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Mark Weislogel, an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, has developed three fluid-flow experiments that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will send to the International Space Station this fall.

Weislogel's group of experiments, known collectively as the Capillary Flow Experiments, is one of only three projects selected by NASA as the result of a nationwide "fast to flight" effort to create alternative small-scale, hand-held experiments in the wake of the space shuttle Columbia tragedy in February 2003. The temporary grounding of the shuttle fleet halted NASA's plan for sending large research experiments to the Space Station. Now, smaller Russian Progress rockets are supplying the space station, warranting the need for experiments that can be transported in limited cargo space.

Weislogel's experiments will analyze the flow of fluids in weightless or near-weightless environments--research that may help develop improved fluid-management systems for fuels, cooling systems, wastewater recycling, and other vital elements of space travel.