CELERE – Capillary Effects on Liquids Exploratory Research Experiments

An ISS Research Design Challenge

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?

CELERE is an educational program at NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) enabling students to participate in microgravity research on capillary action related to that conducted on the International Space Station (ISS). Students create their own experiments using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) with a provided template and tutorial for the freely downloaded version of LibreCAD Software. Experiment proposals, which each consist of a single CAD drawing and short entry form, are e-mailed to NASA. The test cells are then manufactured by NASA engineers and scientists at no cost to the students using the drawings and a computer-controlled laser cutter.

Each experiment is conducted in Glenn Research Center’s Drop Tower, where it will fall 30 meters (100 feet) and experience 2.2 seconds of apparent near weightlessness, i.e., microgravity. Video and still images from each drop are provided online for each student or team for analysis and reporting of results, for example in a science fair or class presentation. NASA will review the final reports with the winning teams potentially earning free trips to a research conference.

WHAT IS CAPILLARY ACTION?

Capillary action happens when the molecules of a liquid (like water) are more attracted to a surface than to each other. In paper towels, the molecules move along tiny fibers. In plants (like celery), they move upward through narrow tubes called capillaries.

Capillary action can be difficult to observe on Earth because of gravity, except in small capillaries.  But while experiments fall in a drop tower, where there seems to be almost no gravity, capillary effects are easy to see and study.

WHAT IS A DROP TOWER?

When an experiment falls down GRC’s Drop Tower (shown on the right from the 8^th floor), it behaves as if gravity has nearly vanished – of course neglecting the fall! Our sensation of gravity and weight comes from a resistance to its pull, for example because of the floor holding us up. While freely falling, we feel weightless and that is the basis for many amusement park rides. This works because all objects fall at the same acceleration unless acted upon by another force. As one result, the astronauts and the ISS fall together (around Earth) such that the astronauts float within the space station. This happens even though the space station is so close to Earth that the gravity is only about 10% less than that on the planet’s surface.

WHO CAN APPLY?

The design challenge is for students in grades 8-12, who may participate as individuals or in teams of any size. Teams may include younger students as long as there is at least one team member in grades 8-12, where this can facilitate the participation of 4-H clubs, Scout troops, etc. The program is limited to students from the United States. It is open to all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Students in other countries – even if U.S. citizens – are ineligible, with the exception of those attending DODEA schools for the children of U.S. military personnel. Youth are free to get help from adults, for example in creating their CAD drawing.

WHAT FORMS DO I NEED?

In order to apply for this challenge you must review and complete the following:

• CELERE Entry form
• CELERE Handbook
• CELERE Flyer
• LibreCAD Tutorial

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE TIMELINE?

Proposals must be submitted to celere@lists.nasa.gov by TBD, where it is expected that the selected experiments will be conducted during that month. Written reports on the results are due to celere@lists.nasa.gov by TBD. Some participants will be invited to present their results at a technical conference on TBD.

WHERE IS THE CHALLENGE?

Students participate remotely, without traveling to NASA. But they can interact with NASA by e-mail or teleconferencing. However, some participants will be invited to present their results in a student poster session at the TBD meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) on  TBD.  Limited financial support may be available for invited non-local teams to travel to Baltimore, Maryland for this purpose.  It is envisioned that up to six teams will be invited to the conference, where three are local and three are non-local, e.g., from more than 150 miles away from the conference site.

WHY SHOULD I PARTICIPATE?

The design challenge enables students to learn about computer technology and participate in research related to space station science, both of which can inspire the pursuit of STEM careers. Scouting students could potentially use the CAD drawing toward completion of the Drafting merit badge. And selection in a nation-wide NASA design challenge is an accomplishment worth noting on college applications!

RESOURCES

Capillary Action Information

• http://water.usgs.gov/edu/capillaryaction.html
• http://web.mit.edu/nnf/education/wettability/index1.html
• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/surten2.html#c4

Microgravity Information

• http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/shuttlestation/station/microgex.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/microgravity/home/index.html

LibreCAD Information

• LibreCAD – Free Open Source 2D CAD
• LibreCAD Tutorial
• CELERE Template

Other Challenge Documentation

• CELERE Entry form
• CELERE Handbook

FAQ

Q: What are the constraints for my design?

A: The design must have at least two channels and fit inside the predetermined area on the template. You must develop your design in such a way that it answers your research question while also being unique from previous designs (which can be viewed in the CELERE Handbook). In the drawing the lines must be created in the CUT layer, be continuous, extend from the template base to the green line, and be at least 3 mm apart. Further explanation of design constraints can be found inside the CELERE Handbook.

Q: Can I apply as an individual?

A: You can enter this challenge as either a member of a team or as an individual!

Q: Can I submit more than one experiment?

A: A student may be associated with at most one experiment, whether they do so as an individual or as a member of a team.  Furthermore, a maximum of 7 experiment proposals may be submitted by a single school or organization for the challenge.

Q: How do I analyze my drop tower video?

A: In the CELERE Handbook there is a section detailing the steps to take to analyze your drop tower video using a free software program called ImageJ.

Q: Will I be able to make any changes to my design once submitted to NASA?

A: Once designs are submitted; they will be viewed for approval by the challenge experts. The tentative plan is to reject any submissions that violate the design guidelines without request for revisions. Make sure that your design meets all design specifications and constraints before submission.

Q: What am I not allowed to design?

A: You may not submit designs that violate the design constraints such as designs that have channel walls closer than 3 mm or designs that do not extend to the green section. Additionally, no one is allowed to submit designs that feature “islands” or chunks of uncut material inside the channels. Nothing, including text, can be placed outside of the designated location in the template.

Q: Is there any cost associated with participating in this challenge?

A: There is no cost to participate in CELERE other than the optional conference travel. The conference registration fee may be covered for the teams with the best final reports submitted to NASA.

FURTHER QUESTIONS?

E-mail the challenge staff at celere@lists.nasa.gov.

2024 Drop Tower Challenge

Expulsion: Microgravity Expulsion from Water

WHAT?
Teams of grade 8-12 students are challenged to design and build simple devices which will float in water in normal gravity and will be expelled as far as possible from the water because of wetting characteristics when they experience apparent weightlessness, i.e., microgravity, in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower (shown below).  To be clear, the expulsion must result from the hydrophilic or hydrophobic (‘water loving’ or ‘water fearing’) surface(s) of the objects and not because of mechanical means, such as released ballast.

Teams are only responsible for their surfacing devices, where NASA will provide the rest of the experimental hardware.  After developing their concept(s), the youth prepare their proposal, consisting of conceptual drawing(s) and a short entry form, which is e-mailed to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.
If selected, the youth prepare their test objects per guidelines provided on the challenge website.  The devices are then sent to NASA where they will fall 24 meters (79 feet).  Video results are provided for student analysis and reporting.

Expulsion of a ping pong ball in a 2.1-second drop test at Oregon’s Portland State University.

WHO?
This design challenge is for students in grades 8-12 from U.S. schools, including the fifty states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all DODEA schools (which are for children of U.S. military personnel).  Except for the DODEA schools, this challenge is not open to participants outside of the United States regardless of citizenship.
Teams will be favored over individuals in selection.  Youth are expected to do most of the work, but may get help from adults, for example in building their test objects.  Furthermore:
Teams may be of any size, but a maximum of four students per team will be invited to the 2024 ASGSR meeting; see the next section.
Each student may belong to no more than one team.
Each team may submit no more than one proposal.
An organization (e.g., school, science center, 4H club, Scout troop) may have many teams, but it may submit no more than two proposals to NASA. It is envisioned that no more than one proposal will be selected per organization.

