A Lamar University student team has been selected to fly aboard NASA’s reduced-gravity aircraft as one of three teams chosen to participate in a lunar-G only flight.
In most flights, the reduced-gravity aircraft is used to produce a series of zero-G periods of up to 30 seconds each. By varying the parabolic maneuver flown, however, the aircraft can simulate lunar or martian gravity as well as the “zero-G” of space.
“Lunar-G flights were offered for the first time this year,” said Jim Jordan, chairman of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at Lamar, who holds a Ph.D. in geology from Rice University.
Lamar’s team was among 34 college and university teams from around the nation selected to fly this year.
Flying for the Lamar team will be Linsey Lewis, a senior education major and space science minor from Orange, Jonathan Sterling, a senior mechanical engineering and physics major with a minor in space science from Sour Lake; Chase Williams, a sophomore electrical engineering and physics major with a minor in space science from Lumberton; and Jared Mills, a junior general business major with a minor in space science from Beaumont. Serving is first alternate flyer is Jonah Cherry, a senior mechanical engineering major with a minor in Spanish from Buna.
Serving on ground crew for the team will be Tiffany Smith, a senior mechanical engineering major with a minor in mathematics from Mauriceville; Mark Grzovic, a senior geology major with a minor in space science, from St. Louis, Mo.; Bonnie Carter, a sophomore geology major from Vidor; and Michael Hennigan, a sophomore physics major from Beaumont.
The Lamar team will explore “disturbances of lunar soil simulant under vacuum and lunar gravity conditions” on the flight. The team will build a vacuum chamber in which lunar soil simulant will be placed, Jordan said. Under lunar gravity, one-sixth Earth’s gravity, an iron sphere will impact the soil at different speeds. In addition, a vibrating plate will disturb the soil. The students will collect data on the crater diameter and height and distribution of the disturbed soil.
“These experiments are important to our understanding of secondary regolith formation resulting from low-velocity impacts,” Jordan said.
Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock. Nearly the entire surface of the moon is covered with regolith, formed over the last 4.6 billion years by the impact of large and small meteoroids and the steady bombardment of micrometeoroids and solar- and galactic-charged particles breaking down surface rocks. This material ranges from 12 to 15 feet thick to 30 to 45 feet thick in older regions.
Material comprised of grains of one centimeter or less is called lunar soil. Materials of less than 100 microns are called lunar dust.
“We also will learn more about the effects of dust distribution by deployment of equipment at the lunar surface,” Jordan said.
The fine-grain character of the real lunar regolith is of utmost importance to lunar outpost considerations because of anticipated effects on equipment and human health. These experiments will provide some insight into the behavior of dust while working in the lunar environment.
