Kathy holding University of Kentucky banner.
Abstract
A team of Engineering students from the University of Kentucky was chosen to participate in the 1998 NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. Their experiment was to test whether or not manufactured foam struts are the same in a 1-g environment as they are in a 0-g environment. The results of this work could provide new materials for spacecraft construction.
The experiment, called MOFFIA (Morphology of Free-Floating Foam-Rigidized Inflated-Structure Assay) involved both the morphology of foam rigidized structures and the deployment dynamics of inflated structures. It is unknown how the foam filling and curing process is affected by the presence or absence of gravity. The morphology of the foam -- the distribution of foam in the strut -- affects the properties of the structure. For the morphology studies, Kapton sleeves were inflated and rigidized with urethane foam. Foam struts fabricated in the 0-g environment were retained for post-flight ground testing. Testing for basic properties and examination of morphology is underway for struts manufactured in 0-g and in 1-g. For the deployment studies, inflatable frames representing the upcoming NASA Shooting Star Experiment and large solar panels were deployed from a stowed configuration. Models of the dynamics of their deployment are currently being developed.
While at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in March, four UK students conducted these tests while aboard a NASA KC-135 jet. This is the same plane used to train astronauts and for filming the movie, Apollo 13." The four-engine KC-135 can achieve a near weightless environment by following a series of parabolic flight trajectories. As the plane flies over the top of each parabolic arc (up to 40 times in a single flight), it provides approximately 25 seconds of zero-gravity.
The UK students chosen to train and fly were Kathleen Sienko, Jennifer Eckert, Todd Griffith, James Jackson, and Patrick Hobbs (alternate). Kathleen, a graduating senior majoring in Materials Science Engineering, is from Maine, New York. Jennifer, a graduating senior in Mechanical Engineering, is from Fairfield, Ohio. Todd is from Jackson, Kentucky and also a graduating senior in the department of Mechanical Engineering. James is from Charleston, West Virginia and a junior in Mechanical Engineering. Patrick, a senior in Mechanical Engineering from Louisville, Kentucky, is the alternate member of the flight crew and a member of the ground crew. The ground crew also includes Ron Couch and Christina Samson. Ron, from Lexington, Kentucky, is a junior in Mechanical Engineering. Christina Samson is a freshman in Mechanical Engineering from Frankfort, Kentucky. She wrote the web page and helped coordinate interaction with middle school classrooms. Wil Vargas, of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, accompanied the students one day.
For more information on the MOFFIA project, contact Dr. Suzanne Weaver Smith at (606)257-4584, by e-mail at ssmith@engr.uky.edu, or by mail at 467 Anderson Hall, Lexington KY 40506-0046, or contact John Main at (606)257-7137, or by e-mail at johnmain@engr.uky.edu.
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