SELECTION?
NASA anticipates selecting up to 30 teams to build objects to be tested at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After evaluation of the experimental results and teams’ reports, a small number of top-performing teams will be invited to present their results in a student poster session at the 2024 meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR).

WHERE?
Participation is remote, where participants do not travel to NASA for the testing.  An exception is for those teams invited to present their results at the 2024 ASGSR meeting, but the location will not be announced until Nov. 2023.

COST?
Testing in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower
There is no cost to participate in the challenge other than for (1) the preparation of the test objects, (2) the shipment of the test objects to NASA, and (3) travel costs for those invited to present their results at the ASGSR meeting.  Regarding the latter, the ASGSR has normally provided travel support of $500 each for invited non-local students who present their results at the conference.

WHEN?

2023	Nov. 1	–	deadline for proposal
	Early December	–	NASA announces teams selected for testing
2024	Jan.-February	–	teams prepare test objects
	February 15	–	deadline for arrival of test objects at NASA
	Feb.-March	–	testing in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower
	April	–	analysis and report writing
	May 1	–	deadline for written report
	Mid-May	–	NASA announces teams selected for ASGSR participation
	Fall 2024	–	annual ASGSR meeting (probably in early November)

WHY?
Participation in a nation-wide NASA design challenge could be good to include in college applications.  And it is likely that your team will be selected for testing.  Thus far, nearly 100% of the proposing teams have been selected for participation in this series of problem-based drop tower challenges.

HINTS
Design and build multiple test objects so that you can compare their results in your report and poster too if invited to present at the ASGSR meeting.
Conduct your own microgravity trials. For inspiration, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Dianna Cowern.  The challenge staff can provide additional guidance.
DOWNLOADS
Expulsion 2024 Flyer
Expulsion 2024 Guide
Expulsion 2024 Entry Form

QUESTIONS?
Check the guide if available or email the challenge staff at Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa

2023 Drop Tower Challenge

DIVER: Diving into Experimental Research

Winners of the 2023 DIVER challenge with Dr. Lisa Carnell, director of NASA’s Biological & Physical Sciences Division (BPS) in Washington, DC at the 2023 meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR).

First Place (left)

Will it Float? A Microgravity Study of the Factors Influencing a Solid’s Wettability
Sofia Eisenberg and Grace Young
Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, MD

Second Place (center)

Dynamics in Microgravity
Darren W. Cheng, Ryan W. Cheng, and Jonathan L. Lin
Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates, CA

Third Place (right)

Designing a Hydrophilic Object that Submerges in Water Under Conditions of Microgravity
Ethan Plageman
Bloom Carroll Middle School, Carroll, OH

WHAT?

Teams of grade 8-12 students are challenged to design and build simple devices which in normal gravity will float in water, but which will submerge as far as possible because of wetting characteristics when they experience apparent weightlessness, i.e., microgravity, in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower (shown below).  An example diving test can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOqYCt-n2ts.

Teams are only responsible for their diving devices, where NASA will provide the rest of the experimental hardware.  After developing their concept(s), the youth prepare their proposal, consisting of conceptual drawing(s) and a short entry form, which is e-mailed to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.

If selected, the youth prepare their unique diving devices per guidelines provided on the challenge website.  The devices are then sent to NASA where they will fall 24 meters (79 feet).  Video results are provided for student analysis and reporting.

WHO?

This design challenge is for students in grades 8-12 from U.S. schools, including the fifty states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all DODEA schools (which are for children of U.S. military personnel).  Except for the DODEA schools, this challenge is not open to participants outside of the United States regardless of citizenship.

Teams, which can be of any size, will be favored over individuals in selection.  Youth are free to get help from adults, for example in building their experiment hardware.  An organization (e.g., school, science center, 4H club, Scout troop, group of friends) may submit no more than four proposals, where it is envisioned that no more than two will be selected from a single organization.  Each student may belong to no more than one team, which may submit no more than one proposal.

SELECTION?

NASA anticipates selecting up to 20 teams to build objects to be tested at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After evaluation of the experimental results and teams’ reports, a small number of top-performing teams will be invited to present their results in a student poster session at the 2023 meeting of the American Society for Gravitation and Space Research (ASGSR).

WHERE?

Participation is remote, where participants do not travel to NASA for the testing.  An exception is for those teams invited to present their results at the 2023 ASGSR meeting, but the location will not be announced until Nov. 2022.

COST?

There is no cost to participate in the challenges other than for (1) the preparation of the test objects, (2) the shipment of the test objects to NASA, and (3) travel costs for those invited to present their results at the ASGSR meeting.  Regarding the latter, the ASGSR has normally provided travel support of $500 each for invited non-local students who present their results at the conference.

WHEN?

2022   Nov. 13		deadline for proposal
Early December		NASA announces teams selected for testing
2023   Jan.-February		preparation of test objects
Feb. 13		deadline for arrival of test objects at NASA
Feb.-March		testing in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower
April		analysis and report writing
May 1		deadline for written report
Mid-May		NASA announces teams selected for ASGSR participation
Fall 2023		annual ASGSR meeting (probably in early Nov.)

WHY?

The odds are quite good that your team will be selected for testing.  Thus far, 100% of the proposing teams have been selected for participation in this series of problem-based drop tower challenges.  Participation in a nation-wide NASA challenges could be good to include in college applications.

HINTS

• Design and build multiple test objects so that you can compare and contrast their results in your report and poster too if invited to present at the ASGSR meeting.
• Conduct your own microgravity trials. For inspiration, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Dianna Cowern.  The challenges staff can provide additional guidance.

DOWNLOADS

DIVER 2023 Flyer
DIVER 2023 Entry Form
DIVER Guide

QUESTIONS?

Answers can be found at https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/space/education-outreach/drop-tower-competition/.  If that doesn’t suffice, email the challenge staff at Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.

2021 Drop Tower Challenge Droplet Ejection

What?
Teams of grade 9-12 students are challenged to design and build simple devices using capillary flow (only) to eject water droplets as far as possible while the devices fall down NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower.

Teams are only responsible for their capillary devices. NASA will provide the rest of the experimental hardware. After developing their concept(s), the youth prepare their proposal, consisting of conceptual drawing(s) and a short entry form, which is then e-mailed to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.  Note that this is different from a past challenge that used silicone oil as the test fluid.
If selected, the team prepares their capillary devices based on information provided on the challenge website.  The devices are then sent to NASA where they will fall 24 meters (79 feet) and experience 2.2 seconds of apparent near weightlessness, i.e., microgravity.  Video results will then be provided for student analysis and reporting.

What forms do I need to apply?
Droplet Ejection Guide
Droplet Ejection Entry Form
Droplet Ejection Flyer

Challenge Overview

Why?
The odds are very high that your team will be selected for testing.  Thus far, 100% of the proposing teams have been selected for participation in this series of problem-based drop tower challenges.  Participation in a nation-wide NASA challenge might be a good addition to college applications.

Who?
This design challenge is for students in grades 9-12 from U.S. schools, including the fifty states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all DODEA schools (which are for children of U.S. military personnel).  With the exception of the DODEA schools, it is not open to participants outside of the United States regardless of citizenship.  Teams, which can be of any size, will be favored over individuals in selection.  Students may get help from adults, for example in building their experiment hardware.
An organization (e.g., school, science center, 4H club, Scout troop) may submit no more than four proposals, where it is envisioned that no more than two will be selected from a single organization.  Each student may belong to only one team, which may submit only one proposal.

Selection?
NASA anticipates selecting up to 20 teams to build objects to be tested at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After evaluation of the experimental results and teams’ reports, a small number of top-performing teams will be invited to present their results in a student poster session at the 2021 meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR).

Where?
Challenge participation is remote and participants do not travel to NASA for the testing.  But top-performing teams will be invited to present their results at the 2021 ASGSR meeting, which is to be held in Baltimore, Maryland.

