SPACE CENTER LOOKING FOR ADVENTUROUS STUDENTS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences is looking for undergraduate students who would like to fly on NASA’s "vomit comet" as part of the center’s 2002 campaign. Derek Sears, director of the project, says that the center needs adventurous students in good physical health, who can work hard in a team and are interested in space research. Students receive three hours of academic credit.

To simulate microgravity, NASA pilots fly a KC-135 - the military version of a Boeing 707 - in 30-40 parabolas, flying steeply towards 30,000 feet and then tipping over and coming down at almost free-fall to about 20,000 feet. For every parabola, objects in the plane experience zero gravity for nearly half a minute. It is a good way to do short duration experiments with zero - or micro - gravity. Center scientists are interested in how material behaves on the surface of asteroids where there is little or no gravity, making the KC-135 a useful vehicle for experiments.

The physiological effects on the researchers are unpredictable, but about one-fifth of the flyers become nauseous, so the plane unofficially is called the "vomit comet." A less colorful nickname is the "weightless wonder."

The center has sponsored two teams in the past, and the director has been very pleased with the results. Students get to design their project, write and submit a proposal, negotiate with NASA engineers over what can be flown safely, fly their experiment, and then write a report describing the results. They must also conduct an outreach program describing their experiences to other university students, to faculty and to the public.

"You can see the intellectual growth in the students who participate in this program," said Sears. "They finish the program with more confidence in themselves and greater insight into how big science - like a space mission - is done, and they add a little more to our knowledge of what space is like."

For pictures from previous flights see the center’s web site at http://www.uark.edu/csaps/usrgp.html.

For information contact dsears@uark.edu.