News

This Saturday, March 10, astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria will carry out a scientific experiments on the International Space Station designed on an accelerated basis by a Portland State University mechanical engineering professor.

Maseeh Scholarship MSME Student Ryan Jenson, Co-I Steven Collicott from Purdue, and NASA cadre at JSC, MSFC, and GRC will support the experiment in the NASA GRC control center in Cleveland, Ohio by assisting the astronaut with the NASA/PSU Capillary Flow Experiment experiment.

In response to a request from the NASA to design new, small-scale, hand-held experiments, associate professor Mark Weislogel, Ph.D, proposed three projects. His proposal is one of only four selected for development by NASA's Physical Science Research Division as the result of the fast-track effort to create alternative experiments.

Recognized internationally as an expert in low-gravity capillary flow, Weislogel designed experiments studying phenomena unique to weightless or near-weightless environments.

"Capillary flow is flow that is dominated by the combined effects of surface tension and wetting," he says. "It occurs in small systems on earth - such as in sponges, paper towels and porous materials. But, interestingly enough, it also occurs in large systems in low-gravity spacecraft because these small surface forces are the only forces at work once gravity is reduced to near zero."

Using a digital camcorder, the space station crew will record the flow of fluids in various small containment vessels. The research is key to developing improved fluid management systems for liquid fuels, cryogenics, spacecraft thermal control, waster water and other vital elements of space travel.

A member of the PSU faculty for the last six years, Weislogel was honored in 2003 as one of two professors presented with the Research Faculty Award by the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science. Professor Weislogel also leads the PSU Microgravity Flights project. "One of Dr. Weislogel's endearing traits is his enthusiasm to engage undergraduates in his research programs," says Dean Robert D. Dryden.