Cost?
There is no cost to participate in the challenge other than for the (1) preparation of the test objects, (2) shipment of the test objects to NASA, and (3) travel costs for those invited to present their results at the ASGSR meeting.  Regarding the latter, the ASGSR has often provided travel support of $500 each for invited non-local students who present their results at the conference.

Things to Know

Calendar

Now                          open for proposals

Nov. 10, 2020         deadline for e-mail submission of proposals to NASA

Mid-December       teams selected for testing announced by NASA

Dec.-February       preparation of test objects

Due to the continuing Pandemic, the scheduled events for the 2021 Drop Tower Challenge  will not occur as scheduled. Emails have been sent to all teams with alternative activities. If you did not receive it, please contact the challenge staff at Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.

Key Rules

Proposals: No more than 5 proposals will be accepted per organization (e.g., school, science center, 4-H club, Scout troop), and no more than one proposal will be accepted from one team.

Team: Teams can be of any size, but each student can only be on one Each team is required to have an adult advisor, who may advise multiple teams.

Number: Each team may include up to 3 objects in their proposal and if selected for testing may submit no more than 3 objects for that purpose.

Size: An object’s longest dimension (e.g., length or diameter) may be no more than 60 mm and no less than 40 mm.

Prohibited materials: hazardous materials (e.g., that are corrosive, toxic, radioactive), materials or coatings that dissolve in or react with water, small creatures (whether dead or alive), most biological materials. If you choose to construct an object using a fragile material (e.g., glass), it must be packaged carefully to prevent it from breaking during shipping and keep the challenge staff safe.
Selection Criteria for ASGRS Conference

Teams will be evaluated based on the following:
Performance during testing in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower
Team’s analysis
Team’s final report

Failure to submit a final report by the deadline will disqualify a team from being selected for ASGSR participation regardless of their test performance!

What To Do
There are four phases to participating in the challenge:
prepare your proposal – open to all eligible
develop & self-test your test object(s) – if the team’s proposed project is selected for testing
analyze & document the results – generally after the NASA microgravity testing, but some draft text can be written during the second phase
present at the 2021 ASGSR conference – if invited to participate based on the challenge performance and submitted report
Each phase is separated by a submission to NASA and subsequent phases rely on the earlier ones for continued participation.  The proposal is used to determine whether a team will continue to phase 2, and the objects must be submitted for testing in order to have results to analyze and write about in phase 3.  Finally, the test performance and written report will both be used to determine which teams are invited to present their results in the student poster session at the 2021 ASGSR conference (phase 4).
1. Prepare your proposal
1.1  Understand the challenge
The goal is to design and build an object which will cause water droplets, to be spontaneously ejected upward as far as possible due to capillary forces (only) when they enter microgravity conditions.
Scoring: An object’s score will be calculated based on the vertical distance travelled by the ejected droplet(s).  If water is not ejected from the nozzle, the vertical distance travelled inside the nozzle will be used (although there will be a point penalty for no ejection).  For this reason, we recommend making your nozzles out of a clear or translucent material so that the water rise can be observed.  If your nozzle is opaque, you won’t earn any points if the water isn’t ejected.  In case of a tie, the winner will be  the team with the largest droplet ejected.  If there is still a tie, the team with the most droplets ejected will be the winner.
Capillary action occurs when the attraction between the liquid and the surface (adhesion) is stronger than the the liquid’s attraction to itself (cohesion).  The adhesion/cohesion balance affects how liquids interact with a surface and can cause the liquid to move, for example when the force of gravity seems to disappear.  [Recall, that motion (or a change in motion) occurs when forces are not balanced.]  The geometry of the surface, including both the shape and dimensions, can influence the resulting motion.
A surface’s properties can also affect liquid interactions, where their influence can be particularly strong in microgravity.  Surfaces can be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic, that is ‘water fearing’ or ‘water loving.’  As an extreme example, the leaves of the Lotus flower have a superhydrophobic surface where researchers are working to mimic the Lotus effect.
1.2  Watch video of droplet ejection
Droplet ejection in microgravity can be seen in the video clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXKM6D9rPis. Please know that the challenge staff will not share additional details of how the spontaneous capillarity-driven droplet ejection was achieved, as we are looking for participating teams to research and find their own approaches to the challenge rather than copy what was done in the video. Note that the referenced video used silicone oil, while this challenge uses water. These fluids have different properties that determine how each rises up a nozzle.
1.3  Develop your test object concepts
Design – Based on your research, design your test object(s) using the guidelines below to achieve the highest score as described in the previous section. Note that NASA will provide the rest of the experiment hardware including the water (which will tentatively be colored), the three water containers in which your objects will be tested (with one object per container), the video camera, and lighting.
Number – Each selected team can submit up to three different objects for testing. Using multiple objects allows a team to compare test results, for example in the required report and – if invited – at the 2021 ASGSR conference.  Of course, at least one test object must be proposed and assuming selection built and shipped to NASA for testing.
Materials – The objects should be fabricated from transparent material such as plastic or you risk a scoring loss as discussed in section 1.1.  Glass and similarly fragile materials are acceptable with proper packaging.  Coatings, if any, must also be transparent or you similarly risk a scoring loss.  Water-soluble materials and coatings are prohibited, as are materials and coatings which chemically react with water.  For safety, corrosive, toxic, and radioactive materials are prohibited.  Other hazards such as sharp edges, compressed gases, batteries, and lasers are not allowed.  Small creatures (such as insects), are not allowed, whether they are dead or alive.  Other biological samples, such as foods, are generally not allowed, but materials such as wood, cork, cotton, wool, and leather are allowed exceptions.
Containers – Each of the team’s objects will be tested in its own container of water. The vessel’s interior is a rectangular prism which is 210 mm (8.25 in) tall and 63 mm (2.4 in) across from left to right and front to back (i.e., where the cross-section is square).  Each of the team’s objects will be placed alone inside a container which will then be filled with water to a height of 100 mm (4.0 in).  The team may specify if a certain orientation is required for their object, e.g., in a drawing.  Three objects, each in a separate container, are typically tested during a single drop operation.
Size – The longest dimension of each object shall be no more than 60 mm (2.36 in) and no less than 40 mm (0.241.575 in).
Water Rise – In microgravity conditions, the water must rise because of the object’s capillary action associated with the objects’ shape and surface properties and must not rise because of other reasons, for example, mechanical pumps initiated during free fall.
1.4  Prepare and submit your proposal
Prepare your proposal using the entry form, shown in Appendix B which will be available online as a stand-alone document.  The proposal shall include information about your team plus descriptions and depictions of your test object(s).  It must be written in English and consist of a single file, in either doc or pdf formats, into which all figures must be ‘pasted.’ The file must be less than 10 MB in size or it will not be received by the challenge staff.  E-mail the proposal to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov by no later than Nov. 10, 2020.  More precisely, your proposal must be e-mailed to NASA by no later than midnight in your local time zone.  The proposals will be reviewed and selections will be announced via e-mail to all proposers by at least mid-December. Teams who’ve been selected for testing may continue to the next phase.
2.  Build your test object(s)
Assuming that your team is selected for participation in the testing, build your test object(s) following the rules in the design section (1.3) of this guide.  Make sure to review the key rules and hints as you design your test object.  It is acceptable to change your designs, e.g., based on research conducted after your proposal submission.  However you are strongly encouraged to check with Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov to ensure that any new designs are acceptable.  Note that you may want to make extra copies of your test objects to keep because the objects sent to NASA won’t be returned.  For example, you could display them at your school or perhaps even the ASGSR conference.
It is highly recommended that you conduct your own microgravity trials: Consider putting trial objects with water in a plastic jar and dropping the jar in front of a video camera to get a glimpse of what happens in microgravity.  Just a 4-foot fall provides 0.5 seconds of microgravity, which can provide a hint of what will happen in the 79-foot fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower.  For inspiration on conducting your own drop research, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Physics Girl Dianna Cowern.
Once your objects are ready, package them to prevent breakage during shipping and injury to challenge staff.  Although a team’s objects should be shipped together in one box, each object should be packaged individually.  An object’s indivdual package can be as simple as a resealable plastic bag, but the package must be labeled (e.g., with a permanent marker) with the organization name, team or experiment name, and the nozzle number or other identifier.  An advisor with multiple teams may ship their objects together to NASA, making such labeling even more important.  But note that the shipment of more than three objects by a team is unacceptable even if more than three different nozzles were built.  Three is the ‘magic’ number and each team must chose no more than three objects to ship to NASA.
Ship the objects to the following address, where they must arrive at NASA by no later than February 15, 2021.
Droplet Ejection c/o Nancy R. Hall
NASA Glenn Research Center
21000 Brookpark Road, MS 77-7
Cleveland, OH 44135
Late objects will be disqualified from the competition!
3.  Analyze and document your results
3.1  Draft written report
Report writing can and ideally should begin after your team’s proposal has been selected for testing. Even before your test object(s) are completed and the microgravity test conducted, your team can begin writing an introduction based on what you’ve learned in preparing your proposal and from any preliminary tests performed by your team. References can also be documented. You can also draft the section describing your experiment (i.e., attempt at the challenge), once the design of your test object(s) has been finalized. But of course, you’ll need to wait until the tests have been conducted to write the results, discussion, and conclusions. Furthermore, the abstract should be the last section of your paper to be written.
There is no required format for the written report, but it is suggested that teams generally follow the guidance found in “A Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper: A Focus on High School Through Graduate Level Student Research” by Renee A. Hesselbach et al.
While student names should not be included in your proposal, they should be included in your written report and on the poster as well if your team is invited to present at the ASGSR meeting.  Similary, identify your organization and where it is located, but just the city and state (for example) and not a full address.  This is where you should be recognized for your work!
3.2  Analyze results
NASA’s goal is to electronically provide the test data to each team within two weeks of their tests and by at least April 1, with objects tested in the order received at NASA. However, please recognize that it is possible that testing and subsequent activities could be delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The challenge team will contact participating teams if this happens.
For each test, the data will consist of a video filmed at 30 frames per second showing the water motion during the drop tests, tentatively supplemented by still images taken from the video.
Tracker, which is shared by Open Source Physics as a tool for “physics teaching and student activities,” is a suggested way to make measurements of the droplet motion.   The Tracker software has notably been used by some participants in past drop tower challenges.  As an alternate, many of NASA’s microgravity researchers use ImageJ (from the National Institute of Health) or its ‘batteries included’ version called Fiji, which are both freely available for making such measurments.
Position measurements can also be made with simple graphic software that continually reveals the position of the cursor. Simply load an image, move the cursor to each desired position and write down their values (i.e., by hand). Repeat with successive video frames to track positions as a function of time. Microsoft Paint is  an example of such software, where it reveals the position of the cross-hairs in the bottom left of the window (in pixels and relative to the image).
Measurements can also be made manually by taping a transparent overlay to your computer monitor and marking the positions using a permanent marker. You can make measurements for multiple images (i.e., times) using the same transparency, where it may be helpful to mark each position with the image number (or time).
Please understand that these are just suggestions and are not meant to indicate endorsements by NASA or the federal government.
3.3  Complete and submit written report
Using the results from the testing, complete your written report (e.g., as described in section 3.1) and e-mail it to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov by no later than May 1 2021, more specifically by midnight in your time zone.  Note that the report must be written in English.
4.  Present at the 2021 ASGSR Conference
Based on their performance in the drop testing and written reports, some teams will be invited in mid-May to present their results in a student poster session at this annual meeting. All participating teams will be contacted by e-mail about the selections.
The meeting dates and location have not yet been announced, but it is expected that the conference will be held in October or November with the student day on a Saturday. It is expected that admission will be free on that day for a limited number of students who present their posters at the conference, as well as accompanying advisors and chaperones. The student-day admission does not include meals or participation in the evening banquet, although tickets may be purchased for the latter.
It is tentatively expected that financial support will be made available to help invited non-local teams travel to the conference for this purpose. That anticipated travel support is unlikely to cover the full cost of the trip, so teams will need to take action to address the likely shortfall. The travel support will likely be up to $500 per invited student presenting at the conference.
Additional awards will be presented to teams on the student day based on their poster presentation. The conference will also include opportunities for students to tour the exhibit hall, attend research presentations, and interact with microgravity researchers and other students.
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How are microgravity conditions created?
A: During its fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower, each object behaves as if there is no gravity, just as if it were in orbit on the International Space Station (ISS). Our sensation of gravity and weight comes from a resistance to its pull, for example because of the floor preventing us from falling. If we are freely falling (e.g., after jumping off a diving board), we feel weightless and free-fall is the basis for many amusement park rides. This occurs because all objects fall at the same acceleration unless acted upon by another force. As one result, the astronauts and the ISS fall together (around the Earth) such that the astronauts float within the space station. This happens even though the space station is so close to the Earth that the gravity is only about 10% less than that at the Earth’s surface.

