Press release
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ottobre 28, 2016 - ESA
Drop Your Thesis! 2016 concludes successfully
Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale.
Two weeks of intense research in microgravity have just concluded for two enthusiastic teams of university students as part of the Drop Your Thesis! 2016 programme launch campaign.
STAR team, from University of Padova, tested an innovative mechanism to deploy and retrieve a filamentous tether, whilst the Break Team from Queen Mary University of London and University of Seville investigated the break-up of colloidal liquids. Both teams benefited from the high quality microgravity for their experiments as well as expert support from the engineers at the facility.
ZARM Drop Tower in Bremen
Encased within a majestic concrete outer shell 146-metre high, the 123-metre tall and 3 metre wide self-standing air-tight steel tube is protected from environmental factors. Before each experiment, powerful vacuum pumps draw the air out from the tube for 90 minutes to reach 20Pa, 1/5000th the normal atmospheric pressure. This enables to eliminate the effect of aerodynamic drag acting on the experiment capsule, much like Commander Scott demonstrated on the lunar surface in 1971 with the famous falcon feather and hammer demonstration, where the feather fell as fast as the steel hammer! The lack of aerodynamic drag during the launch in the Drop Tower enables to achieve excellent levels of microgravity, with negligible perturbations to the ideal weightlessness conditions offered to the experiment.
Preparation for short flight time
Whilst the quality of the microgravity may be extreme, its duration is seemingly short: flight time is 4,7 seconds for a regular drop, whilst a catapult launch can increase this up to 9,3 seconds. This length of time is enough for most experiments, and the Break Team team took advantage of this short time with the help of a high speed camera that recorded 100 000 frames per second.
In order to finalise the experiment for the Drop Tower, both teams spent one week doing the capsule integration and testing of their setups. As in most complex projects, the road to experiment integration was fraught with some engineering and electronic setbacks. However, with the help of supporting engineering staff on site and some long nights, these problems were circumvented and experiments were satisfactorily executed.
"Drop Your Thesis! project is really challenging but indeed greatly fulfilling. We learned a lot on how to properly develop a scientific experiment and to work in team. It was a great privilege to have the access to such a facility, working at the ZARM Drop Tower is a pleasure” STAR team members commented, “We strongly recommend to get your chance to Drop Your Thesis! as well!", encouraging future students to participate.
Break team were also very enthusiastic about the whole experience, “These two weeks spent at the ZARM Drop Tower have been crucial in teaching us a lot from several perspectives: team attitude and team management, technical skills, general overview of the project. The collaboration with the ZARM and #esa staff made this experience in Bremen unique and allowed us to perform at our best every day.”
Reeling in the data
STAR team from University of Padova focused their experiment on controlling a filamentous tether during deployment and retrieval of a free floating probe, during a catapult launch of their experiment. Controlling space tethers that have infinite degrees of freedom in microgravity are prone to getting tangled, thus novel mechanisms must be sought and tested. STAR team will now spend several months to analyse the abundant amount of data gathered during the campaign, but a preliminary assessment shows that the system worked beyond expectations.
Teasing the data apart
Break team focused their experiments on the process of colloidal liquids thinning and subsequent breaking, a phenomenon important in printing processes such as inkjet as well as some 3D printing technologies. Understanding the physics behind liquid break up in the absence of gravity will eventually help scientists and engineers develop suitable technologies for Solar system exploration purposes, where using in situ resources will be key to manufacturing structures off the Earth.
Drop Your Thesis! – a programme worth joining
Part of the #esa Academy’s Hands-On Space projects, Drop Your Thesis! is a recurring programme that ESA Education sponsors on a yearly basis. During the DYT! programme, students not only have access to state-of-the-art research facilities, they also receive valuable feedback from #esa, ZARM, and European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA) experts. The programme enables participants to develop important practical skills through hands-on activities, as well as learn about project management, problem solving, development, and testing of hardware and software.
As a direct consequence of the research they conducted during past DYT! campaigns, many students have so far been able to present their results at international conferences and/or publish papers in leading scientific journals. DYT! also provides opportunities to meet experts and work with them. The experience gained is an important addition to students’ curriculum vitae, and increases their chance of being elected for future professional opportunities.
Do not miss the next call!
An opportunity for the next DYT! campaign will open in spring 2017. For inspiration and previous experiments performed in the Drop Tower platform, please see the Previous Experiments and Erasmus Experiment Archive (EEA) links to the right of the page.
Both teams with ZARM and ESA staff at the base of the 146m tall tower
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Break Team with ZARM engineers and their experiment setup in the background
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STAR team enjoying the cool breeze at the top of the ZARM Drop Tower in Bremen
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