NASA’s Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program is accepting proposals from undergraduate teams across the country to fly their experiments on a unique agency airplane.<\/p>\n
Since its inception in 1995, the program has offered the unique venue of NASA’s specially equipped KC-135 airplane to student researchers. Participation in the program will enable students to learn how scientific research conducted in micro-gravity differs from research conducted on Earth. Students also will have the opportunity to explore how the human body reacts to weightlessness.
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\nStudents, the next generation of explorers, scientists and engineers, will have the chance to float free and perform experiments in an environment usually reserved for space travelers.<\/p>\n
The four-engine KC-135, a modified version of the standard U.S. Air Force tanker, is similar to the Boeing 707. Weightlessness is achieved by flying the plane in carefully choreographed maneuvers: climb at a 45-degree angle, “over the top” and then down at 45 degrees. The maneuver creates a weightless free-fall environment that lasts about 25 seconds. Each flight incorporates 30 of these parabola-shaped sequences.<\/p>\n
The program provides a unique academic experience for students to successfully propose, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment of their choice over the course of a school year. The overall experience includes scientific research, hands-on experimental design, test operations and educational\/public outreach activities.<\/p>\n