The Membrains - SPFC'06

8 minutes of fame

2006-10-13T00:10:00.000+02:00

We got our 8 minutes of fame today when the Norwegian popular science TV show aired the story they have been making about us. The clip may be seen at http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/196099.

SPFC 2006 finished

2006-10-04T12:47:00.000+02:00

We have not been too good at updating this blog while we were out flying. This will be one of the last posts, only followed by a sum-up of the results when we have them.

Preliminary results:
0-G is cool!

Flight times are finally up!

2006-06-22T10:13:00.000+02:00

At long last we know what group we will be in! We are in the first batch of experiments which means that we will go to Bordeaux in the time between August 30th and September 8th. If nothing has been altered since May this will be our schedule:

August 30th: Arrival to NOVESPACE, Bordeaux.
August 31st: Loading of experiments into the A300 Zero-G.
September 1st: Testing of the experiments inside the aircraft.
September 4th: Safety briefings and flight suit delivery.
September 5th: Flight number 1!
September 6th: Flight number 2 and unloading of experiments.

It seems we will have som time off as well! I heard the beach in Bordeaux is really nice!

Torbjørn has a new job!

2006-06-22T10:08:00.000+02:00

Torbjørn has gotten a space job! In the coming years he will work for Andøya Rocket Range, he will make sure the Norwegian student satellite projects go smoothly. We congratulate!

Airbus A300 Zero-G

2006-06-14T16:25:00.000+02:00

The aircraft that will take us into weightlessness is a great big plane called the A300 Zero-G. It is one of the very first Airbus A300 passenger planes - it was originally built as a test aircraft. It has never been certified for passenger flight, so each flight is considered a test flight. The photo shows the A300 Zero-G just before the "injection" phase where the Earth's gravity is nullified by the parabolic trajectory of the plane.

The camera wizards

2006-06-13T08:36:00.000+02:00

In order for us to document our research the best possible way, we have consulted with Midgard Media Lab at NTNU. They are great at what they do, and have helped us. Now they also have posted an article about us on their website.

http://www.ntnu.no/midgard/N_Zero_gravity.html

A Celebrity Guest

2006-05-31T19:23:00.000+02:00

Who is this woman, you might ask - at least if you don't watch "Schrödingers Cat." This is Gry Beate Molvær and she will fly with us as our team journalist. We are a bit honored and very happy to have Norway's most famous science journalist with us.

Tekna did a long interview with her back in 2003.

Arabidopsis Thaliana

2006-05-24T11:17:00.000+02:00

The plant whose seeds we will primarily use is called Arabidopsis Thaliana, Thale Cress, Mouse-Ear Cress and/or Vårskrinneblom. It is related to cabbage and mustard plants. The plant seeds are tiny, the diameter is less than 1 mm.

The plant is used extensively in biology experiments due to its short generation timespan (6 weeks) and because the genome is small and reasonably well known. (Wikipedia)

New Rack design

2006-05-21T11:14:00.000+02:00

Here is our new rack design. The microscope is covered by a "tent" made out of cloth of preferably transparent plastic of some sort. This fulfills the requirement that we seal of any point at which a water leak could occur. The electrical circuitry is still not drawn.
This links to a complete (.jpg) schematic.

The rack will be installed along one side wall of the aircraft cabin.

Our project - explained

2006-05-19T09:16:00.000+02:00

It seems to be about time to give a short summary of what our experiment is, and why.

Background - plant cultivation in space:
When spending long periods of time in space, it is important to get the right nutritions. Food on a tube is not that appetizing for long periods of time. When people are ready to travel to Mars, and beyond, it will demand so much supplies, that it might be a solution to grow food when underway, or when stationed at remote places, such as Mars. But before this can be carried out, we need to know how plants deal with the space environment. A lot of processes are different up there, in 0-G, than down here on Earth. This is what the MULTIGEN experiment will uncover. http://www.bio.ntnu.no/Plantebiosenteret/Engelsk/Projects/ISS/iss.htm The experiment will send up seeds that will grow 3 generations in the International Space Station. Then the researchers will look at which genes change when growing in 0-G conditions.

The challenge - whats up in space?
When the seeds on Earth starts to grow, they use gravity to figure out what is up and what is down. The root is directed downwards, and the leaves and the rest go up so that it can catch some sunrays and get the energy it needs to grow. We can also observe that the plant turnes against the sun, so that it can catch the sunlight most efficiently. But what happns in 0-G?

The trick for making the plants grow the right way, will be to fix a light source right above. The problem, however, is that the plants does not use the sun for navigation in the first stage of growing. Therefore, in order to maximize the possibility of the plants growing up, we need to make sure that the seeds are fixed the correct way from the beginning. The correct way, that is, is with the pointy end of the seed, which is less than 1mm in lenght.

The task of fixating the seeds is made even harder by the fact that after they are fixated, they are to be put on top of a rocket, that will run fast, but shakingly into space.

The solution - plastic?
When you go shopping, you usually carry your groceries in a bag made from PVC (or sometimes paper, but that's irrelevant for this example). PVC is short for PolyVinyl Chloride. But there also exists another kind of plastic, called PVA, or PolyVinyl Alcohol. The PVA has most of the same properties of PVC, but has one big difference that is of use to us. It dissolves in water (imagine walking to your car, bag filled with groceries, and it starts to rain...). This property is what makes it interresting to us, because we can use PVA to fixate the seeds. When they arrive safely in space, the system is turned on, and water is injected. The water then both dissolves the PVA, and makes the seed start growing. Since the seed now already has its top and bottom in the right direction, it will grow a bit, and then it will feel the "sun" and continue to grow.

