I know this is belated and a little rough, but here is my microgravity reflection...
That was one of the coolest experiences that I have ever had. I would have trouble enumerating the other contenders because of the incredible euphoric feeling after the zero-g flight. It was hard to explain fully what the flight felt like. It was something familiar, kinda like scuba diving or flying in your dreams, but at the same time completely different than anything else I have ever experienced.
For our flight, we started with three martian parabolas, then moved into three lunar parabolas. These were the strangest because I was getting used to the environment for the very first time. Martian gravity is 0.38 g and lunar gravity is 0.17 g. The first two parabolas of each set were reserved for getting my “space legs” on, and the final one I used for some more movements. I was very cautious because I was almost certain that I would become motion sick, since I am so predisposed to that in cars. Motions were so effortless. Before you became familiar with the actual feeling, the reduced gravity felt a lot like no gravity whatsoever. The only way that you could really tell was the way objects (and people) eventually did come back down to the ground. Every movement seemed like it was in slow motion. I did some bouncing in these gravitational levels which was a ton of fun, but it seemed like those environments were gone too quickly. I could get used to that sort of gravity level. Another reason that I was careful at the beginning was because I was afraid that I was going to land on the payload or another person when the gravity returned. I eventually overcame that particular worry and got more comfortable moving around.
After the lunar and martian parabolas, we got to experience our first zero-g parabolas. Again, I was cautious and let the first two go by so that I could adapt and help prevent motion sickness. I quickly realized, however, that I was not going to develop any sort of sickness and so I allowed myself to take more freedoms as time went on. I don't know how much of that was the medicine or my personal reactions to that environment, but I was very glad that it was that way. At first, it was difficult to remain in one place. My legs kept wanting to go towards the ceiling and I frequently hit a camera pole that I was sitting next to. My feet just wanted to get away. The gravity produced by the plane wasn't perfect and there would be periodic occurrences of negative g forces which would pull you towards the roof. These happened especially after the call for feet down, which caught me off guard several times. I would let my feet out of the straps to prepare for my landing position, and then the negative g's right before full gravity came back would try to flip me over towards the roof. The key to control was keeping your legs in check. I discovered that by bringing my knees up towards my chest, I had much better control over my center of mass and my orientation. It makes sense why astronauts frequently “ambulate” with their feet and knees tucked in. Once you had control, moving around was a lot like climbing on monkey bars or lifting yourself up on railings and counter tops (minus your normal body weight, of course). Light movements would produce a great effect.
Not too long into the flight (parabola 15ish) Kyle got motion sick and they took him to the back of the plane. At this point I decided to start asking Sara and Kyle how they were doing on a scale of 10. Kyle eventually returned and was at a 7 or 8 the rest of the flight. After parabolas, though, he threw up when we got back to our seats. He said that he enjoyed it despite being sick. Sara was ok, but on the verge of sickness for the last half of the flight. She rated herself as a 6 or 7. I felt great, so I rated myself a 10 for the whole flight.
During the zero-g portions of the flight, I did some aerobatics, some intentional, some not. For the most part, I stayed calm and enjoyed the microgravity from a hovering position next to our payload. Every now and then I would just take off, however. One instance I flew up completely inverted with my feet touching the ceiling. My hands were attached to the handle on our payload and that acted like a giant hinge. Aside from that, the handles and floor straps were invaluable in maintaining control. I was completely over the payload and I was a little worried that I would fall on it, so I didn't quite pay attention to the sensation of being upside down. Flying completely inverted was one of my goals on this flight to see how my brain would react to a “up is where my head is” paradigm. I ran out of parabolas before I got to that point. I did, however, get to go entirely sideways so that the walls were the floor and roof. It gave a unique perspective and I was quite comfortable doing it. Had there been more time I am sure I would have gotten to go inverted without any difficulty, but we will have to see next time. Whenever I was upside down, I never really got disoriented. I only was worried about where I would land when I came crashing down again.
Time really flew by and the parabolas went very quickly, especially during the outreach portion. We only got to play with a few of our outreach items. Sara held up a sign for Brian, Kyle played with a slinky, and I got to hold up a shirt for Danika, but in general there wasn't enough time to show everything else. I never played with the paratrooper or the dice at all. On the last parabola, I gazed out the window and saw the unnatural sight of the horizon spinning around. The end of the flight really sneaked up on me, and I didn't realize it was over until the clapping at the end of the last parabola came.
