Penn State Intercom......February 22, 2001
Student research
soars to new heights
By A'ndrea Elyse Messer
Public Information
This
March, four undergraduate engineering students will risk their equilibrium
and stomachs aboard NASA's KC135, nationally known as the "Vomit Comet,"
to test modifications to exercise equipment used in space. 
Chosen as participants in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, the group will test a modification of the Subject Load Device, the equipment currently used aboard the shuttle to tether astronauts to a treadmill in an attempt to ward off microgravity-induced osteoporosis.
"We don't know whether astronauts are loading their hips and spines tolevels found here on Earth," said James Pawelczyk, assistant professor of kinesiology and one of the group's co-advisers. Pawelczyk was a payload specialist during STS-90 on the space shuttle Columbia.
NASA's current Subject Load Device is passive, providing only the force of springs to tether the subject.
"We wanted a meaningful experiment, not just something we created to fly on the KC135," said Dawn Noga, a sophomore in engineering science. "We wanted a practical application to keep humans healthy in space."
"The problem is that the current design can't accommodate the range of motion found in typical human activities like squatting and running," said Pawelczyk.
Combating osteoporosis in microgravity is important because inhabitants of the Russian space station MIR experienced a bone-loss rate of 1.5 percent a month, 15 times greater than that experienced by postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis may be the limiting factor in long distance space flight, but understanding bone loss in space also might help treat age- and immobility-induced bone loss.
"Generally, NASA wants to load the hips of the astronauts with force equal to their body weight," said John Halenar, senior in electrical engineering. "But with the current system, if they load a 200-pound person to 200 pounds of force, the tension on the springs will be set at specific values. If that person bends over, then the tension decreases and the equipment would apply a proportionately lower load."
The modified equipment the students plan to test will have an active feedback system to produce a constant load. The new approach also will allow exercise that requires bending or squatting, exercise that will not work on the current system.
Four members of the eight-student team will fly aboard the Boeing KC-135A, two in each of two flights. John; Dawn; Ben Weber, senior in mechanical engineering; and Bill Marshall, senior in mechanical engineering, will brave the "Vomit Comet." The other four team members, Amy Seaman, sophomore in chemical engineering; Mike Moss, sophomore in electrical engineering; Robyn Berridge, sophomore in electrical engineering; and Dana Ahmed, sophomore in electrical engineering, will provide ground support. The group, including their co-adviser Sven Bilén, assistant professor of engineering design and graphics and electrical engineering, will spend a week at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, and will test their device both on the ground and in the air.
"The NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program provides an excellent interdisciplinary design experience for the students," said Bilén. "The students are in several different majors and are at different stages of their education. They have found that they have to work together effectively to meet deadlines and to develop a winning and ultimately flyable design."
The KC-135 simulates microgravity conditions by flying a roller-coaster shaped path, where the roller coaster has a 12,000-foot hill and the participants ride 40 times in a row. The topmost portion of the hill and the change in direction provide from 20 to 30 seconds of simulated microgravity during each loop. Although NASA routinely issues motion sickness medications, the "Vomit Comet" generally earns its nickname.
The Flyin' Lions' device will consist of a force plate, laptop computer and the modified subject load device consisting of two stepper motors to provide the active feedback force, a worm gear system and backup springs, along with the existing exercise harness.
The force plate upon which the students will walk or squat will be fixed so that the subjects will be lying down during most of the flight, helping them to avoid motion sickness. During the simulated microgravity portion of the flight, one student acting as the subject will either step in place or squat while wearing the exercise harness. Halfway through the flight, the two students on board will switch places and continue the experiment.
The students recognize that this is a proof-of-concept experiment that may or may not prove useful. Pawelczyk, however, believes that the experience goes far beyond the experiment or the classroom.
"These undergraduates have had to sit before the Behavioral and Biomedical Institutional Review Board, they have been through a design review, reacted to feedback and written their proposal. These are real-life experiences that they will find valuable in their professional careers."
The students also have planned a broad outreach program which includes a project journalist, Katie O'Toole, writer and co-host of "What's In The News," a WPSX public television show aimed at grade-school children. O'Toole also will be on the plane with the students.