Project

SEI Zero-G Outreach

Steve Boxall/Zero-G

Groups

Space Exploration Initiative

SEI Zero-G Outreach Overview

The MIT Space Exploration Initiative Prototyping our Sci-Fi Space Future: Designing & Deploying Projects for Zero Gravity Flights (MAS.838 / 16.88) course on project development, prototyping, and deployment readiness for parabolic flights, culminates in an annually chartered research flight with Zero-G. In 2021, as part of SEI's commitment to democratize the future of space exploration, the SEI Zero-G Outreach program (0G-O) was developed; an outreach program to engage with the Cambridge Public School’s (CPS) grade 7 classes to teach them about research in microgravity, parabolic flight, and experiment design. The goal of the outreach program is to inspire the next generation of space scientists and engineers using virtual reality. The OG-O is now in it's third year of operation.

The CPS grade 7 curriculum covers ‘Mysteries of the Universe’ where students consider the role of gravity in the solar system. They also complete a unit on roller coasters in which they learn about key ideas of force, motion, and energy through the context of roller coasters. The 0G-O ties these two units together through video content developed by SEI teaching students the basics of parabolic flight and how we perceive gravity, gravity and its function in the universe, why and what we can study in microgravity, and how to design an experiment for microgravity. The students then design their own experiments for microgravity creating a formal payload proposal to be reviewed by students at MIT. These are down-selected to the top 5 experiments by the MIT students. These top 5 are provided with supplies to build their experiments which they then demonstrate to an astronaut. The astronaut then selects the top experiment which flies on the MIT chartered Zero-G parabolic flight. The flight and the experiment are filmed in VR video. Each participating school is provided with an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and a flight day is held at each school where the students experience the Zero-G flight and see the results of their experiment in an immersive VR environment. The 0G-O program is run annually in parallel with SEI's parabolic flight and is currently in it's third year of operation.

2021/2022 Flight and Experience:

The top two experiments were selected for flight to ensure that one experiment would have the opportunity to fly given the stringent compliance requirements for flight. The top-choice experiment, selected by astronaut Jeff Hoffman, explored mixing acetic acid with baking soda to produce CO2 in microgravity using light activated Arduino pumps. Unfortunately, due to the open electronic components and reactive liquids this experiment was not approved for flight. The second-choice experiment explored the liquid properties of mixing oil and water in microgravity.