NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST) SELECTIONS: A new call for FAST proposals was posted on January 23, 2009, open to all US companies, individuals, research institutions, universities and government agencies. Selections were announced on May 18, 2009. The selected projects along with the responsible organization and partner organizations are listed below. The flights will occur during the week of August 10, 2009 from Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.
› View 2009 FAST Selected Projects
› View Press Release
› View 2009 FAST Image Gallery
› View the 2009 FAST Cornell University Project Video

The Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST) provides opportunities for emerging technologies to perform testing in the space environment.

• Technologies that support NASA's missions but are not yet mature enough for adoption into on-going programs (see Technology Maturity below)
• Technologies that might not otherwise be tested due to lack of funding:
  • Small businesses and individuals
  • Universities and research institutions
  • NASA projects in early development

FAST utilizes commercially available flight test capabilities such as the Zero Gravity Corporation aircraft for parabolic flights. The current focus is on testing in micro-gravity, reduced-gravity or variable-gravity conditions on parabolic aircraft flights.

In the future the FAST program expects to provide opportunities to test technology on suborbital and orbital flights when those services are commercially available.


Parabolic Aircraft Flight Testing

NASA has been flying parabolic flights on NASA-owned KC-135 and C-9B aircraft for decades out of Ellington Field under the management of the Johnson Space Center's Reduced Gravity Office. Those flights have made numerous contributions to scientific advancement and technology development. The aircraft can provide about 25 seconds of near-zero-gravity conditions during each parabolic maneuver. It can provide variable gravity levels between zero and one, including 0.16 g for lunar conditions and 0.38 g for Mars conditions. An increased gravity level of up to 1.8 g can be provided for up to one minute.


Microgravity Services Contract
NASA awarded a contract to the Zero Gravity Corporation in January 2008 to provide commercial parabolic aircraft flights to simulate variable gravity environments for research and development work. Each flight includes 40-60 parabolic trajectories. NASA Flight Weeks will generally be conducted out of Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.