Kids often dream of being astronauts, rocketing into space and returning as heroes. Most kids outgrow this fantasy by the time they start junior high school. Not so for a team of physics students at California Institute of Technology.
The students--ages 20 to 22--got one step closer to their goal by boarding NASA's infamous "vomit comet" at the Johnson Space Center in Houston over the Labor Day weekend. The KC-135 Stratotanker plane earned its ominous nickname by the way it flies--a pattern of steep arcs that allows passengers to experience micro-gravity, or weightlessness. It's a ride that leaves many nauseated.
That experience may not be for everyone, but teams from across the country go to Houston to ride the plane and conduct experiments that require weightless conditions.
For the Caltech students, the micro-gravity ride was a chance to examine a new fiber-optic material called ZBLAN. NASA and telecommunications researchers hope ZBLAN may eventually be used to make fiber-optic lines that could transmit information far more efficiently than current cables. The students are interested in that, but in something else, too--their experiment with ZBLAN is a way of advancing the dream of a career in space.
For the four Caltech undergraduates--Dirk Englund, Serena Eley and John Ferguson, seniors majoring in physics, and Joseph Jewell, a sophomore majoring in aeronautics--the experience comes as part of NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program.
The NASA program provides a real-life research experience from start to finish. The students had to write a detailed research proposal, raise their own funds and conduct research. They will also speak to high school students about their experiences. A panel of NASA scientists selected student teams for the program based on the soundness of the science in their proposals and the extent of their outreach plans.
Writing Proposal Was Toughest Part
As many career scientists can attest, writing the proposal is the hardest part. The proposal was "really tough," said Englund, "because we had finals going on at the same time, and classes for physics juniors are just hell anyway."
"We had to do a lot of all-nighters to get it done," added Eley.
Once the writing was done, the students had to raise thousands of dollars to pay for the special ZBLAN glass they would need for their experiment, as well as to cover their travel expenses and buy various supplies.
