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For release: 04-21-03
Science Ops status report #: 03-061

InSPACE experiment is up and running in Space Station's Glovebox

Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit is researching fluids inside
the Microgravity Science Glovebox that could be used to develop the
next line of brake systems in automobiles or landing gear on
airplanes. The experiment - Investigating the Structure of
Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE) - is being
conducted for the first time in the microgravity environment of
space. Read more about other science activities on the Space Station.

It is research that could be used to develop the next line of brake
systems in automobiles or landing gear on airplanes. An experiment
onboard the International Space Station is researching a new class of
smart materials or controllable fluids that can be used to do just
that. It's called the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic
Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions or (InSPACE).

Over the past couple of weeks, Expedition 6 Space Station Science
Officer Don Pettit has been conducting runs of this experiment. The
work is being done inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox -- a
sealed container with built-in gloves, designed to provide an
enclosed workspace for investigations, which use potentially
hazardous particles, fluids, or flames and fumes. InSPACE studies how
particles and clumps of particles respond to an external magnetic
field. It is the first time this fluid physics experiment has been
conducted in the microgravity environment of space. 

In addition to operating and being the subject of on board science
investigations, Pettit and Commander Ken Bowersox went for a 6-hour,
26-minute space walk on April 8th. While they reconfigured critical
power cables, they also completed a number of get-ahead tasks for
future Space Station assembly.

As is standard with Extravehicular Activity or space walks, both
Pettit and Bowersox conducted Pre and Post EVA sessions of PuFF or
the Pulmonary Function in Flight experiment. This physiological study
supports the continuing investigation of the effects of long-term
microgravity exposure and EVA's on lung function.

Scientists on the ground are checking out another piece of hardware
in the Station's U.S. Lab-the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing
Apparatus (CGBA) --to see if it is a viable candidate to support new
payloads. CGBA supports commercial life science investigations with
applications in biomaterials, biotechnology, medicine and
agriculture. 

Middle school students around the world took command of the Space
Station's EarthKAM payload. EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by
Middle school students) allowed students from 65 different schools to
command a camera to take hundreds of pictures of Earth from the
Station. EarthKAM images are posted on the Internet at
http://datasystem.earthkam.ucsd.edu.

NASA's payload operations team at Marshall Space Flight Center
coordinates all science activities. Planners continue to schedule
activities for the rest of Expedition Six as well as Expedition
Seven. The two man Expedition Seven crew is scheduled to arrive at
the Station on a Soyuz spacecraft at the end of April.

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