NASA Selects New Technologies for Parabolic Flights and Suborbital Launches
November 26, 2015 | NASAEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
NASA's Flight Opportunities Program has selected eight space technology payloads for reduced gravity flights on board specialized aircraft and commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicles (sRLVs). These flights provide a valuable platform to mature cutting-edge technologies, validating feasibility and reducing technical risks and costs before infusion into future space missions.
Five of the newly selected proposals requested parabolic flights, which involve a flight maneuver that uses a dramatic half-minute drop of the aircraft though the sky to simulate weightlessness. Two proposed projects will fly on sRLVs for testing during longer periods of weightlessness. An additional payload will fly on both platforms.
Selected for parabolic flights on aircraft are:
- “Zero Gravity Mass Measurement Device Parabolic Flight Test” - John Wetzel, principal investigator, Orbital Technologies Corporation, Madison, Wisconsin
- “Evaluation of the Biosleeve Gesture Control Interface for Telerobotics in Microgravity” – Christopher Assad, principal investigator, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
- “Flight Demonstration of a Gravity-Insensitive, Microchannel Membrane Phase Separator” - Weibo Chen, principal investigator, Creare Inc., Hanover, New Hampshire
- “PRIME-4.0: Miniaturized and Reusable Asteroid Regolith Microgravity Experiment for Suborbital and Orbital Use” - Josh Colwell, principal investigator, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
- “Testing of a Novel IVA (Intra-Vehicular Activity) Space Suit” - Ted Southern, principal investigator, Final Frontier Design, LLC, Brooklyn, New York
- “Evolved Medical Microgravity Suction Device” - Charles Cuttino, principal investigator, Orbital Medicine, Inc., Midlothian, Virginia
Selected for flights on sRLVs are:
- “Suborbital Evaluation of an Aqueous Immersion Surgical System for Reduced Gravity” - George Pantalos, principal investigator, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky
- “Suborbital Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment-2 (SPACE-2)” - Julie Brisset, principal investigator, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
- “Evolved Medical Microgravity Suction Device” - Charles Cuttino, principal investigator, Orbital Medicine, Inc., Midlothian, Virginia
Page 1 of 2
Suggested Items
Foxhole Group Boosts Life Science Capabilities with Accutron Partnership
09/03/2024 | Foxhole GroupFoxhole Group, a private investment firm focused on the industrial sector, announced today that it has added significant depth of expertise in life science and aerospace and defense capabilities to its Foxtronics EMS platform by partnering with the Faldu family to add Accutron to the company’s portfolio of EMS brands.
Marshall, Tech Mahindra to Explore Aerospace and Defense Collaboration
09/02/2024 | MarshallMarshall and Tech Mahindra, a leading global provider of technology consulting and digital solutions to enterprises across industries, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to identify and develop opportunities to work together across the aerospace and defense domains.
A Less Expensive Defense and Aerospace PCB Fab Startup
08/20/2024 | Alex Stepinski, Stepinski GroupEditor’s note: Investing in a new printed circuit board fabrication startup is not for the faint of heart or the light of wallet. Standing up a new “high-tech” PCB fab facility capable of becoming qualified for aerospace and defense work typically takes a minimum investment of $50 million. However, Alex Stepinski says entering the defense and aerospace markets with a new PCB fabrication start-up facility far under this prohibitive cost benchmark is possible when good partnerships, innovation, and sound engineering design enter from the beginning. In this article, Alex Stepinski outlines just how this can be achieved.
USPACE and EgSA to Form Aerospace Joint Venture in Egypt
08/16/2024 | PRNewswireUSPACE Technology Group Limited is pleased to announce that the Group has signed the strategic partnership agreement with the Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA), in relation to satellite manufacturing and testing, satellite launch, education and training, greatly expanding its business presence in the fast-growing African space market.
UHDI Fundamentals: UHDI Applications for Aerospace
08/13/2024 | Anaya Vardya, American Standard CircuitsUltra high density interconnect (UHDI) technology refers to advanced manufacturing processes used to create extremely compact and highly efficient electronic circuits at the sub-1-mil line and space level. In aerospace applications, UHDI is crucial due to the stringent requirements for weight, reliability, and performance in a challenging environment.