Microgravity Blog - March 2014
The 2014 UNL Microgravity Team is pictured above. From left: Sawyer Jager, Tricia Foley, Erik Moore, Associate Prof. Carl Nelson, P.E., Blake Stewart, Piotr Slawinski, Nick Goeser, Christian Laney, Shawn Schumacher, Luke Monhollon, Maggie Clay, Ethan Monhollon, Alfred Tsubaki, Victor Torres, Weston Lewis, Effie Greene, Assistant Prof. Ben Terry; not pictured: Ty Rempe, Dustin Dam.
MARCH 2014 - With our first UNL Microgravity Team posting we would like to introduce our team, project, current activities, and plans for the coming months. We hope you enjoy our progress!
The UNL Microgravity Team is comprised of 16 highly motivated undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The studies pursued by our group members vary widely in the engineering disciplines: from electrical to biological systems engineering and everything in between. Each of our team members is very proud to be selected for Nebraska’s sixth consecutive year of work with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. We continue to design, plan, build, and test unique projects to further scientific exploration of space.
This year our project focuses on a noninvasive approach to biosensing for astronauts on extended space flights. As space flight durations increase, flight surgeons need to be able to accurately monitor the health of astronauts and we believe the use of internal sensors could be a viable solution. We are currently examining the attach-ability of a pill in the small intestine. Our approach includes modeling the attachment mechanism after internal parasites and using a pig intestine to simulate a human intestine. Our lab work in Lincoln and subsequent testing aboard the microgravity aircraft in Houston will provide data to substantiate this method as a possible solution to more effectively monitor astronaut health during space flight.
As we near our travel date of May 29, our team has been hard at work building a simulator and completing the necessary documentation to fly our project with NASA. Our simulator is constructed from a frame of 80/20 extruded aluminum with sides of polycarbonate. The pig intestine is doubly contained to prevent fluid leakage into the aircraft cabin and has specially designed pressure vessels to replicate the peristaltic movement of an intestine.
Our documentation is almost completed, as we have been hard at work on our Test Equipment Data Package (TEDP): the complete review of all mechanical, experimental and procedural aspects of our project. The next steps of our project development and preparation for flight week are to complete the simulator build and several experimental runs. We will use data from these runs to fine-tune the process and procedure of our experiment.
In the past three months our team has spent time in the community to develop young people’s education and focus in STEM fields and careers. This year we have interacted with wide-ranging groups of youth from grades one through 12; with more than 300 connections, we have reached the largest number of students in the history of the UNL Microgravity Team! Our efforts took us to many different locations in Nebraska including four high schools, two middle schools and a community center.
Our outreach programming was constructed to be developmentally appropriate for each age group. We target our older students with NASA-related career paths including internships, college majors, and information about our team, and of course the rewarding experience and opportunities we have working with NASA. With younger students, we help them with creative engineering activities which the students can build from common items around the house; this includes the all-time favorite: the mousetrap catapult!
While quite busy in recent months, we are not finished yet. In the coming weeks our outreach efforts will take us to E-Week presented by the UNL College of Engineering, Astronomy Day hosted by the University of Nebraska State Museum, and Nebraska Science Festival Expo at the Strategic Air and Space Museum.
Stay tuned for further team updates in the coming weeks!
The UNL Microgravity Team is comprised of 16 highly motivated undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The studies pursued by our group members vary widely in the engineering disciplines: from electrical to biological systems engineering and everything in between. Each of our team members is very proud to be selected for Nebraska’s sixth consecutive year of work with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. We continue to design, plan, build, and test unique projects to further scientific exploration of space.
This year our project focuses on a noninvasive approach to biosensing for astronauts on extended space flights. As space flight durations increase, flight surgeons need to be able to accurately monitor the health of astronauts and we believe the use of internal sensors could be a viable solution. We are currently examining the attach-ability of a pill in the small intestine. Our approach includes modeling the attachment mechanism after internal parasites and using a pig intestine to simulate a human intestine. Our lab work in Lincoln and subsequent testing aboard the microgravity aircraft in Houston will provide data to substantiate this method as a possible solution to more effectively monitor astronaut health during space flight.
As we near our travel date of May 29, our team has been hard at work building a simulator and completing the necessary documentation to fly our project with NASA. Our simulator is constructed from a frame of 80/20 extruded aluminum with sides of polycarbonate. The pig intestine is doubly contained to prevent fluid leakage into the aircraft cabin and has specially designed pressure vessels to replicate the peristaltic movement of an intestine.
Our documentation is almost completed, as we have been hard at work on our Test Equipment Data Package (TEDP): the complete review of all mechanical, experimental and procedural aspects of our project. The next steps of our project development and preparation for flight week are to complete the simulator build and several experimental runs. We will use data from these runs to fine-tune the process and procedure of our experiment.
In the past three months our team has spent time in the community to develop young people’s education and focus in STEM fields and careers. This year we have interacted with wide-ranging groups of youth from grades one through 12; with more than 300 connections, we have reached the largest number of students in the history of the UNL Microgravity Team! Our efforts took us to many different locations in Nebraska including four high schools, two middle schools and a community center.
Our outreach programming was constructed to be developmentally appropriate for each age group. We target our older students with NASA-related career paths including internships, college majors, and information about our team, and of course the rewarding experience and opportunities we have working with NASA. With younger students, we help them with creative engineering activities which the students can build from common items around the house; this includes the all-time favorite: the mousetrap catapult!
While quite busy in recent months, we are not finished yet. In the coming weeks our outreach efforts will take us to E-Week presented by the UNL College of Engineering, Astronomy Day hosted by the University of Nebraska State Museum, and Nebraska Science Festival Expo at the Strategic Air and Space Museum.
Stay tuned for further team updates in the coming weeks!