Q: Can home schools participate?
A: Yes; teams don’t need to be affiliated with a school at all and can be formed from any group of youth in grades 9-12 including siblings, neighbors, and friends as a few examples. But note that preference in proposal selection will be given to teams over individual participants.

Q: Can teams from countries other than the United States participate?
A: No, unless your team is from a DODEA school for the children of U.S. military personnel.  Students from other schools outside of the USA are not eligible, even if they are U.S. citizens.

Q: Does the number of objects proposed affect the odds of selection?
A: Preference will be given to plans with two or more objects because their results can be compared. Keep in mind that each team is limited to a maximum of three test objects.

Q: Where do we get the entry form?
A: https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/space/education-outreach/drop-tower-competition/current-drop-tower-challenges/

Q: What file formats are acceptable for the proposals?
A: The proposals must be submitted as either doc or pdf files. Teams submitting their proposals in other file formats risk rejection.

Q: Can proposals or reports be submitted in a language other than English?
A: No.

Q: Are drawings required for the proposals?
A: Yes; your proposal must include descriptions and drawing(s) of each test object(s). The drawing(s) must be ‘pasted’ into the proposal, so that the proposal consists of a single file.

Q: What is the maximum file size for the proposals?
A: Each proposal’s file must be less than 10 MB or it will not be deliverable to the challenge staff.

Q: Can we build test object(s) using a 3-D printer?
A: Yes.

Q: Can we simply buy test object(s)?
A: Yes.

Q: Will we get our test object(s) back?
A: No.

Q: Is the water used in the drop tests distilled, de-ionized, etc.?
A: It is simply tap water at room temperature that will tentatively be dyed with food coloring to allow us to better see the fluid behavior.

Q: Can a team submit more than one proposal?
A: No, and a student can only be a member of one team so a student cannot be part of more than one proposal. However, your organization (e.g.,  school, Scout troop, club, etc.) can have as many as 5 teams submit proposals.
Questions?

Answers can be found at https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/space/education-outreach/drop-tower-competition/current-drop-tower-challenges/.  If that doesn’t suffice, email the challenge staff at Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.

2020 Drop Tower Challenge

Paddle Wheel in Microgravity

The Challenge

What is the Challenge?

Teams of grade 9-12 students are challenged to design and build an experiment related to water motion that will be tested in a NASA microgravity research facility.

What forms do I need to apply?

