Purdue News
Purdue News
|
|
To: Journalist From: Emil Venere and Grant Flora Purdue University News Service Date: Nov. 3, 2000 Subject: Invitation to join us on the "vomit comet" in February You are invited to join a student from your area on a February flight of NASA's "vomit comet," an airplane used by the space agency for zero-gravity experiments and astronaut training. Interested journalists should have a physical exam completed by Dec. 1. Students involved are members of a Purdue University team working on an experiment that ultimately aims to save lives and millions of dollars by reducing pilot disorientation. Military pilots most commonly become disoriented when they are subjected to gravity-altering forces that cause them to black out. After regaining consciousness, they often rely on instinct instead of instruments to fly the plane. Many times their instincts are wrong, and they misjudge the position of their aircraft, the direction or altitude of flight, resulting in a crash. In the U.S. military, about 20 officers are killed, and $300 million worth of aircraft are lost every year due to "spatial disorientation." The problem also causes space sickness for astronauts, and the Federal Aviation Administration reports that spatial disorientation causes about 16 percent of fatal general-aviation accidents. During flights in February, students will test an experimental system aimed at correcting the problem. Hong Tan, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is working on a vest in which vibrating devices simulate the feeling of someone drawing directional lines on the user's back. The directional lines could be used to tell disoriented pilots and astronauts which way they are facing. The "tactile feedback" vest has worked well when tested in normal gravity. However, it has not worked well in zero-gravity tests conducted in a previous flight of the vomit comet, officially known as NASA's KC-135A Reduced Gravity Laboratory. To learn why the vest has not worked well in zero-gravity, further tests will be conducted during the student flights between Feb. 8-17. The exact flight dates have yet to be determined. Since the spring of 1997, Purdue University undergraduate engineering students have spent the equivalent of five space shuttle orbits in weightlessness. These students have designed, proposed, built, and flown nine zero-gravity science experiments through the NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunity program , created to give university students hands-on access to zero-gravity science. To qualify for the flights, journalists must be working in the field, earning 50 percent or more of last year's pay by functioning as a journalist. Journalists interested in going on one of the flights must have a flight physical, performed by an FAA-certified doctor. NASA has asked that journalists have their physicals completed by Dec. 1, but that deadline is flexible. A listing of doctors in your area can be found on the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Aviation Medicine web site. Additional information about the program and journalist participation is available at the Texas Space Grant Consortium web site. List of students who will fly: Ryan Casteel, Decatur, Ill. Ryan Traylor, Dale, Ind. Daniel Hromis, Granger, Ind. Lauren Naessens, Rochester, Minn. Joachim Deguara, South Bend, Ind. Purdue contacts: Hong Tan, (765) 494-6416, hongtan@ecn.purdue.edu Emil Venere: (765) 494-4709, evenere@purdue.edu Grant Flora: (765) 494-2073, gflora@purdue.edu NASA Contact: Debbie Mullins, (512) 471-7390, mullins@tsgc.utexas.edu
|
