Volume 5, Number 3     May/June 1997

  Aerospace Technology Development

Microgravity Comes Down to Earth

ESEARCH IN SPACE has its first U.S. center on Earth. NASA's Lewis Research Center has signed a cooperative agreement with Case Western Research University (CWRU) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to advance microgravity research in fluid physics and combustion science through the National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and Combustion.

The new center, to be located at CWRU's School of Engineering, is the first national center dedicated to microgravity research. This research is critical for carrying the space program into the next century and achieving the promised scientific and economic payoffs from the International Space Station. It also could lead to more efficient power generation, pollution abatement, improved manufacturing processes and biomedical innovations on Earth.

NASA will provide $17.8 million in funding over the next five years to support the center. The university-based science community will own and operate the center through USRA, a consortium of 80 colleges and universities, including CWRU.

"The National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and Combustion represents a commitment to our goal to strengthen the partnership between NASA and our nation's research community in universities and industry so that together we can increase the scientific and economic payoffs from NASA's Microgravity Science Program," NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin said.

The center will develop a pool of highly skilled microgravity investigators who can exploit the unique capabilities of the International Space Station to conduct world-class research that is impossible to study in ground-based laboratories. The center also will enhance the value of microgravity research by:

• Identifying and nurturing new research areas
• Transferring information, data and technology to industry
• Supplying technologies for NASA's Human Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise
• Spurring interest among tomorrow's scientists through programs designed for students in grades K through 12

The center's researchers will have access to unique equipment and facilities, such as the drop towers at Lewis, which test the effects of short-term microgravity on experiments. They also will establish an interactive network with other universities and industry to encourage their use of the capabilities and facilities at Lewis.

Center researchers will provide scientific and engineering support to principal investigators conducting microgravity research. They also will contribute onsite scientific support to principal investigators and flight hardware developers during the design, development and operation of flight experiments and during the analysis and dissemination of flight research results.

For more information, contact Simon Ostrach, director of
the National Center for Microgravity Research on Fluids and Combustion.
Call 216/368-2942, Fax: 216/368-6455, E-mail: sxo3@po.cwru.edu
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.