• Paddle Wheel in Microgravity Guide
• Paddle Wheel in Microgravity Entry Form
• Paddle Wheel in Microgravity Flyer

Challenge Overview

Why?

Future Long-duration space missions will require a better understanding of fluid behavior in microgravity. Surface geometry and thin films or coatings can impact how liquids behave on surfaces by either repelling or attracting the fluid. In some cases, the right design can lead to objects that move on their own when placed in microgravity! A simple way to demonstrate this is with a paddle wheel that is attracts water on the front, while repels water on the rear of each fin blade. “Superhydrophobic” (water-fearing) and “superhydrophilic” (water-loving) surfaces or coatings can be used to achieve a self-propelled paddle wheel.

What?

Teams of grade 9-12 students are challenged to design and build objects focused on generating mechanical motion utilizing only fluid forces. In theory, the paddle wheel, or spinner, that the students will be designing should rotate on its own during free fall while sitting on a body of water. Objects from the selected teams will experience microgravity in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower. NASA will then invite the top-performing teams to present their results in a student poster session at the 2020 meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) for which the location has yet to be announced.

Who?

The design challenge is for students in grades 9-12, where teams will be favored over individuals in selection. The program is limited to students from the United States and citizenship is not required. It is open to students in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and (for the children of U.S. military personnel) all DODEA schools. Students are free to get help from adults, for example, in building their test objects. An organization (e.g., school, science center, 4-H club, or Scout troop) may submit no more than four proposals, where it is envisioned that no more than two teams will be selected from a single organization. A student may only be a member of one team.

Selection?

After proposal evaluation, NASA anticipates selecting up to 20 teams to build objects to be tested in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Some preference will be given to teams local to the fall 2020 ASGSR conference site (e.g., within 150 miles), although its location has yet to be announced. Only a small number of top-performing teams will be invited to participate in the conference.

A. Things to Know

Calendar

• • • Now open for proposals
    • Nov. 11, 2019 deadline for e-mail submission of proposals to NASA
    • Mid-December teams selected for testing announced by NASA
    • Feb. 15, 2020 deadline for object(s) to arrive at NASA
    • Feb. – March objects tested in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower
    • May 1, 2020 written report due to NASA
    • Mid-May NASA announces teams selected for ASGSR participation
    • Fall 2020 annual ASGSR meeting

Key Rules

• Proposals: No more than 4 proposals will be accepted per organization (e.g., school, science center, 4-H club, or Scout troop). No more than one proposal. will be accepted from one team.

• Selection: It is envisioned that no more than two proposals will be selected from a single organization.”

• Team: Teams can be of any size, but each student can only be on one team. Each team is required to have an adult advisor, who may advise multiple teams.

• Number: Each team may include up to 4 objects in their proposal and if selected for testing may submit up to 4 objects for that purpose. Note that each drop tower operation will include two of the team’s objects, each in an independent container.

• Size: The size of a team’s object must be within a 75 mm diameter cylinder that is no more than 80 mm wide and is centered on the NASA-provided axle.

• Prohibited materials: fragile materials (e.g., glass), hazardous materials (e.g., that are corrosive, toxic, and/or radioactive), materials or coatings that dissolve in or react with water, small creatures (whether dead or alive), most biological materials

Hints

Conduct your own microgravity trials: Consider putting trial objects with water in a plastic jar mounted in a box with a video camera and dropping the box to get a glimpse of what happens in microgravity. Just a 4-foot fall provides a half second of microgravity, which can provide a hint of what will happen in the 79-foot fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower. For inspiration on conducting your own drop research, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Physics Girl Dianna Cowern. Control and Variables: You should ideally have two or three different objects for testing so that you can compare the performance of each object in your report – and poster too if you are selected for ASGSR meeting participation. An added benefit is the increased probability of success with the challenge.

Coatings

While coatings may specify that they are hydrophilic or hydrophobic, it doesn’t guarantee that they will bond/adhere to their object. Therefore, make sure the coating is compatible with the material of your objects. Some coatings have other requirements for adhesion, namely minimum cure times and cure temperatures. Be sure read the directions.

Timing is important

Late submissions to NASA of the test objects will disqualify teams from the competition. Late final reports will disqualify teams from being selected to participate in the ASGSR conference, so don’t wait until the deadlines to complete tasks.

Selection Criteria for ASGSR Meeting Participation

Teams will be graded for each object dropped based on the following:

1. Performance during testing in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower
2. Team’s Analysis
3. Team’s Final report

Failure to submit a final report by the deadline will disqualify a team from being selected to go to ASGSR.

B. What To Do

There are four phases to participating in the challenge

1. Prepare your proposal – open to all eligible students

2. Develop & self-test your test object(s) – if the team’s proposed project is selected for testing

3. Analyze & document the results – generally after the NASA microgravity testing and can include the self-test results

4. Prepare and present a poster at the 2020 ASGSR conference – if invited to participate based on the challenge performance and submitted report

Each phase is separated by a submission to NASA and subsequent phases rely on the earlier ones for continued participation. The proposal is used to determine whether a team will continue to phase 2, and the objects must be submitted for testing to enable phase 3. Finally, the test performance and written report will both be used to determine which teams are invited to present their results in the student poster session at the ASGSR conference (phase 4).

1. Prepare your proposal

1.1 Understand the challenge

The goal for Paddle Wheel in Microgravity is to design and build objects focused on generating mechanical motion resulting only from fluid forces In theory, the paddle wheel, or spinner, that the students will be designing should rotate, on its own during free fall while sitting on a body of water. Therefore, the surfaces on your paddle wheel or spinner may play a role in its behavior. Think about how a hydrophobic or hydrophilic (i.e. “water fearing” or “water loving”) surface can affect your object. For example, during free fall, objects with “water fearing” surfaces can be pushed from the water. That was the goal of the previous Drop Tower challenge
called Microgravity Expulsion from Water where students were asked to use hydrophobic properties to push objects out of the water under microgravity conditions.

When an object is floating on water in normal gravity, an upward force is exerted by water that opposes the weight of the less dense object. However, in microgravity, there is effectively no “weight” and the interaction between the object and the water is governed by the contact angle or wettability of the object by the water.

Provided axle: For this challenge, teams selected to participate will be provided an axle to use as a guide for their paddle wheel or spinner. This axle is a plastic rod with an “X” cross-section that is 4 mm x 4 mm. The axle is also 90 mm long. The paddle wheel or spinner must be designed to accommodate this axle as the axle will be used to position the teams’ paddle wheel or spinner in the drop tower container.

Scoring: An object’s score will be based on the number of degrees the paddle wheel or spinner rotates about the axle during the 2.2 seconds of microgravity during the drop operations.

1.2 Watch videos of hydrophobic and hydrophilic objects

The expulsion of an object floating in microgravity can be seen in a video at www.facebook.com/NASA.celere. The video is courtesy of researchers at Oregon’s Portland State University (PSU). As can be seen, the ball ‘jumps’ out of the water in microgravity. Please know that the challenge staff will not share the hydrophobic treatment of the ball in this video. We are looking for participating teams to research and find their own approaches to the challenge rather than copy what was done in the video.

The video at Ping Pong Ball On Water shows the response of a floating hydrophilic object to free fall, where it can be seen to dive into the water. It was from an experiment created by a middle school team for a previous drop tower competition.

1.3 Develop your test object(s)

Design – Based on your research, design your test object(s) using the guidelines below to achieve the highest score as described in the previous section. Note that NASA will provide the rest of the experiment hardware including the water, the water containers in which your objects will be tested (with one object per container), the video camera, and lighting.

Number – Each selected team can submit up to four different objects for testing. This allows a team to compare test results, e.g., in the required report and – if invited – at the ASGSR conference. Of course, at least one test object must be proposed and, assuming selection, built and shipped to NASA for testing.

