NASA welcomes USU students
USU’s Get Away Special Team (GAS), a group of student researchers, are among 14 undergraduate teams selected nationally to participate in NASA’s Microgravity University program for a second consecutive year.
The GAS team will travel to Houston, Texas June 2-11 to conduct a heat-transfer experiment aboard NASA’s Vomit Comet. The comet is a modified plane that flies in a series of parabolic arches, allowing researchers inside to experience reduced-gravity conditions.
The Follow Up Nucleate Boiling On-flight Experiment, or FUNBOE 2.0, building on last year’s experiment, will test how effective boiling is at transferring heat in a reduced gravity environment, said Justin Koeln, mechanical and aerospace engineering senior and the GAS team’s technical lead.
“When you boil something on Earth, the bubbles go up, but in space there is no real ‘up,’ so where do the bubbles go?” Koeln said.
It was originally thought that the bubbles would stay around the wire or heating element and cause it to overheat, he said, but the experiment showed that bubbles moved away from the wire, keeping it cool.
“Boiling liquid is the most efficient method of transferring heat,” said Heng Ban, associate professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and one of the GAS team’s faculty advisers. “This technology is smaller and more efficient, which gives you more room to play with in your design.”
This technology may also allow for computer chips to become less expensive, Koeln said.
This year’s experiment will improve on last year’s model, he said, they will be testing higher energy levels and in addition to testing a one-dimensional wire, they will be testing a two-dimensional silicon chip.
The team also wants to streamline experimental procedures to avoid nausea.
Last year, the project required them to change out several units in quick succession. This constant movement caused them to become more nauseated than the other teams.
“The plane is padded with no air conditioning,” said Troy Munro, a senior in mechanical and aerospace engineering and the GAS team’s NASA contact. “I got really sick after eight parabolas.”
This project has been time consuming and expensive, Munro said. Out of 20 GAS team members, about 10 are active and spend between 20-45 hours a week working on the project – on top of their course work. Out of those 10 members, only five will be allowed to fly on The Comet; this year’s flight team has yet to be determined.
NASA provided The Comet but the team was responsible for funding the project, which comes with a bill of about $30,000, Munro said. The team received funding from various departments at USU as well as some contributions from private donors.
Aside from summer research, all the team’s hours are voluntary, he said.
“Many members forgo real jobs to work on this project, but it pays back post grad,” Koeln said.
He said this type of research is rare for undergraduate students and that they will get their bachelor’s degree with “at least a master’s level of research experience.”
Along with benefiting the team members, the project is also benefiting USU’s reputation. According the NASA’s Microgravity University web page, only 14 teams nationwide were selected to participate in this program; among this year’s teams are schools like Yale, Dartmouth, and the California Institute of Technology. Koeln also said last year only 20 percent of the teams’ projects worked.
USU also has the distinction of being the university to have sent the most student-built experiments into space with NASA. The last one from the GAS team was in 2001, Koeln said.
These achievements have been earning the university a good deal of positive publicity around the state, he said.
The GAS team’s achievement is also positively impacting Cache Valley and the surrounding communities, Koeln said. The team members have presented their project to at least 3,000 students at multiple k-12 schools to promote science and engineering as well as encourage children to attend college.
– rouchelle.brockman@aggiemail.usu.edu