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Dropping In a Microgravity Environment

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

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    Summary of DIME 2003

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    The DIME high school teams and the NASA DIME staff pose outside the drop tower for a group picture.

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    The DIME 2003 teams met in the auditorium and were initially very quiet and subdued.

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    The DIME teams first took a tour of the 2.2 Second Drop Tower.

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    The Gettysburg Area High School team went to work right away to put the finishing touches on their experiment.

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    The Gettysburg Area High School team closely examined their sample looking for bubbles to appear.

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    Gettysburg Area High School team members take a break from their work to pose with the experiment carrier.

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    The Gettysburg Area High School team members were interviewed during the webcast of their operations.

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    Troy Athens High School team take a break from their work to pose with the experiment carrier.

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    The Troy Athens High School team was very happy after a successful drop. They are sharing the moment with their mentor and the NASA web cast narrator.

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    The Troy Athens High School team analyzing their video data to measure the movement of the corks.

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    The Sycamore High School team prepares their experiment for the second drop.

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    Sycamore High School team mount their experiment in the drop tower Education Rig before the second drop.

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    Sycamore High School team waiting for the web cast to begin.

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    The Sycamore High School team and their mentor review their video data after a successful drop.

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    The Cleveland Heights High School team members prepare the various components of their experiment.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team's experiment fully prepared and ready for a drop.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team members preparing the drop tower video equipment to record the video data from their experiment.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team members reading procedure steps during the drop operations.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team analyzing their video data after their second drop.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team members presented the preliminary results of their experiment.

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    Astronaut Don Thomas spent the morning with the DIME teams and gave an inspirational talk to the students and teachers. Don also described one of his Shuttle missions from launch to landing.

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    Gettysburg Area High School team with astronaut Don Thomas.

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    Troy Athens High School team with astronaut Don Thomas.

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    Sycamore High School team with astronaut Don Thomas.

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    Cleveland Heights High School team with astronaut Don Thomas.

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    Don Thomas spent time talking with some of the students who expressed a strong desire to become astronauts.

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    The DIME staff from NASA Glenn pose with astronaut Don Thomas.

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    No longer quiet and subdued, the DIME school teams and NASA Glenn DIME staff jump for joy in a free fall.

    The Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) high-school team competition conducted DIME Drop Days on April 29 - May 1, 2003 at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) 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 2003 selected experiments and their teams were:

    • Magnetic Force in Microgravity
      Advisor: Susan Odell
      Sycamore High School
      Cincinnati, Ohio
    • Sonoluminescence in Microgravity
      Advisor: Maxine C. Willis
      Gettysburg Area High School
      Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
    • Buoyancy in Microgravity
      Advisor: Jennifer Guenther
      Troy Athens High School
      Troy, Michigan
    • Crystal Formation of Super Cooled Water in Microgravity
      Advisor: Alfred DeGennaro
      Cleveland Heights High School
      Cleveland Heights, Ohio

    All of the teams' experiments were operated 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. Operational difficulties were experienced in the more complicated experiments involving sonoluminescence and water crystallization. Each team made modifications to their experiment and procedures over the course of the drops that each team accomplished.

    The Drop Days activities in the drop tower were web-cast so the sponsoring schools, the students' parents, and other interested people and organizations 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, preparing the facility for the drop, the release of the experiment, and the fall down the drop tower were web-cast. These activities were then followed by the students, their advisor, and the team's NASA mentor examining the video data for the web audience.

    A special treat for the DIME teams was a visit by Astronaut Donald Thomas (bio) from the NASA Johnson Space Center. Don gave an inspirational speech to the students and teachers and then talked about a space flight by describing one of his four Shuttle flights. Don listened to the four teams make their presentations summarizing the results of their experiments that week. Don then presented each student and teacher with an autographed picture and a personalized DIME certificate to close DIME Drop Days 2003.

    During the DIME Drop Days, the students also participated in microgravity workshops, a NASA GRC facility tour, and a SCUBA training session at their hotel pool. The SCUBA session 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. The team members then swam through the opening 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 four proposals for those teams to further develop and build their experiment. When completed, the experiments are sent to GRC for operation in the drop tower. NASA provides travel funds for four student team members and one adult advisor from each team to visit GRC for the three-day DIME Drop Days and to operate their experiment. 2003 was the third year for DIME but was the first year for DIME as a nation-wide program.

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

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