Materials – The objects must be fabricated from material such as plastic, 3D printed materials, etc. Glass and similarly frangible materials are unacceptable. Water-soluble materials and coatings are prohibited, as are materials and coatings which chemically react with water. For safety reasons, corrosive, toxic, and radioactive materials are prohibited. Other hazards such as sharp edges, compressed gases, batteries, and lasers are not allowed. Small creatures (such as insects), are not allowed, whether they are dead or alive. Other biological samples, such as foods, are generally not allowed. Common organic materials such as wood, cork, cotton, wool, and leather are allowed exceptions.

Containers – Each of the team’s objects will be tested in its own container of water. The vessel’s interior is a rectangular prism which is 220 mm (8.5 in) long, 90 mm (3.5 in) wide, and 90 mm (3.5 in) tall (i.e., where the cross-section is square). Each of the team’s objects will be placed alone inside a container with the center of the axle at a height of 40 mm (1.6 in) above the container floor. The team must specify the level of water for each object. This may be done by stating (a) the depth of water to be put in the container or (b) where on their object the water surface should be located.

Please note that that some jostling will occur as the drop package is transported to the top of the drop tower, so this should be considered in the design of your objects.

Size – As shown in the figure, the size of each of the team’s objects must fit within a cylinder centered on the NASA-provided axle with a diameter of no more than 75 mm and a width no more than 80 mm.

No external force – During the microgravity period, only the motion of the water and the effect of any coating can move the team’s object in the water. No external devices can be used to artificially move the object.

1.4 Prepare and submit your proposal

Prepare your proposal using the entry form in Appendix A or from the Paddle Wheel in Microgravity website. The proposal shall include information about your team plus descriptions and depictions of your test object(s). Each proposal shall consist of a single file, in either DOC or PDF formats, into which all figures must be included. The file must be less than 10 MB in size or it will not be received by the challenge staff. The proposal should be sent via e-mail to Ed- DropTower@lists.nasa.gov so it arrives no later than the deadline listed in the Calendar. The proposals will be reviewed and selections will be announced via email to all proposers by mid-December. Teams who have been selected for testing will continue to the next phase.

2. Build your test object(s)

Assuming that your team’s proposal is selected, design and build your test object(s) following the rules in the development section (1.3) of this guide. Also review the key rules and hints as you design your test object. It is acceptable to change your design(s), e.g., based on research conducted after your proposal submission. But you are strongly encouraged to check with Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov to ensure that the new design(s) are acceptable. Note that you may want to make extra copies of your test objects to keep because the objects sent to NASA will not be returned.

It is highly recommended that you conduct your own microgravity trials. Consider putting trial objects with water in a plastic jar or container and dropping the jar and a video camera in a box to get a glimpse of what happens in microgravity. Just a 4-foot fall provides 0.5 seconds of microgravity, which can provide a hint of what will happen in the 79-foot fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower. For inspiration on conducting your own drop research, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Physics Girl Dianna Cowern.

Once your object(s) are ready, ship your test object(s), with appropriate care in packing, to the following address. The object(s) must arrive at NASA no later than the deadline in the Calendar.

Paddle Wheel c/o Nancy R. Hall
NASA Glenn Research Center
21000 Brookpark Road, MS 77-7
Cleveland, OH 44135

Late objects will be disqualified from the competition!

3. Analyze & document the results

3.1 Draft written report

Report writing can and ideally should begin after your team’s proposal has been selected for testing. Even before your test object(s) are completed and the microgravity test conducted, your team can begin writing an introduction based on nwhat you’ve learned in preparing your proposal and from any preliminary tests performed by your team. References can also be documented. You can also draft the section describing your experiment once the design of your test object(s) has been finalized. But of course, you’ll need to wait until the tests have been conducted to write the results, discussion, and conclusions. Furthermore, the abstract should be the last section of your paper to be written.

There is no required format for the written report, but it is suggested that teams generally follow the guidance found in “A Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper: A Focus on High School Through Graduate Level Student Research” by Renee A. Hesselbach et al.

3.2 Analyze results

NASA’s goal is to electronically provide the test data to each team within two weeks of their tests and by at least March 15. The objects will be tested in the order they are received at NASA. For each test, the data will consist of a video filmed at 30 frames per second showing the objects’ motion during the drop tests and still images taken during processing of the team’s objects.

One option for analyzing the video results is through NASA’s Spotlight software. For Macintosh computers, use Spotlight-8. For Windows computers, use Spotlight-16. Many NASA researchers are now instead using ImageJ, which is freely available from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Meanwhile, the free Tracker software is shared by Open Source Physics as a tool for “physics teaching and student activities.” The Tracker software has notably been used by some participants in past drop tower challenges.

Position measurements can also be made with simple graphic software that continually reveals the position of the cursor. Simply load an image, move the cursor to each desired position and write down their values (i.e., by hand). Repeat with successive video frames to track positions as a function of time. Microsoft Paint is an example of such software, where it reveals the position of the cross-hairs in the nbottom left of the window (in pixels and relative to the image).

Measurements can also be made manually by taping a transparent overlay to your computer monitor and marking the positions using a permanent marker. You can make measurements for multiple images (i.e., times) using the same transparency, where it may be helpful to mark each position with the image number (or time). Please understand that these are just suggestions and are not meant to indicate endorsements by NASA or the federal government.

3.3 Complete and submit written report

Using the results from the testing and your analyses, complete your written report (e.g., as described in section 3.1) and e-mail it to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov by the deadline listed in the Calendar.

4.0 Presentation at ASGSR Conference

4.1 present at the 2020 ASGSR conference

Based on their scores and written reports, some teams will be invited in mid-May to present their results in a student session at this annual meeting. All participating teams will be contacted by e-mail about the selections.

The meeting dates and location have not yet been announced, but it is expected that the conference will be held in October or November with the student day on a Saturday. Admission will be free on that day for a limited number of students who present their posters at the conference, as well as accompanying advisors and chaperones. The free admission does not include meals or participation in the evening banquet, although tickets may be purchased for the latter.

It is tentatively expected that financial support will be made available to help invited non-local teams travel to the conference for this purpose. That anticipated travel support is unlikely to cover the full cost of the trip, so teams will need to take action to address the likely shortfall. The travel support will likely be up to $500 per student presenting at the conference.

Awards will be presented to teams on the student day based on their posters and success with the challenge. The conference will also include opportunities for students to tour the exhibit hall, attend research presentations, and interact with microgravity researchers and other students.

FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How are microgravity conditions created?
A: During its fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower, each object behaves as if there is no gravity, just as if it were in orbit on the International Space Station (ISS). Our sensation of gravity and weight comes from a resistance to its pull, for example because of the floor preventing us from falling. If we are freely falling (e.g., after jumping off a diving board), we feel weightless and free fall is the basis for many amusement park rides. This occurs because all objects fall at the same acceleration unless acted upon by another force. As one result, the astronauts and the ISS fall together (around the Earth) such that the astronauts float within the space station. This happens even though the space station is so close to the Earth that the gravity is only about 10% less than that at the Earth’s surface.

Q: Can home schools participate?
A: Yes, where teams don’t need to be affiliated with a school at all and can be formed from any group of youth in grades 9-12 including siblings, neighbors, and friends as a few examples. But note that preference in proposal selection will be given to teams over individual participants.

Q: Does the number of objects proposed affect the odds of selection?
A: Preference will be given to plans with two or more objects because their results can be compared. Keep in mind that each team is limited to a maximum of four test objects.

Q: Where do we get the entry form?
A: An entry form can be found in Appendix or on the Paddle Wheel in Microgravity website

Q: What file formats are acceptable for the proposals?
A: The proposals must be submitted as either DOC or PDF files. Teams submitting their proposals in other file formats risk rejection.