This is great, but why do you need to play in 0-G to test this?
We know how the PVA dissolves on Earth, and it seems to work well. The question is, will it dissolve in the same way on 0-G conditions? Will it stretch unevenly and drag the seed over, or "throw" it up in the air? Since there is no gravity, it does not need to achieve high speeds to destroy the experiment. If a seed is suspended in mid-air, it simply will not grow. Therefore we set out on our mission to find out how this works. We will do this in one of the fastest-moving laboratories that exists, an Airbus A-300 airplane accellerating towards Earth at 9.81metres per square second, making the passengers inside the plane experiencing 0-G, or weightlesness, for a short time.

Color dye tests

2006-05-15T17:53:00.000+02:00

Basit and I tested the prototype today, we added green food colour to the injected water. It is obvious that the entire polypropylene felt is not wetted in the current construction. Perhaps we will need a smaller diameter of the felt, we are considering reducing the diameter of the felt from 2.5mm to 2mm. We got some great video with the HDV camera (including Basit's nose), Basit can hopefully add some stills soon!

Prototype work

2006-05-10T09:18:00.000+02:00

Things are comming togeather. Now er have decided upon a microscope for the camera, and have a prototype for the PVA-testing.

The team is healthy and ready to fly!

2006-05-09T10:29:00.000+02:00

Now, 3 og my teammates have passed the JAR-FCL 3 test. I choose to take the French Class 2 test, just to get the extra challenge of the language barrier.

The bonus with theese tests are that now, we can all start on our flight certificates.

The Membrains @ Noordwijk

2006-04-21T14:51:00.000+02:00

The Membrains' workshop delegates are looking sharp as they are approaching the workshop. Their goal is to show the world how fascinating our project is.

One day, we will use one of theese for landing after beeing in 0g, but this summer, we will go in an aeroplane. One step at a time.

Presenting the project.
After a long night of working, dark eyewear is used to shield those tired eyes.

2006-04-21T14:40:00.000+02:00

This was not the toilet used during the workshop.
The workshop participants enjoyed the beutiful Dutch weather.
The room mates that tricked our people into giving away the best beds, as mentioned in the post about the seminar.
ISS Columbus module, one day, we will se the original one.....

Workshop in Noordwijk, Day 2

2006-04-12T11:31:00.000+02:00

The day started once more with a bus ride to ESTEC. We watched a bunch of 5-minute presentations by the other teams about their zero-g experiments, and we got a ton of information about rack building. We also saw a short movie about the flight, the view from the cockpit of the plane is stomach-churning - it looks as if the plane is pointed straight down into the ocean.

After lunch we finally got to speak to our NOVESPACE contact, the very French mr. Frederic Gai, who turned out to be a nice guy. After reducing the size of our rack to one third of its former size he did not have to many concerns. He also made us enclose the camera and specimen inside a transparent plastic bag that is to remain closed in the zero-g phases of the flight.
We also wanted to rehearse our own 5-minute presentation that is due tomorrow, and we finally found a quiet enough spot inside the mock-up version of the ISS Columbus module.

In a fine example of Northern Europeans sticking together we spontaneously joined with the other Norwegian teams and the German teams and braved the now stormy weather of the Noordwijk beach promenade to find a nice Italian restaurant.

Afterwards everyone converged to the Flying Pig for drinks. The adult organizers of the campaign were already there with many of the other groups, sitting on the floor in the packed bar. There was socializing untill around 2 am. Thanks to the lack of discretion shown by the other Norwegian team, the bet about Miss Celton's age (24) was dramatically settled in favor of the Romanians.

Workshop in Noordwijk, Day 1

2006-04-11T10:56:00.000+02:00

Waking up early in the morning, we were herded to ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) and after some serious security checks, got to sit down and meet the organizers, such as the lovely Elisabeth Celton (SPFC head). From there, it was a power-point fest lasting several hours and enlightening us with info about the parabolic flight campaign. The most interesting presentation was with tough-guy Vladimir Pletser (Former Belgian astronaut candidate & Parabolic Flight Director). This was followed by a course in patience as we spent the most of the afternoon waiting for the experts to show up and help us out.

After returnig to "the Pig" from ESTEC, we went out to experience the local cuisine. We could not resist the alluring "Mannen Burger", aka Mc280 at the only open establishment: McDonald's. The night was topped off with a few cold ones at the surf bar in "the Pig". We made a bet with the Rumenians in our room about whether E. Celton's age is more or less our own age which is 25 and 26.

Workshop in Noordwijk Day 0

2006-04-10T10:47:00.000+02:00

Team members Basit and Dag arrived in Noordwijk, the Netherlands around midnight. At the last minute we were moved from Hotel Mitchbi to the more "homely" Flying Pig Hostel. We were lodged in a 4-man room together with two new Romanian friends from team LEDA. After they pulled some coin trick on us it was decided that The Membrains got the crap bunk beds, while team LEDA got the luscious soft hotel beds.

The Membrains have a blog

2006-04-08T11:02:00.000+02:00

We are a team of 4 students participating in ESAs Student Parabolic Flight Campaign 2006. In September, we will be flying high and experiencing 0g.