K12> NASA's Fun Science
- From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:10:50 -0600
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: Steve <uriel1998@xxxxxxxxx>
Newsgroups: misc.education.home-school.misc
Subject: Resource: NASA's Fun Science
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 05:37:35 -0500
NASA'S FUN SCIENCE EMPHASIZES SPACE BASED RESEARCH
Like most of us, the NASA Science Officer aboard the
International Space Station looks forward to Saturday mornings.
"Saturday is when we have a bit of free time," said Dr. Don
Pettit, the NASA Space Station Science Officer on the
Expedition Six crew. While some of the crew read books, play
musical instruments or watch movies, "I prefer to do
'Saturday Morning Science' fun experiments of my own
design," Pettit said.
One recent Saturday, Pettit prepared a solution of water,
soap and glycerin, and fashioned a bubble-wand from thin
wire. "I wanted to see what thin films and bubbles might do
in zero gravity and felt it was a topic ripe for discovery," he said.
Next, Pettit injected some tiny mica flakes into the film,
allowing him to observe otherwise-hidden flows and swirls.
"Then I blew on the film, and fascinating patterns emerged.
These tracer particle patterns lasted for well over four
hours, he said."
These films highlight the value of space for fundamental
research in fluid physics. Gravity-driven convection and
three-dimensional motions complicate fluid flow on Earth. A
two-dimensional film of weightless water is a splendid
research tool that could yield valuable data for many
industries on Earth.
Pettit has also taken still pictures of cities at night,
obtaining very high-resolution images, and observed
noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds, rare and not fully
understood atmospheric phenomena. "Over the past few weeks
we've been enjoying outstanding views of these clouds above
the southern hemisphere," Pettit remarked during a NASA TV broadcast.
Pettit is a long-time noctilucent cloud-watcher. As a staff
scientist at the Los Alamos, N.M. National Laboratory between
1984 and 1996, he studied noctilucent clouds that were seeded
by high-flying sounding rockets. "Seeing these kinds of
clouds [from space] ... is certainly a joy for us on the
Space Station," he said.
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Pettit intends to continue his Saturday Science activities
until his return home in early May.
"Observations of nature, no matter how seemingly arcane, are
like peeling off one more layer from the great onion of
knowledge, tickling your imagination with what you have found
but always revealing yet another tantalizing layer
underneath," Pettit said. "I hope we never get to the core."
A video of Pettit conducting his Saturday Science experiments
will be shown on NASA Television at noon EST, Wednesday,
March 19, 2003.
Pettit's Saturday Science videos and written observations are
available on the Internet at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp6/spacechronicles
.html
Information about NASA scientific research, including
Pettit's, is available on the Internet at:
http://science.nasa.gov
For information about research on the International Space
Station on the Internet, visit:
http://scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov
Steve
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