This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NASA Science News for May 2, 2003

Instant Glider--Just add Light

Sun-hardened, blow-up wings tested by students this weekend may
someday carry a robotic glider through the skies of Mars 

May 2, 2003:  Tomorrow a high-altitude balloon will rise to the edge
of space, bringing with it a small glider. Under the space-black sky
100,000 feet above Earth, the glider will sprout a pair of inflatable
wings from its sides. Ultraviolet rays from the Sun will harden them
to flight readiness. 

It's a scenario that may someday be used to send a winged planetary
explorer to Mars. If so, some of the more than 40 students at the
University of Kentucky who have designed and developed this glider
just might have a hand in making it happen. 

"Who knows? Some of the students who have really enjoyed this project
may find themselves working professionally on a glider probe in the
future to explore the Red Planet," says Suzanne Smith, associate
professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Kentucky and
one of the faculty advisers for the project called BIG BLUE--short
for Baseline Inflatable Glider Balloon Launched Unmanned Experiment. 

A glider soaring over the surface of Mars could take a much closer
look than an orbiting satellite, while also covering much more
territory than Sojourner-like rovers. 

But Mars's atmosphere is very thin--less than 1% as dense as the
Earth's--so a glider would need very long, thin wings to stay aloft.
With traditional rigid wings, even a master of origami could only
fold them so small. To pack the glider into as small a package as
possible for launch, some researchers are exploring the idea of "blow
up" wings that inflate when needed. 

It's an elegant solution to the problem of bulk, but it presents a
different problem of its own. Flexing of the inflatable wings during
flight makes the glider unstable, and this flexing is particularly
bad for the long, thin wings needed for Mars. 

To get rigid wings out of an inflatable package, the students are
using a little chemical wizardry to stiffen the wings after
inflation. 

All they need is a little help from the Sun.

"We're working with ILC Dover, Inc., to custom-tailor an epoxy
material that hardens when exposed to UV light so that it cures
properly at the temperatures and UV intensities at that altitude,"
says Smith, who oversees the project along with professors Jamey
Jacob, James Lumpp, and William Smith, all at UK. 

At the altitude where the glider will deploy its wings tomorrow the
Sun's ultraviolet radiation is much more intense than here on the
ground. Both the high radiation and the sparse air at 100,000 feet
resemble conditions on Mars, thus making this test a reasonable
approximation of what might happen on a real mission to the Red
Planet. The radiation would be dangerous for you or me, but it comes
in quite handy for transforming the balloon-like wings into
structurally rigid flight surfaces. 

"It's similar to the UV-hardened tooth fillings that dentists
sometimes use," Smith explains. The details are complex, but
basically when the photons of UV light strike the molecules of the
epoxy material, they induce a chemical change that turns the goopy
epoxy into a hard solid. 

Presto! Instant glider.


Working with the pros

Beyond developing a potential Mars exploration technology, the idea
behind the project is to give university students an enticing taste
of working on real, ambitious aerospace projects. 

"Tests and exams are one thing, but this project is letting senior
undergraduate engineering and computer science students experience
the complexities and the teamwork of a real project," Smith says.
NASA is funding the project as part of its Space Grant Aerospace
Workforce Development Program. 

The glider is much more than fancy wings and a body. Computerized
autopiloting, electronic tracking and communication hardware, and
optical measurement of wing shape and performance during flight are
just a small part of the complexity of a workable glider designed to
gather scientific data about itself. 

The 40-plus students have worked together with professional
scientists and engineers at several NASA centers, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and ILC Dover, the
company that makes astronauts' spacesuits and specializes in strong,
inflatable fabrics. 

ILC Dover is manufacturing the inflatable, self-hardening wings for
the project--to match specifications provided by the students--and
the balloon launch is being handled by Edge of Space Sciences, a
non-profit group based in Denver, Colorado.

"All these professionals make a point of treating the students as
peers working on a collaborative project--not like they're on a class
field trip," Smith says. 

For example, NASA's Langley Research Center worked with the students
to incorporate advanced surface measurement technologies that use
beams of light to measure the shapes of the wings during flight
(called "photogrammetry"). It's the same technology that NASA
engineers are developing for use with solar sails and other "
gossamer" spacecraft. Other student teams worked with NOAA to predict
UV intensities at the precise altitude, location, and time of year
when the flights will be performed. 

The test flight happening tomorrow over Colorado will only check the
deployment of the wings and the operation of the onboard electronics;
a parachute will bring the craft back down to earth. In the fall, a
new group of students will pick up the project and refine the
design. 

All the hard work will culminate in a full-blown test flight this
coming January, when the glider will actually fly back down. For the
students who can't attend the test flights, and for anyone else who's
interested in watching the progress of the flights, telemetry data
will be broadcast live on the web. 

For the students and their collaborators at NASA, watching their
brainchild sprout wings and fly home from the edge of space will
certainly be an unforgettable experience. And one day they just might
get to see their concept spread its wings over a planet of a redder
hue. 

Credits & Contacts
Author: Patrick L. Barry 
Responsible NASA official: Ron Koczor 
Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips 
Curator: Bryan Walls 
Media Relations: Steve Roy

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---