Q: Are drawings required for the proposals?
A: Yes; each proposal must include both descriptions and drawing(s) of each test object(s). The drawing(s) must be included in the proposal, so the proposal will consist of a single file.

Q: What is the maximum file size for the proposals?
A: Each proposal’s file must be less than 10 MB or it will not be deliverable to the challenge staff.

Q: Can we build test object(s) using a 3-D printer?
A: Yes.

Q: Can we simply buy test object(s)?
A: Yes.

Q: Do we get our test object(s) back?
A: No

Q: Is the water used in the drop tests distilled, de-ionized, etc.?
A: It is simply tap water at room temperature

Q: Can a team submit more than one proposal?
A: No, because a student cannot be part of more than one team. However, your organization (e.g., school, Scout troop, club, etc.) can submit up to four proposals.

Questions?

If you can’t find the information you need at the challenge website, or www.facebook.com/NASA.celere, then e-mail Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.

Plant Watering in Microgravity

The Challenge

What is the Challenge?

Teams of grade 9-12 students are challenged to design and build a device that allows air to penetrate towards the bottom on at least one side while liquid climbs along a different side. This can be achieved via geometry (i.e. ice cream cone shape), coatings or a combination of geometries that take advantage or shapes &/or coatings.

What forms do I need to apply?

• Plant Watering How to Guide
• Plant Watering Entry Form
• Plant Watering Flyer
• Note – this challenge has already started so only current teams should download and submit the above forms.

Why is this Important?

Future long-duration space missions will require crew members to grow their own food, so, understanding how to water plants in microgravity is an important step toward that goal and for understanding how plants behave in such an environment. A key factor in this design challenge is that the plant’s roots need both water and air for the plant to grow well and delivering water and air in the apparent absence of gravity is challenging because they don’t mix well together.

Who Can Apply?

This design challenge is for students in grades 9-12 in the US and its territories, where teams will be favored over individuals in selection. Student proposals will be due in early Nov 2018. Selected teams will have the opportunity to build their experimental hardware and must then send it to NASA by February 15, 2019. Microgravity drop tower testing will take place in February and March 2019. Video results will be provided to the teams for analysis. NASA will then invite the top-performing teams to present their results in a student poster session at the 2019 meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR).

How Does A Team Participate

There are four phases and ways in which a team can participate in this challenge: 1) prepare your proposal, 2) build your test object(s), 3) analyze & document the results and 4)present at the 2019 ASGSR conference.

Each phase is separated by a submission to NASA – respectively of the proposal, test object(s), and written report. Subsequent phases rely on the earlier ones for continue participation. The proposal is used to determine whether a team will continue to phase 2, and the objects must be submitted for testing to enable phase 3. Finally, the test performance and written report will both be used to determine which teams are invited to present their results in the student poster session at the 2019 ASGSR conference (phase 4).

Prepare Your Proposal

1.1 Understand the challenge

The goal for Plant Watering in Microgravity is to design and build an object that will cause air to penetrate downward into the water on at least one side/surface while the water climbs along a different side/surface in microgravity.

Surfaces can be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic, that is “water fearing” or “water loving.” As an extreme example, the leaves of the Lotus flower have a superhydrophobic surface where researchers are working to mimic the Lotus effect. In free fall, objects with “water fearing” surfaces can be pushed from the water. This was goal of the previous Drop Tower challenge called Microgravity Expulsion from Water where students were asked to use hydrophobic properties to expel the objects from water under microgravity conditions.

When an object is floating on water in normal gravity, an upward force is exerted by water that opposes the weight of the less dense object. However, in microgravity, there is effectively no “weight” and the interaction between the object and the water is governed by the contact angle or wettability of the object by the water. Thus, to submerge the object, it may be necessary to increase the wettability of the object and this was the goal of the DIVER Challenge. For the Plant Watering Challenge, you must use these two basic properties to design and build your object.

Video of hydrophobic object

The expulsion of a floating object in microgravity can be seen in a video at www.facebook.com/NASA.celere. The video is courtesy of researchers at Oregon’s Portland State University (PSU). As can be seen, the ball ‘jumps’ out of the water in microgravity. It must be emphasized that challenge’s test objects must sink in the water in normal gravity, while the object in the video instead floats. Please know that the challenge staff will not share the hydrophobic treatment of the ball in this video, as we are looking for participating teams to research and find their own approaches to the challenge rather than copy what was done in the video.

Video of hydrophilic object

Watch the YouTube video on Ping Pong Ball On Water the response of a floating hydrophilic object to free fall, where it can be seen to dive into the water. IT was from an experiment created by a middle school team for a previous drop tower competition.

Scoring on the challenge

An object’s score is the maximum vertical distance (i.e., delta) between the air’s downward penetration and the water’s rise – in both cases along on the object’s surfaces.

In case of a tie, the following are the tiebreakers:

• 1^st: volumetric amount of gas dive
• 2^nd: delta height of liquid rise.

Design your test object(s)

Design – Based on your research, design your test object(s) using the guidelines below to achieve the highest score as described in the previous section. Note that NASA will provide the rest of the experiment hardware including colored water, the three water containers in which your objects will be tested (with one object per container), the video camera, and lighting.

Number – Each selected team can submit up to three different objects for testing. This allows a team to compare test results, e.g., in the required report and – if invited – at the 2019 ASGSR conference. Of course, at least one test object must be proposed and – assuming selection – built and shipped to NASA for testing.

Materials – The objects must be fabricated from see through or transparent material such as plastic or . Glass and similarly fragile materials are unacceptable. Coatings must also be made of transparent materials. Water-soluble materials and coatings are prohibited, as are materials and coatings which chemically react with water. For safety, corrosive, toxic, and radioactive materials are prohibited. Other hazards such as sharp edges, compressed gases, batteries, and lasers are not allowed. Small creatures (such as insects), are not allowed, whether they are dead or alive. Other biological samples, such as foods, are generally not allowed, but organic materials such as wood, cork, cotton, wool, and leather are allowed exceptions.

Containers – Each object will be tested in its own container of water. The vessel’s interior is a rectangular prism which is 210 mm tall (8.25in) and 63 mm (2.4 in) across, where the cross-section is square. Three independent containers, each with an object in water, will normally be tested during a single drop operation. Each container will be filled with 40 ml (1.6 in) of water and then a team’s object is placed inside. The team must specify if a certain orientation is required, e.g., in a drawing. Three objects, each in a separate container, are typically tested during a single drop operation.

Size – The longest dimension of each object shall be no more than 60 mm (2.36 in) and no less than 5 mm (0.2 in).

Air Penetration (Diving) – The portion of the object that will dive must do so because of their wetting characteristics and must not dive because of other reasons, e.g., mechanical propulsion initiated during free fall, etc. are not allowed.

Liquid Climbing (Water Movement) – In microgravity conditions, the water must rise because of the object’s hydrophilic surface and must not rise because of other reasons, for example, mechanical propulsion initiated during free fall.

Prepare and submit your proposal

Prepare your proposal using the entry form, in Appendix A which will be made available online,. The proposal will include information about your team plus descriptions and depictions of your test object(s). Each proposal shall consist of a single file, in either doc or pdf formats, into which all figures must be ‘pasted.’ The file must be less than 10 MB in size. E-mail the proposal to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov by no later than Nov. 20, 2018. The proposals will be reviewed and selections will be announced via e-mail to all proposers by mid-December. Teams who’ve been selected for testing will continue to subsequent phases.

