NASA Glenn Research Center Drop Tower Competition for High-School-Aged Student Teams

Summary of DIME 2002

Students from the four teams pose in front of the NASA Glenn Administration Building alongside the NASA Glenn Time Capsule. The teams' home base was located in the Administration Building auditorium.

The Bay High School team and their teacher pose in front of the NASA Glenn auditorium.

A Bay High School team member prepares the oil and water samples for their next drop operation.

Team A from Sycamore High School and their teacher pose in front of the NASA Glenn auditorium.

Team A from Sycamore High School prepares their experiment in the drop tower shop prior to their initial drop test.

Team B from Sycamore High School and their teacher pose in front of their experiment mounted inside the NASA experiment carrier.

Team B from Sycamore High School, their NASA mentor, and the NASA drop tower operator after the combustion experiment was loaded into the drag shield in the drop tower.

COSI Academy team and their advisor pose in front of the NASA Glenn auditorium.

Two team members from COSI Academy prepare their experiment apparatus in the drop tower shop prior to their initial drop test.

Team members from all four teams were mixed into pairs to work on their Lego (TM) Challenge device to operate in the portable drop tower demonstrator. These two team members are about to try out their LEGO (TM) creation.

The teams at the first orientation session - not a smile to be seen! "What have we gotten into this time?"

Before long, the initial trepidation turned to smiles!

One of the SCUBA instructors is explaining the assembled pipe structure which the students will shortly need to assemble underwater. This SCUBA exercise is very similar to training astronauts receive at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

The students first learned how to breath properly, clear their noses, and how to use hand signals underwater.

The instructor (left) is checking to make sure the new breathing techniques are working right.

Success! A student slides smoothly by underwater.

Part of the team from Bay High School, including the teacher!

The smiles just kept coming!

The Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) high-school team competition conducted Drop Days on April 23-25, 2002 at the NASA Glenn Research Center 2.2-Second Drop Tower facility. The four participating high-school student teams brought their experiments to GRC and operated them in the drop tower just as regular NASA and academic researchers accomplish their research goals.

The DIME 2002 selected experiments and their teams were:

Effects of Microgravity on Density Based Fluid Flow

Advisor: Michael Gutekunst
Sycamore High School Team A
Cincinnati, Ohio
View an archived web-cast video of their activities in the drop tower.

Meniscus Change in a Microgravity Environment

Advisor: Ann Mowery
Bay High School
Bay Village, Ohio
View an archived web-cast video of their activities in the drop tower.

Magnetic Fluids vs. Gravity

Advisor: Jennifer Donaldson
COSI Academy
Columbus, Ohio
View an archived web-cast video of their activities in the drop tower.

Combustion of 75 g/m² Office Paper in Microgravity

Advisor: Cynthia Parrott
Sycamore High School Team B
Cincinnati, Ohio
View an archived web-cast video of their activities in the drop tower.

All of the teams' experiments operated successfully in the drop tower. Similar to projects conducted by university and NASA researchers, there were surprises in the operation and the results for all teams' experiments. Each team made modifications to their experiment and procedures over the course of three drops that each team accomplished.

The Drop Days activities in the drop tower were web-cast so the sponsoring schools and the students' parents could observe the activities of the teams in real time. During the web cast, the students were interviewed and explained their team, their experiment, and their future career goals. The activities of installing the experiment into the facility drag shield and preparing the facility for the drop were web-cast. The release and fall down the drop tower was web-cast followed by the students, their advisor, and the team's NASA mentor examining the video data.

During the DIME Drop Days, the students also participated in microgravity workshops, a GRC facility tour, and a SCUBA demonstration at their hotel pool. The SCUBA demonstration was arranged as a simulation of astronaut neutral buoyancy training for spaceflight EVA. Underwater, each DIME student team constructed a PVC-pipe octagon which simulated a space station hatch opening. Each team member then swam through the opening without knocking it apart to accomplish the goals set by the SCUBA instructors.

DIME is a school-year-long activity where a team is formed to develop an experiment concept and write a proposal for accomplishing the experiment. GRC microgravity scientists and engineers select the top five proposals for those teams to further develop and build their experiment. When comleted, the experiments are sent to GRC for operation in the drop tower. DIME provides travel funds for four student team members and one adult advisor to visit GRC for the three-day Drop Days and to operate their experiment. The 2002 DIME was the second pilot year for teams based in GRC's six state outreach area (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin). During the 2002/2003 school year, teams nation-wide will be eligible.

The DIME WWW page is located at this URL:
http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/DIME.html

Dropping In a Microgravity Environment

NASA Drop Tower Competition for High-School-Aged Student Teams

DIME

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