Purdue News

January 21, 1986 SIDEBAR TO: PURDUE STUDENT SENDS EGGS INTO SPACE West Lafayette, Ind.--John Vellinger's egg experiment is just one of several student projects from Purdue University that may ride into space this year. A group composed of 25 undergraduate students is now working on a series of experiments that they hope will fly aboard a space shuttle sometime late this year. "We've completed the planning and development stage and are now working to fabricate hardware for the flight," said Professor John Snow, director of the project. "At this time, no deadline has been set for the project, but we're shooting for a target date late this year." Experiments currently under development include: * Materials processing experiment--designed to manufacture a foam-metal in space. Powdered material will be sent into orbit, where it will foam-up to make large, rigid structural pieces, said Snow. Such a technology could be used in the future to fabricate large objects in space. * Particle-detection device--used to detect and track nuclear particles in space. * Moisture desorption experiment--to test for moisture-loss of plastics used in space. Under zero-gravity conditions, plastics give off gas and water, said Snow. Students will measure properties of several plastics before and after the flight to make quantitative measurements of desorption and test the overall strength of the materials. The experiments will travel inside a 2.5 cubic-foot; 100-pound canister designed to fit into the shuttle's cargo carrier. The canisters are made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to provide colleges, universities and industries an opportunity to send experiments into space. The $5,000 canister was donated to the university by Purdue alumnus Harold Ritchey of Ogden, Utah. In 1983, Purdue students sent three experiments on board the space shuttle Challenger. The experiments included a seed-germination experiment, a nuclear-particle detection device and a fluid-dynamics test. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page