Danielle Weiland spins in zero-g on NASA's Weightless Wonder.John Robinson floats on the Weightless Wonder as he conducts research on a zero-gravity fuel gauge.Students spin and float in zero gravity on NASA's Weightless Wonder.Carthage Microgravity Team ready for flight.The first group of Carthage flyers takes off in Weightless Wonder.Would you ride in this plane?Kevin Lubick, '13, took first place in an engineering contest during the 2012 SEED program.The Carthage Microgravity Team in front of the Orion Multi Purpose Vehicle at Lockheed Martin's Exploration Discovery Lab.John Robinson, '13, and Danielle Weiland, '14, sit in Orion.Physics professor and team advisor Kevin Crosby works with students in Ellington Field's Hangar 990.Professor Kevin Crosby works with John Robinson and Danielle WeilandThe team examines the rig for possible problems after unloading it from its shipping crate.The 2012 Carthage Microgravity Team stands beneath KC-135A, NASA's original "Vomit Comet." Photo taken April 19, 2012.Amber Bakkum, '12, KelliAnn Anderson, '14, and Steve Mathe, '13, aboard the Weightless WonderSaturn V, Rocket Park. April 21, 2012Danielle Weiland, '14, prepares for the Test Readiness Review on Monday, April 23, 2012, in Ellington Field's Hangar 990.

NASA 2012

Flying High

Carthage Microgravity Team travels to Houston to conduct research aboard a zero-gravity aircraft

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Carthage College's NASA Microgravity Team 2012 photosetCarthage College's NASA Microgravity Team 2012 photoset

Carthage Flies with NASA

The Carthage Microgravity Team will be at the Johnson Space Center and Ellington Field April 19-28. See photos and video from their travels.

A team of Carthage students is in Houston this week to test promising new fuel gauge technology aboard NASA's zero-gravity aircraft.

The students are members of the Carthage Microgravity Team, one of 10 college teams nationwide selected for NASA's 2012 Systems Engineering Educational Discovery program, or SEED. The experiment they have designed and built may change how propellant volume is measured in space.

SEED pairs undergraduate student teams with NASA researchers to design and build experiments essential to NASA goals. Students travel to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to fly their experiments aboard G-Force One, a zero-gravity aircraft.

NASA began the SEED program five years ago. Carthage is one of just two schools in the country selected to participate in the program all five years.

About G-Force One

G-Force One is a modified Boeing 727 used by NASA for spacecraft hardware testing, astronaut training and microgravity research. The plane flies a series of rollercoaster-like dips and climbs over the Gulf of Mexico to produce periods of weightlessness. It climbs to 34,000 feet, then free-falls 10,000 feet before climbing again. During each parabola, passengers experience about 30 seconds of zero gravity; everything on the plane becomes weightless.

About the Experiment

This year the Carthage team will continue last year's work with Kennedy Space Center engineer Rudy Werlink on a novel method of gauging the amount of propellant in a spacecraft's tanks. This problem has challenged engineers since the early years of the space age when it became clear that traditional methods of fuel gauging do not work in the weightless environment of space, said Prof. Kevin Crosby, faculty advisor for the Microgravity Team. Read more about the experiment.

2012 Competitors

The Carthage Microgravity Team was one of 10 teams nationwide chosen to participate in the 2012 SEED program. The other selected teams are:

  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Northwest Nazarene University
  • Oklahoma State University
  • University of Houston-Clear Lake & San Jacinto College
  • University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign
  • University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Washington University in St. Louis
  • Yale University
VIDEO

Carthage Flies with NASA 2012 - Flight Day

 
See video from the Carthage students flight on G-Force One, NASA's "Weightless Wonder."


Heading Into Zero Gravity

Undergraduate ResearchCarthage students fly with NASA

The Carthage Microgravity Team conducted research for NASA aboard a zero-gravity aircraft. See photos and video. more...

 
First group of flyers take off in Weightless Wonder

Amber Bakkum, '12; Steven Mathe, '13; and KelliAnn Anderson, '14; are heading into zero-g. more...

 
Kevin Lubick wins NASA engineering contest

Carthage team's sole ground crew member designs winning Mars Rover more...

 

See more team news