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Swooping in zero gravity: UNF students return from week with NASA, look towards biomedical impacts
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After a week of working with NASA, a team of University of North Florida students are forging ahead with plans to launch a satellite that will be used to test pharmaceutical products.
The Orbital Ospreys returned from a week in Houston last month testing out their long-time experiment in zero gravity. Now, with the new data collected, they can continue their experiment, which could have a major impact on the medical and pharmaceutical communities.
The project was conceived several years ago, and has been worked on many UNF college students over the years, passed down by students interested in various fields of engineering. But it was 21-year-old mechanical engineering student Chelsea Partridge who helped kick the project into high gear and brought it to NASA's attention.
The hope of the college students is to launch into orbit a very small satellite containing bone cell cultures treated with different pharmaceuticals. It's called a bioreactor satellite, and it helps measure biological phenomena, said Partridge, team leader for the project. This particular satellite will test if pharmaceuticals will negate the affects of zero gravity on bone cell density.
The results could mean that using their type of satellite could be an easy way for medical researchers to conduct testing medicine in space, said Thomas Trask, a student who worked on the project.
But before they can build their satellite, the students needed to test how fluids would flow in zero-gravity, which is why they applied to NASA's reduced gravity education program, said Partridge.
Fluid systems regulate nutrients in bone cell cultures, said Partridge. If they could see how these fluid systems behaved, they could anticipate changes they might need to make for their satellite.
She said first time teams are rarely accepted to the program, and yet in December, they were informed that they were approved to go to Houston.
Partridge, with teammates Trask, Erwin Duran, Joseph Calabro, Jimmy Beeler, Eric Rutherford, Tommy Hudson, Tam Le and Kerry Anyanwu, worked with a NASA mentor to prepare their project before going to Houston in June. They received positive remarks from the NASA scientists every step of the way.
"To go and show all your hard work," Partridge said, "and they tell you 'you did a great job,' is very rewarding."
Once in Texas, the team got to have two days of experiencing zero gravity.
Joseph Calabro, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student, said the team was first briefed by NASA, and then donned flight suits before flying for about 45 minutes into sub-orbit, where they were able to experience weightlessness. Calabro said there were about 30 periods where they would actually experience weightlessness, with each period lasting about 20 seconds. He said the NASA scientists with them focused not only have having the students perform their experiments properly while weightless but also encouraged them to have fun and enjoy themselves.
"It was a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said.
Partridge said her team got all the data they needed, so they can continue the next phase of their project now that they're back in Jacksonville.
But she'll never forget what it was like to be floating.
"It's like you're Superman and you can fly," she said.
Now that the students have returned, they will continue not only with constructing and launching their satellite, but encouraging other students and youth to pursue space science.
"Part of being accepted into the program is doing outreach with young children," said Trask, a 30-year-old student with bachelor's degrees in both mechanical engineering and computer science.
The UNF students also plan to continue working on the project while applying to grad school, managing classes and completing internships.
Partridge, a 21-year-old rising senior, said although she graduates in May, she doesn't see herself not being involved with what the Orbital Ospreys are working on.
"I plan to continue supporting this project," she said, "even from afar."
Jensen covers logistics, manufacturing and defense
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