I don't know when it will be, but I plan on returning to the microgravity environment.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
I sit here writing these words on the plane ride from Houston, back to Colorado. As we take off, I can’t help but smirk, thinking about the last time I was on a plane. I feel the increased g’s as we climb through the sky, awaiting the quick transition to zero-g, but it doesn’t come. I smirk again, realizing that no plane ride will ever be quite like my experience aboard the “Weightless Wonder.”
I will preface my story by saying that the “Vomit Comet” did indeed get the best of me. Despite my best efforts, my breakfast was intent on leaving my stomach. Thankfully, that waited until after the final parabola.
I will preface my story by saying that the “Vomit Comet” did indeed get the best of me. Despite my best efforts, my breakfast was intent on leaving my stomach. Thankfully, that waited until after the final parabola.
The morning of our flight, we were given a combination of medications specially designed to help with motion sickness and give us the energy necessary for the flight. Upon take off, most everyone’s nerves were at ease, most likely thanks to the medication. After reaching 10,000 feet, we were free to tend to our experiments and prepare them for the journey into the reduced gravity environment.
We started with three Martian parabolas which gave us about 1/3 of earth’s gravity. As our first introduction to reduced gravity, it was quite strange. I could feel the existence of gravity, but I also felt more capable - I felt that I had instantly gained abilities that were new to me. I turned to our computer to look at our data, but I couldn’t help bouncing up and down slightly to experience this strange environment as best I could (even with the quick 40 second intervals).
Three lunar parabolas came next. For me, the difference between lunar and Martian parabolas was hard to identify, probably because both environments were equally new to me. Again, I couldn't help bouncing in place, with images of the moon going by in my mind.
Next up was zero gravity, with a total of 28 parabolas remaining. I took the first few parabolas easy, opting to stay on the ground and just get used to the environment. The 1.8 g’s acting on my body felt more intense during this fist zero-g parabola. I patiently awaited the transition, not knowing what to expect. I hear the plane’s engines cut back, feel the g’s quickly disappearing, and in about three seconds, I’m accidentally floating.
Since I wanted to stay on the ground, my first instinct was to hold on tight to the strap on the ground. Once the zero gravity hit, the force with which I was holding the strap caused me to start rolling on my side. I felt very out of control, feeling like I was falling, but I didn’t know where. I sneaked a peak down the plane, and saw a very strange sight. To me, I felt like I was looking down, with people floating below me. I looked up, and it felt down. I looked down, and it felt down. It’s one thing to say, “There is no up in space,” but it really is something else to truly know what that phrase means (sort of…).
The next few parabolas hit and I began to understand how to control myself better. Unfortunately this increase in control was beginning to feel more necessary than ever – my head was feeling quite strange. I had a feeling I knew what was coming, so I identified the location of my government-issued sickness bags. I started sweating, frustrated with myself for not taking off my flight suit down to my waist. I was sweating, feeling a little queasy, and floating at the same time. During one of the hypergravity sections of the flight, I decided it was time and grabbed my sickness bag. Within seconds, I had hands on me, asking me if I was alright. The flight surgeon on our flight came over to me, asking how I was feeling. I sat up straight for a few parabolas, missing the zero-g experience while they pinned me down to the plane’s “floor.” A few people helped me take off my flight suit down to the waist to help cool me down.
I decided to sit out a few more parabolas and sit in the seats in the back. I was handed a cold towel and a bottle of water, which seemed to help immediately. The flight surgeon helped by fanning me with air, and gave me a lifesaver mint. It all helped.
As I started feeling better, the environment around me started to come back into focus. Sitting in the front row of the seats, I had a complete view of the entire plane. It felt surreal looking down the plane, seeing flips (some on purpose, but most on accident), and watching the ground transition from below me, to who-knows-where.
By the time we had a break in the parabolas, I decided I was feeling well enough to rejoin my team. I took the first few parabolas slow, only rising slightly from my seated position against the plane's wall. I was feeling confident in my ability to not lose my breakfast, but I was aware of the fact that my head did not think that the environment was normal.
We started with three Martian parabolas which gave us about 1/3 of earth’s gravity. As our first introduction to reduced gravity, it was quite strange. I could feel the existence of gravity, but I also felt more capable - I felt that I had instantly gained abilities that were new to me. I turned to our computer to look at our data, but I couldn’t help bouncing up and down slightly to experience this strange environment as best I could (even with the quick 40 second intervals).
Three lunar parabolas came next. For me, the difference between lunar and Martian parabolas was hard to identify, probably because both environments were equally new to me. Again, I couldn't help bouncing in place, with images of the moon going by in my mind.