Build your test object(s)

mid-December to Feb. 10

Assuming that your team’s proposal is selected, build your test object(s) following the rules in the design section (1.5) of this guide. Also review the Key rules and hints as you design your test object. It is acceptable to change your design(s), e.g., based on research conducted after your proposal submission. But you are strongly encouraged to check with Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov to ensure that the new design(s) are acceptable. Note that you may want to make extra copies of your test objects to keep because the objects sent to NASA won’t be returned, unless at the 2019 ASGSR conference.

It is highly recommended that you conduct your own microgravity trials: Consider putting trial objects with water in a plastic jar and dropping the jar in front of a video camera to get a glimpse of what happens in microgravity. Just a 4-foot fall provides 0.5 seconds of microgravity, which can provide a hint of what will happen in the 79-foot fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower. For inspiration on conducting your own drop research, check out the Fire in Free Fall video by Physics Girl Dianna Cowern.

Once your object(s) are ready, ship your test object(s), with appropriate care in packing, to the following address. The object(s) must arrive at NASA by no later than February 15, 2019.

• Plant Watering c/o Nancy R. Hall
• NASA Glenn Research Center
• 21000 Brookpark Road, MS 77-7
• Cleveland, OH 44135

Late objects will be disqualified from the competition!

Analyze & document the results

mid-December to May 1

Draft written report

Report writing can and ideally should begin after your team’s proposal has been selected for testing. Even before your object(s) are built and the microgravity test conducted, your team can begin writing an introduction based on what you’ve learned in preparing your proposal and from tests performed by your team. References can also be documented. You can also draft the section describing your experiment (i.e., attempt at the challenge), once the design of your test object(s) has been finalized. But of course, you’ll need to wait until the tests have been conducted to write the results, discussion, and conclusions. Furthermore, the abstract should be the last section of your paper to be written.

There is no required format for the written report, but it is suggested that teams generally follow the guidance found in “A Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper: A Focus on High School Through Graduate Level Student Research” by Renee A. Hesselbach et al.

Analyze results

NASA’s goal is to electronically provide the test data to each team within two weeks of their tests and by at least April 1, with objects tested in the order received at NASA. For each test, the data will consist of a video filmed at 30 frames per second showing the objects’ motion during the drop tests, tentatively supplemented by still images taken from the video.

One option for analyzing the video results is through NASA’s Spotlight software. However, the software is not currently supported and Spotlight-8 is not compatible with current versions of Microsoft Windows. So Spotlight-16 should be used if this option is taken, although many NASA researchers are now instead using ImageJ, which is freely available from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Meanwhile, the free Tracker software is shared by Open Source Physics as a tool for “physics teaching and student activities.” The Tracker software has notably been used by some participants in past drop tower challenges.

Position measurements can also be made with simple graphic software that continually reveals the position of the cursor. Simply load an image, move the cursor to each desired position and write down their values (i.e., by hand). Repeat with successive video frames to track positions as a function of time. Microsoft Paint is an example of such software, where it reveals the position of the cross-hairs in the bottom left of the window (in pixels and relative to the image).

Measurements can also be made manually by taping a transparent overlay to your computer monitor and marking the positions using a permanent marker. You can make measurements for multiple images (i.e., times) using the same transparency, where it may be helpful to mark each position with the image number (or time).

Please understand that these are just suggestions and are not meant to indicate endorsements by NASA or the federal government.

Complete and submit written report

Using the results from the testing, complete your written report (e.g., as described in section 3.1) and e-mail it to Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov by no later than May 1, 2019.

Presentation at ASGSR Conference

present at the 2019 ASGSR conference

mid-May to fall 2019

Based on their scores and written reports, some teams will be invited in mid-May to present their results in a student session at this annual meeting. All participating teams will be contacted by e-mail about the selections.

The meeting dates and location have not yet been announced, but it is expected that the conference will be held in October or November with the student day on a Saturday. Admission will be free on that day for a limited number of students who present their posters at the conference, as well as accompanying advisors and chaperones. The free admission does not include meals or participation in the evening banquet, although tickets could optionally be purchased for the latter.

It is tentatively expected that financial support will be made available to help invited non-local teams travel to the conference for this purpose. That anticipated travel

support is unlikely to cover the full cost of the trip, so teams would need to take action to address the likely shortfall. The travel support would likely be up to $500 per student presenting at the conference. It would be provided as a check at the conference and the funds could be used for any associated costs, including the cost for the adult travel. Receipts would not be necessary as it is not a reimbursement.

Awards will be presented to teams on the student day based on their posters and success with the challenge. The conference will also include opportunities for students to participate tour the exhibit hall, attend research presentations, and interact with microgravity researchers and other students.

Resources

For an introduction to the research to enable farming in space, check out these videos:

• ScienceCasts: Historic Vegetable Moment on the Space Station
• ScienceCasts: Space Gardening

Meanwhile, educator resources with relevant classroom activities can be found at:

• Plants in Space

A social-media option for following the ongoing research includes:

• NASA Space Biology on Facebook
• A Researcher’s Guide to Plant Science on ISS.

What is Microgravity?

For additional inks on how to conduct your own microgravity test, different types of surfaces, analysis software and A Guide to Writing a Scientific Research Paper, download and check out Appendix B of the Plant Watering How to Guide.

FAQ

Q: How are microgravity conditions created?
A: During its fall in NASA’s 2.2 Second Drop Tower, each object behaves as if there is no gravity, just as if it were in orbit on the International Space Station (ISS). Our sensation of gravity and weight comes from a resistance to its pull, for example because of the floor preventing us from falling. If we are freely falling (e.g., after jumping off a diving board), we feel weightless and free-fall is the basis for many amusement park rides. This occurs because all objects fall at the same acceleration unless acted upon by another force. As one result, the astronauts and the ISS fall together (around Earth) such that the astronauts float within the space station. This happens even though the space station is so close to Earth that the gravity is only about 10% less than that at Earth’s surface.

Q: Can home schools participate?
A: Yes, where teams don’t need to be affiliated with a school at all and can be formed from any group of youth in grades 9-12 including siblings, neighbors, and friends as a few examples. But note that preference in proposal selection will be given to teams over individual participants.

Q: Does the number of objects proposed affect the odds of selection?
A: Preference will be given to plans with two or more objects because their results can be compared. Keep in mind that each team is limited to a maximum of three test objects.

Q: Where do we get the entry form?
A: An entry form can be found in Appendix or on the Plant Watering in Microgravity website

Q: What file formats are acceptable for the proposals?
A: The proposals must be submitted as either doc or pdf files. Teams submitting their proposals in other file formats risk rejection.

Q: Are drawings required for the proposals?
A: Yes; each proposals must include both descriptions and drawing(s) of each test object(s). The drawing(s) must be ‘pasted’ into the proposal, so the proposal will consist of a single file.

Q: What is the maximum file size for the proposals?
A: Each proposal’s file must be less than 10 MB or it will not be deliverable to the challenge staff.

Q: Can we build test object(s) using a 3-D printer?
A: Yes.

Q: Can we simply buy test object(s)?
A: Yes.

Q: Do we get our test object(s) back?
A: No

Q: Is the water used in the drop tests distilled, de-ionized, etc.?
A: It is simply tap water at room temperature that will tentatively be dyed with food coloring to allow us to better see the fluid behavior.

Q: Can a team submit more than one proposal?
A: No, because a student cannot be part of more than one team. However, your organization (e.g.,chool, Scout troop, club, etc.) can submit up to five proposals.

Q: When you say “test objects must sink”, does that mean the object must be totally submerged?
A: No, it needs to be partially submerged

QUESTIONS?

The specifics of this challenge are still being developed, where the details should be available by September 2018. A web page has yet to be created for the challenge, but links to the updated information will be made available through web sites such as: www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/stu-competitions-current-opps.html Furthermore, the challenge staff can be e-mailed at Ed-DropTower@lists.nasa.gov.