Purdue Zero Gravity Microcantilever Project
NASA Flight Program
The Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program provides a unique academic experience for undergraduate students to successfully propose, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment of their choice over the course of six months. The overall experience includes scientific research, hands-on experimental design, test operations and educational/public outreach activities.
The reduced gravity aircraft generally flies 30 parabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico. This parabolic pattern provides about 30 seconds of hypergravity (about 1.8G-2G) as the plane climbs to the top of the parabola. Once the plane starts to “nose over” the top of the parabola to descend toward Earth, the plane experiences about 25 seconds of microgravity (0G). At the very top and bottom of the parabola, flyers experience a mix of partial G's between 0 and 1.8 (called “dirty air”).
Overview of Reduced Gravity
Generating an idea for a microgravity experiment is the first stage in competing for a program "slot." The idea for a reduced gravity experiment is developed by a team of undergraduate students - either as part of a class project or as independent research.
NASA scientists and engineers with knowledge and expertise in the topic area addressed in the proposal review each team's proposal. During the Proposal Evaluation Process, each reviewer completely assesses the proposal and "scores" its contents in each of four categories: "Technical/Required Format," "Experiment Safety Evaluation," "Outreach Plan," and "Administrative Requirements." Scores assigned by reviewers are compiled and used to rank each proposal against others submitted for competition.
When a team is accepted into the program, the requirements laid out in their proposal as well as by the probram administrators must be fulfilled by the team if the team is to fly. Each team will research and work toward developing the experiment equipment using NASA's established guidelines at the home campus before coming to Houston for nine days of program activity. Teams are responsible for funding all materials and equipment needed to build, operate, and collect data from their experiment.