Next up was zero gravity, with a total of 28 parabolas remaining. I took the first few parabolas easy, opting to stay on the ground and just get used to the environment. The 1.8 g’s acting on my body felt more intense during this fist zero-g parabola. I patiently awaited the transition, not knowing what to expect. I hear the plane’s engines cut back, feel the g’s quickly disappearing, and in about three seconds, I’m accidentally floating.
Since I wanted to stay on the ground, my first instinct was to hold on tight to the strap on the ground. Once the zero gravity hit, the force with which I was holding the strap caused me to start rolling on my side. I felt very out of control, feeling like I was falling, but I didn’t know where. I sneaked a peak down the plane, and saw a very strange sight. To me, I felt like I was looking down, with people floating below me. I looked up, and it felt down. I looked down, and it felt down. It’s one thing to say, “There is no up in space,” but it really is something else to truly know what that phrase means (sort of…).
The next few parabolas hit and I began to understand how to control myself better. Unfortunately this increase in control was beginning to feel more necessary than ever – my head was feeling quite strange. I had a feeling I knew what was coming, so I identified the location of my government-issued sickness bags. I started sweating, frustrated with myself for not taking off my flight suit down to my waist. I was sweating, feeling a little queasy, and floating at the same time. During one of the hypergravity sections of the flight, I decided it was time and grabbed my sickness bag. Within seconds, I had hands on me, asking me if I was alright. The flight surgeon on our flight came over to me, asking how I was feeling. I sat up straight for a few parabolas, missing the zero-g experience while they pinned me down to the plane’s “floor.” A few people helped me take off my flight suit down to the waist to help cool me down.
I decided to sit out a few more parabolas and sit in the seats in the back. I was handed a cold towel and a bottle of water, which seemed to help immediately. The flight surgeon helped by fanning me with air, and gave me a lifesaver mint. It all helped.
As I started feeling better, the environment around me started to come back into focus. Sitting in the front row of the seats, I had a complete view of the entire plane. It felt surreal looking down the plane, seeing flips (some on purpose, but most on accident), and watching the ground transition from below me, to who-knows-where.
By the time we had a break in the parabolas, I decided I was feeling well enough to rejoin my team. I took the first few parabolas slow, only rising slightly from my seated position against the plane's wall. I was feeling confident in my ability to not lose my breakfast, but I was aware of the fact that my head did not think that the environment was normal.
Eventually, I was able to check on our experiment, help adjusted a moved-camera, and check on the data. For the last few parabolas, I brought out the slinky, handing Sara the other end. Nathan filmed us as we held the slinky between us, seeing the straight line it was forming across our structure (an odd sight to see).
I pulled out a clear bottle full of about thirty jelly beans on the last parabola, playing with their movement in the microgravity environment.
Thirty-four parabolas sounds like a lot, but they went by extremely fast. We leveled out, stored items that needed to be stored, and returned to our seats. Upon sitting, my held still did not feel right. I, again, identified my sickness bag and brought it out. There went my breakfast.
About thirty seconds later, I felt normal, as if the sickness was never there, thankful for the opportunity to experience both the “Weightless Wonder” as well as the “Vomit Comet” that day.
Do I wish I hadn’t been sick? Sure – but the times in between were seconds of my life that I will not forget. As the plane I am currently sitting on prepares to land, I cannot help but imagine it without the rows of seats ahead of me, white padding on the walls, and a few dozen people “below” me floating throughout the cabin.
(Images courtesy of NASA)
Posted by Kyle Stephens
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Kyle, Sara, and Nathan flew today. It was pretty remarkable. We did not have the time to write the complete update that this day deserves, so please wait a few days until we find the time.
Tomorrow is our last day in Houston, with a tour of JSC being the only event on our schedule.
Posted by Kyle Stephens
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Today, July 12, 2011, was the day the first four members of our team had their first (and for CJ, sixth) experience of microgravity. But before the flight was able to happen, many preparatory things had to occur. When we arrived at Ellington Field, we first had a short morning meeting followed by a briefing from our flight surgeon who would later distribute our anti-motion sickness medication. There was some anxiety among the group when some lost tools caused a short delay, but both tools were shortly found and we continued on as scheduled. After receiving our medications, today’s fliers boarded the plane in a single file line with cameras flashing all the way.
We took our seats in the back of the plane and as with every commercial flight, we were lectured on the “safety features of this aircraft” including oxygen, life vests, and the over-wing emergency exit doors (we were even asked to turn off our cell phones!). From take off to ten thousand feet, all was as a normal commercial airline flight but then the 10 minute countdown began.
