Engineering topics

Thompson, Dennis M.

Publications and source records attributed to Thompson, Dennis M..

2 records

NASA NTRS1999

Zero Gravity Research Facility User's Guide

The Zero Gravity Research Facility (ZGF) is operated by the Space Experiments Division of the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center (GRC) for investigators sponsored by the Microgravity Science and Applications Division of NASA Headquarters. This unique facility has been utilized by scientists and engineers for reduced gravity experimentation since 1966. The ZGF has provided fundamental scientific information, has been used as an important test facility in the space flight hardware design, development, and test process, and has also been a valuable source of data in the flight experiment definition process. The purpose of this document is to provide information and guidance to prospective researchers regarding the design, buildup, and testing of microgravity experiments.

Thompson, Dennis M.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Ground-Based Reduced-Gravity Facilities

For the past 30 years, NASA Lewis Research Center's ground-based reduced-gravity facilities have supported numerous investigations for several research disciplines. Lewis' two drop towers and its DC-9 aircraft have provided a low-gravity environment (gravitational levels that range from 1 percent of Earth's gravitational acceleration to onemillionth of that measured at the Earth's surface) for brief periods of time. "Zero gravity," the weightless condition also known as microgravity, can be produced in these facilities by creating a free-fall or semi-free-fall condition where the force of gravity on an experiment is offset by its linear acceleration during a "fall" (a drop in a tower or a parabolic maneuver by an aircraft). The low-gravity environment obtained "on the ground" in NASA facilities is the same as that of a spacecraft in orbit around the Earth.

Lekan, Jack F.↗