Soccer Ball in Zero Gravity @benwl

Plasma Ben | Soccer Ball in Zero Gravity @benwl | Uploaded 14 years ago | Updated 22 hours ago
This video shares the experience of a research scientist and an undergraduate university team from Nebraska while performing research and education outreach on a microgravity aircraft (aka: vomit comet). The soccer ball shown in this video contained a ContourHD camera (donated by VholdR.com) and 3 high precision gyroscopes (donated by gyroscopes.com) to stabilize the ball in pitch, yaw, and roll while in microgravity.

More on gyroscopic stabilization here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdAmEEAiJWo&feature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/gyr.html#gyr2

The purpose of the flight was to conduct NASA related research in microgravity while involving university students to this research planning, development, data collection, and analysis. The program involved flying several experiments on two flight days for a total of 60 microgravity parabolas. The abstract for the research is here:
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/SE/theProjects/project-detail.cfm?experimentID=24

NASA's Microgravity Program:
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov

NASA's SEED Microgravity Program:
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/SE

Boiling water to ice transition on a -20C day in Wisconsin

VASIMR VX-200 Full Field Full Power 1st Stage, HD

Alka-Seltzer added to spherical water drop in microgravity

$In-vacuum Camera View Of The VASIMR VX-200i This is one test firing in a series of experiments with the VASIMR VX-200 plasma rocket prototype. The rockets 1st stage (a Helicon plasma source) was fired at 30 kW using a state-of-the-art solid state RF power supply, and the rockets 2nd stage was fired at 144 kW using a second solid state RF power supply. Argon gas was used as the propellant, and gives a distinctive purple/blue/UV glow. The second half of the video is slowed down to 1/10 speed during the firing of the second stage. The plasma diagnostics that can be seen in this video are situated on an x-y motion stage capable of moving side to side 200cm and in an out 500cm with 0.5mm precision. The diagnostic suite was moved to a close approach in front of the rockets plasma exhaust. Because of the extreme temperatures and heating within the plasma exhaust, the diagnostics are all constructed out of refractory metals, high temperature ceramics, or graphite (or all three). The rocket and everything else seen in this video is located within a vacuum chamber, used to simulate the vacuum environment of space. The VX-200 is the precursor to the VF-200, a flight demonstration unit that is intended to fly on the International Space Station (ISS). http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/dec/HQ_08-332_VASMIR_engine.html www.adastrarocket.com$