That is ten minutes to the beginning of the first parabola. All the teams went to their respective experiments and began making the final preparations before the big moment. Kevin started up the computer and data collection while Sean and CJ attached two cameras to the payload. Down to four minutes now. Our team was ready to go and all took the ideal position on the floor that best reduced the possibility of motion sickness. Only one minute to go. All the pickles (a nickname for the participants because of the dark green flight suits we wear) were lying down on the floor holding on to straps and handles in preparation. Thirty seconds left, the engines rev, and the pilots start the first upward turn. Hypergravity, 1.8g’s, and the feeling of almost double one’s body weight bore down on our team members. Seconds left, the weight eases, the engines slow, and poof.
Tory, Sean, Kevin, and CJ all floated from the floor as the term “weight” became meaningless. Nervous giggles were had by all as our minds and bodies tried to make sense of the new environment, but by the second parabola, excited talk and laughter was heard throughout the cabin. Everyone was so enthralled with the feeling of weightlessness, we almost forgot about our experiment! On our first turn, the astronaut candidate on the flight asked about our setup and found it very intriguing. Parabola 22 marked the time we could start our outreach experiments (a.k.a. gyroscopes, floating green paratrooper men, and spinning patches). During parabolas 29-31, we experienced Lunar gravity (1/6 that of Earth) and Martian (Mars) gravity (1/3 Earth’s) on parabolas 32-34. When the pilots pulled out of parabola 34 applause was heard throughout the plane as we all cheered the success our first microgravity flight.
Upon reviewing the data collected, we found results that were not exactly as predicted. The liquid lens did not form the ideal “perfect” shape we expected, but we believe we have found the problem and hope tomorrow’s group will see the results as predicted. Despite his best efforts and the effects of the medications, Kevin unfortunately succumbed to motion sickness, but all four of us returned to terra-firma as veterans of microgravity.
Articles on both Arizona teams were published today in the Arizona Daily Star as well as University of Arizona News. Links to the articles are below.
AZ Daily Star (We made the front page!)
UA News
Posted by Sean Gellenbeck
Monday, July 11, 2011
Today was an interesting day. We awoke early in the morning, and left on time to make our 7:45 am meeting. It was decided that Nathan and Sean would take the payload a little after the first car left to minimize the time our structure was in the hot car (yes, it's hot at 8:00 am in Houston). Unfortunately, Nathan's car did not wish to cooperate and failed to start. After some frantic searches for jumper cables at the Ellington Field hangar, Sara and Tory ventured back to the hotel.
Upon arriving at the hotel, the group was able to jump start Nathan's car (hooray!). Nathan and Sean were able to get to the hanger, only an hour late - about 90 minutes before our Technology Readiness Review. Fortunately, little work was needed on our structure.
Sara and Tory, after rescuing Nathan and Sean, decided to visit Starbucks for some celebratory caffeine. After experiencing some drive-thru mishaps (missing the ordering location), the car was switched into reverse to fix this problem. Unfortunately, another vehicle occupied the space immediately behind their vehicle, resulting in an ever-so-slight "love tap." No one was injured, but both cars did receive some minor cosmetic damage. A few phone calls were made, and all was well.
Eventually, our team ended our terrible morning and began finishing up our structure. The main task left was to cover the sides and corners with foam and tape down wires.
The Technology Readiness Review panel consisted of about 20 individuals from NASA's Johnson Space Center. We gave a brief presentation to the panel, discussing our experiment's intent and potential hazards. There were few questions and concerns, so we took that as a good sign. Some other teams were not so lucky, requiring some rather extensive modifications to make their experiment safe to fly.
Pictured below is our complete flight team (minus our journalist). Our NASA mentor, Cj Johnson, is pictured down in front and will be flying with us.
After that, we were able to load our structure onto the plane. We were the first group onto the plane, so we had the opportunity to see the plane before it was full.
After bolting our structure to the plane, we were able to perform a final component check and hang up a sign with our experiment name. Despite our morning vehicle-related issues, we still expect our experiment to perform well in the zero gravity environment and are happy with our structure. Below is our structure as we left it on the plane.
We ended the day getting our flight suits and learning more about how to prevent motion sickness on the plane. We are hoping motion sickness will not be an issue - or, it will at least be an issue that resolves itself very quickly. Stay turned tomorrow for flight reactions from our flight team.
Tomorrow morning, Kevin, Sean, Cj (NASA mentor), and Tory (journalist) will fly the experiment. Kyle, Sara, and Nathan will fly on Wednesday. Our five-student team is pictured below after a nice unofficial photoshoot today.
Make sure to check the Arizona Daily Star as well as UANews tomorrow (Tuesday) for articles on our team!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
This weekend was very productive for the team. Saturday was spent trying to finalize everything for next week. Several logos were printed and attached to our structure, representing UASEDS, Arizona Space Grant, the University of Arizona, and our mission patch.
