How To Find Science Results Shuttle Missions?

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bobw

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I have three experiments in mind right now that I have occasionally tried to find out what happened and/or how they worked.<br /><ul><br /> <li> The (I think) heat pipe experiment where they tested what was described as a pump with no moving parts for ammonia, I think. If I recall correctly it was dirven by a temperature gradient and I have always wanted to see a diagram and explaination for that.<br /><br /> <li> The experiment where they grew the giant gallium arsenide crystal. The gallium arsenide started out in the top of the enclosure and they heated it up to evaporate atoms which condensed onto the seed. If the lattice developed a defect then they reversed the process by heating the crystal instead. What did they do with that crystal?<br /><br /> <li> Probably my all time favorite was the one where they used robotic syringes to deposit liquid into a chamber and then manipulated the drops with sound waves. They could spin the droplets so they changed from spherical to cylindrical and eventually break into two droplets. Then they could steer the droplets around and make them coalesce. I've always wanted to see some sort of diagram of rotating pressure waves or whatever that machine did.<br /> </li></li></li></ul><br />Do you suppose I will have to try to find the principal investigator's name and look for papers? I haven't had much luck trying to find web pages about this stuff.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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Try the scientific search engine http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/ . Typing in "heat pump" "ammonia" and "shuttle" located 10 papers.<br /><br />"gallium arsenide" and "space shuttle" generated 24 journal results.<br /><br />Out of interest "international space station" generated over 2000 journal articles. So much for the claim that no science gets done on the ISS.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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bobw

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Thanks for the info. and the new search engine Jon. I'll order copies of articles from a college library after I decide which ones to try. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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bobw

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Absolutely.<br /><br />They did the experiments with liquids of various viscosities, too. It was a long time ago but I think there were at least eight loudspeakers, one in each corner, in the chamber and a computer which drove them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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jatslo

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How did they stop the droplets from spinning? They used sound waves?
 
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bobw

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I watched as it happened during the STS 50 mission, very strange. Computer controlled sound waves is pretty vague to me. I just can't get a handle on how I would try to vary the phase and/or frequency and/or amplitude to do this stuff. I imagine that it should be possible to generate a rotating pressure wave or something, much like a polyphase motor generates a rotating magnetic field. I am pretty sure it is way over my head to invent a machine that spins objects with soundf but I like to hope I could understand some of it if I knew where to look. I think Jon's idea of buying some articles is my best bet. I can't really find much more detail than this on the web; not even a picture for you right now but I am still looking for that. I had forgotten about the compound droplets and the air filled droplets but I remember having seen them now.<br /><br />FLUID PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS<br /><br />Drop Physics Module (DPM)<br /><br />NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory<br />Pasadena, Calif. <br /><br /> The DPM is a major microgravity instrument supporting <br />various experiments on the dynamics of fluids freed from the <br />influences of gravity and the walls of a container.<br /><br /> Three Earth-based investigators will conduct experiments <br />using this system in USML-1: Dr. Robert Apfel, Yale <br />University; Dr. Taylor Wang, Vanderbilt University and Dr. <br />Michael Weinberg, University of Arizona. Serving as Payload <br />Specialist in USML-1 and co-investigator to the three <br />university scientists, Dr. Eugene Trinh will be the principal <br />operator of the DPM.<br /><br /> The scientists will conduct pure-science studies to <br />investigate the internal and surface properties of liquids, <br />seeking to verify certain fluid-dynamics theories. To get the <br />best match with theory, the scientists need to minimize the <br />influence of gravity which distorts the liquid's surfaces and <br />separates the material into layers of different density.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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bobw

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I did manage to find pictures of the water drop and a diagram of the chamber; and, in a pdf from one of the links, The Second United States Microgravity Laboratory 90-Day Science report.<br /><br />In the second group of experiments, two liquid<br />drops were positioned simultaneously at separate<br />nodes of the standing wave field with a fork<br />injector. They were brought together by appropriate<br />adjustment of the two modes in the standing<br />wave field.<br /><br />They don't really say what they did with the field to rotate the drops. When I look at the position of the acoustic drivers it makes me think that even if I can find what I am looking for I probably won't understand it because the speakers are in a wierd place <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/Shuttle/USML2/science/DPM.html<br /><br />I agree with you, steve, that this is the kind of stuff the ISS should be about. Too bad everything turned out the way it did. I still have hope for the future. I admit, though, that I have spent a lot more time looking for details about the exercise bike and the elektron than I have looking for ISS science results. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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esas_is_a_lie

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Science and Shuttles. Good luck! The only science Shuttles have been doing lately is how to stop foam falling off the tank on the obsolite waste of money.
 
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telfrow

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Branching out, eh? Working your way down the board? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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Troll alert! Do NOT feed <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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Tell me, ESAS, after reading this thread do you still persist in believing that no science is done on Shuttle or ISS? Inquiring minds want to know. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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bobw

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Sorry I wasn't clear. I don't think there will be much science on the shuttle in the future either.<br /><br />Color me nerd but I think the shuttle is a great high-tech thing. It's huge. The first time it went up people were in it. I spent more than my last dollar to go see the first one fly. I like it. <br /><br />Edit: What did you think about the tether experiments? Spectacular!! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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CalliArcale

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Yeah, as a nerd it's really hard not to look at the Shuttle and just say "COOL!" It is cool. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> It is extremely cool. It goes into space; it flies faster than any other airplane; it weighs 100 tons, the thrust is staggering, it's got a nifty robot arm that's very sophisticated.... Whether it's the right vehicle for the job or not, it's definitely cool in and of itself. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />I feel that way about the Crawler-Transporters too. Those things are awesome!<br /><br />The tether experiments were interesting, but I think the mission that grabbed my attention most from a scientific perspective recently was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The data from that is truly stunning. I remember when the little engine at the end of the radar boom failed and they were having problems maintaining the correct attitude without eating up too much of the propellant reserves, and the flight controllers considered everything for resolving that, even suggesting use of the ship's exercise bicycle as a gyroscope. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> (That idea was abandoned as impractical, since it didn't generate enough torque and human legs just couldn't control it well enough. But it had a neat MacGyveresque feel to it.) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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JonClarke

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The shuttle radar data is really useful as well, we use the ditigtal elevation model based on it all the time at work.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>
 
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