Nebraska Engineering doubles its presence at NASA's Microgravity University

Brett Schlueter, a senior from Hastings who majors in mechanical engineering, will lead the other UNL team (named "FAST") assigned by NASA to analyze the properties of lunar soil. The teams' advisers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering are professor George Gogos and assistant professor Carl Nelson.

Both projects will involve students participating in a series of parabolic reduced-gravity flights that depart from Ellington Field in Houston, Tex. and reach 35,000 feet above the earth's surface. NASA's Microgravity University engages students from several colleges and universities in scientific research that helps our nation's space program to refine its efforts.

Nebraska's expanded presence in Microgravity U this year also includes Elena Hoff, a Lincoln Southeast High School senior, Hoff, who has been accepted as a UNL freshman for fall 2009, will work with Team FAST.

In 2008, a team of UNL College of Engineering undergraduates tested Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and monitors for NASA mission cargo in zero- and reduced-gravity conditions during flights on a specially-equipped C-9 aircraft.

For more information about Nebraska Engineering's experiences with NASA's Microgravity University, visit http://microgravity.unl.edu/, and prior coverage in the UNL College of Engineering's alumni magazine and news archive.