buck out of this,"
says Koert, "but what they do is change students’ lives. A
large percentage of (the students) go on for advanced degrees as
a direct result of the program."
NASA
also envisions the students becoming science ambassadors.
Koert
says it’s great to have college students talk to high school
students and say, "This is the kind of stuff that goes on. You could
really do it."
"The
publicity helps everybody, Koert says. "It helps the national agenda
for science. It helps the schools that the students come from because
it promotes excitement in the program at that school. It attracts
the best students to WSU.
"I
have a pitch that I give to (visiting) high school students and
the freshmen Wallace Scholars where I show a video about the program.
It really gets people excited. The reaction is ‘I could do
that?’"
|
