Hello World!

Welcome to the first post for the Team UTD NASA Microgravity weblog - But Will It Fly? (BWIF)

This blog has been created specifically for the purpose of publishing updated from our team during this project. We plan to update every day, two at most, so check back frequently. Better yet, grab the RSS feed.

Here's a quick rundown of the project. NASA is sponsoring a reduced gravity program at the Jonson Space Center in lovely Houston, Texas. They have invited undergraduate students from all over to form teams and devise experiments that will benefit from being performed in microgravity (less than 1% of what we're used to standing on the surface of the Earth). In order to create this reduced gravity, experiments are flown in a parabolic trajectory on the "Weightless Wonder", nee "Vomit Comet". NASA 932 is a refurbished Douglas DC-9 specially outfitted and instrumented for this kind of work.

More information can be found at the NASA microgravity website.

The basic topic of our research this year is classified, as we haven't made it past the selection process. However, I'm sure I can divulge the day to day minutiae of putting together a proposal, trying to form a team, desperately searching for funding, and continuing to perform well in our daily scholastic world. I expect this to be a long, crazy, exhausting trip. It's all worth it, however, if we can do some good science.

Getting to float in micro-G is a big plus, too.

The University of Texas at Dallas has participated in this program before, but that was in 1997. We're hoping to be selected this year - watch this space and cross your fingers.

Thanks!


-- Zach Kenyon, Project Lead