A large poster will be taped to the side of the plane's interior near our structure with our experiment title and a NASA Reduced Gravity logo as well.
We spent some time modifying the software to make the experiment's start-up procedure as easy as possible. If all goes according to plan, our experiment should be fairly automatic, with us monitoring the systems in place during the flight. Two liquid lenses were also created Saturday with much success. Only one will be used for the flight, so we have one as a spare. One liquid lens is pictured below.
With the SCOTS test setup on our structure, we were able to take data of our liquid lens on the ground, which can be seen below.
It is clear that the fringes are thicker on the bottom portion of our lens which is related to the influence of gravity on the liquid-liquid interface. We are expecting the lens to produce a much better and symmetric image while in microgravity.
Saturday's dinner was spent outside, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers with the others teams at our hotel, including the University of Florida, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the other University of Arizona team.
On Sunday, we had time to explore the surrounding area, visiting Space Center Houston in the morning. We were able to drive some Martian rovers, design rockets, tour Space Shuttle Adventure (note: not a spacefaring craft), rock climb on Mars, play human foosball, design a mission to Mars, shoot some air guns, and drink Starbucks all in one place. Good times were had by all.
After Space Center Houston, we decided to drive to the beach in Galveston, TX. The ocean waves helped in our parabola training - our first flight is on Tuesday!
The Test Readiness Review is tomorrow morning, but everything seems to be ready, so we are in good shape. Stay tuned for frantic future updates after everything goes wrong.
Posted by Kyle Stephens
Friday, July 8, 2011
Friday started off with Physiological Training promptly at 8 am in a briefing room away from the main work hangar. The training covered everything from hypoxia to motion sickness and everything else we could possibly experience over the course of our flight. We were given instructions on how to prepare for the flight physically as well what to do during and after the flight. More information on this subject will come later when they brief us on the best way to avoid sickness on the plane before our flight. A demonstration was also given using a spinning chair and selected volunteers to test out how disoriented you can be without visual and sound cues.
Once the training was over, we remained in the briefing room to view the launch of STS-135 on a large projector featuring Space Shuttle Atlantis. The room was energetic and hopeful that the shuttle would launch even with uncertain weather conditions. Despite a delay at T-00:00:31, Space Shuttle Atlantis finally launched as an entire room of college students sat in awe. Once the shuttle reached orbit, everyone cheered and clapped in celebration of the final voyage of the 30 year old shuttle program.
It was back to work after the exciting morning and we all drove back to the hangar. Today, work included testing of electronics software well as mounting electronics hardware to our structure. Our SCOTS MATLAB code was also modified to analyze our data faster for possible in-flight analysis. In the picture below, you can see all of the teams hard at work.
Once the training was over, we remained in the briefing room to view the launch of STS-135 on a large projector featuring Space Shuttle Atlantis. The room was energetic and hopeful that the shuttle would launch even with uncertain weather conditions. Despite a delay at T-00:00:31, Space Shuttle Atlantis finally launched as an entire room of college students sat in awe. Once the shuttle reached orbit, everyone cheered and clapped in celebration of the final voyage of the 30 year old shuttle program.
It was back to work after the exciting morning and we all drove back to the hangar. Today, work included testing of electronics software well as mounting electronics hardware to our structure. Our SCOTS MATLAB code was also modified to analyze our data faster for possible in-flight analysis. In the picture below, you can see all of the teams hard at work.
In the afternoon, a few of us attended a media/press meeting which gave information about how to speak to the press, how our flight would be documented by NASA, and how we should plan to document our own experience. We learned that each flight will have two NASA photographers as well as two videographers, so documentation will be ample. We ended the day with a newcomer’s Q & A session to answer any questions about the process.
Our weekend plans are still a bit up in the air, but over the course of the weekend we will be putting finishing touches on our payload, organizing outreach items to take up with us in the zero-g flight, and taking a possible beach trip to the Galveston area. Our goal is to have a completed payload, ready for our Test Readiness Review on Monday morning. The hope for tonight is to interact with other teams, and spend some time learning about all the exciting projects and interesting groups of people.
Posted by Sara Meschberger
Our weekend plans are still a bit up in the air, but over the course of the weekend we will be putting finishing touches on our payload, organizing outreach items to take up with us in the zero-g flight, and taking a possible beach trip to the Galveston area. Our goal is to have a completed payload, ready for our Test Readiness Review on Monday morning. The hope for tonight is to interact with other teams, and spend some time learning about all the exciting projects and interesting groups of people.
Posted by Sara Meschberger
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