NASA/TM--2002-212007 AIAA-2003-0944

NASA Microgravity Science Competition

for High-School-Aged Student Teams

Richard DeLombard and Dennis Stocker

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Carol Hodanbosi

National Center for Microgravity Research, Cleveland, Ohio

Eric Baumann

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

December 2002
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NASA/TM--2002-212007 AIAA-2003-0944

NASA Microgravity Science Competition

for High-School-Aged Student Teams

Richard DeLombard and Dennis Stocker

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Carol Hodanbosi

National Center for Microgravity Research, Cleveland, Ohio

Eric Baumann

Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Prepared for the

41st Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit

sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Reno, Nevada, January 6-9, 2003

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

December 2002
NASA Center for Aerospace Information

7121 Standard Drive

Hanover, MD 21076

Available from

National Technical Information Service

5285 Port Royal Road

Springfield, VA 22100

Available electronically at http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov
NASA MICROGRAVITY SCIENCE COMPETITION

FOR HIGH-SCHOOL-AGED STUDENT TEAMS

Richard DeLombard and Dennis Stocker

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio

Carol Hodanbosi

National Center for Microgravity Research

Cleveland, Ohio

Eric Baumann

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Glenn Research Center

Cleveland, Ohio

ABSTRACT

NASA participates in a wide variety of educational

activities including competitive events. There are

competitive events sponsored by NASA and student

teams which are mentored by NASA centers. This

participation by NASA in public forums serves to bring

the excitement of aerospace science to students and

educators. A new competition for high-school-aged

student teams involving projects in microgravity has

completed two pilot years and has national eligibility for

teams during the 2002-2003 school year. A team

participating in the Dropping In a Microgravity

Environment (DIME) will research the field of

microgravity science, develop a hypothesis, and prepare

a proposal for an experiment to be conducted in a

microgravity drop tower facility. A team of NASA

scientists and engineers will select the top proposals and

those teams will then design and build their experiment

apparatus. When the experiment apparatus are

completed, team representatives will visit NASA Glenn

Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio to conduct their

experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower and

participate in workshops and center tours.

Presented in this paper is a description of DIME, an

overview of the planning and execution of such a

program, results from the first two pilot years, and a

status of the first national competition.

ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS

1 g Earth's gravitation attraction at sea-level,

approximately 9.8 m/s 2

DIME Dropping In a Microgravity Environment

ISS International Space Station

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCMR National Center for Microgravity Research in

Fluids and Combustion

NSTA National Science Teachers Association

ITEA International Technology Education Association

INTRODUCTION

The NASA Administrator, Sean O'Keefe, stated in

congressional testimony that NASA has made education

a core mission of the Agency. (ref. 1)

Young people are full of wonder and discovery

and NASA has a responsibility to help those

traits mature. As we seek to improve our life

here, and extend life beyond our known

universe, we must work to inspire our children

to explore the great frontiers of our solar

system and conquer the challenges of

propulsion, human biology and technology that

keep us close to our home planet. That means

we have to help our students understand how

mathematics, science, engineering and

technology come together to make exploration

and innovation possible. Too many students

avoid these subjects because they are seen as

unpopular, not relevant to their daily lives, or

too difficult. These very subject areas though

are the fundamentul baseline of NASA mission

Success.

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis

Field has long been committed to educational outreach.

NASA/T_2002-212007 1

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Aneweducational activitywasstartedintheschool year

2000/01thatakesteamsofstudentsthrougharesearch

processsimilartoprocesses usedbyNASA,academia,

and commercial researchers. The DroppingIn a

MicrogravityEnvironment (DIME)programinvolves

student teamsfromthedevelopment of anexperiment

concept throughbuildingtheexperiment apparatusand

conductingtheexperiment to obtaindatawhichis

analyzedandpresentedinafinalreport.

AtNASAGlenn,theMicrogravityScienceDivision

utilizestwodropfacilities,the2.2SecondDropTower

andtheZero-GResearchFacility.Droptowerscreate

microgravityconditionsforexperiments byallowingthe

experiments tofreefall.

TheMicrogravityScienceDivisionworksjointlywith

theNational CenterforMicrogravityResearchinFluids

andCombustion(NCMR)locatedon-siteat NASA

Glenn.NCMRalsomanagesthedivision'seducation

outreacheffortsandplaysa majoroleintheDIME

program.

BACKGROUND

The 2.2 Second Drop Tower, figure 1, operates on 45-

minute intervals in which a complete drop operation is

accomplished. This provides twelve drop slots each day.

Typically, experiments are prepared in an off-line

laboratory and the 45 minutes available for a drop

operation are used efficiently to conduct final

experiment preparations, integration to the drop tower,

the drop itself, and recovery of the experiment apparatus.

The free-fall time in this facility is 2.2 seconds for the 24-

meter drop (fig. 2).

The facility has utilized a general-purpose drop rig for

many years to drop demonstration science

"experiments" for visitors. The demonstration

experiments include basic physics demonstration such as

sedimentation, balance of forces, and thermal

convection. These demonstration devices are described

in an educators handbook for a small demonstration drop

tower (ref. 2). The general purpose drop rig was

modified for use with DIME by creating a standard

interface at which student experiment apparatus would

be mounted.

Thus, the DIME program was created to allow highschool-age student teams to develop science experiments

and then design and build the experiment apparatus to

conduct their experiment in a NASA scientific research

facility.

DIME COMPETITION FUNDAMENTALS

As described in the DIME program announcement

(ref. 3), DIME allows the student teams to:

• develop an understanding of microgravity science

through research,

• develop a hypothesis for some phenomena

influenced by gravity, and

• write a scientific proposal for an experiment to

test the hypothesis.

The scientific proposals are combined with other

requisite forms into a DIME entry package which is

submitted to NASA for evaluation against proposals

from other teams.

The submitted entries are evaluated by a team of

NASA and NCMR scientists and engineers according to

the rubric published in the DIME competition

announcement. Teams representing the top four

proposals are selected as winners. The selected teams

then proceed to:

• design their experiment,

• submit the design to NASA for review,

• test the experiment concept,

• improve the design according to tests,

• fabricate the experiment apparatus according to

the design (fig. 3),

• develop procedures for the experiment operations,

• conduct their experiment in the NASA 2.2 Second

Drop Tower (figs. 4 & 5),

• modify the experiment apparatus, and/or

procedures as required based on testing results,

and

• write a final report on the results of their

experiment.

These activities support education standards for

scientific research.

DIME SCHEDULE

The DIME program has been designed to be a schoolyear activity as shown in figure 6. The student teams

learn about microgravity, prepare a hypothesis, and write

a proposal prior to the submission date in early

November. The team may begin this process at their

discretion, potentially at the beginning of the school

year, during the preceding summer or even during the

previous school year. The only critical date in this stage

is the postmark date for submission of the proposal to

NASA.

The details of the DIME program are available on the

internet from a DIME web page (ref. 4) and from a

DIME CD-ROM. Both of these sources also provide

NASA/T_2002-212007 2

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
microgravityresourcesand a descriptionof the

2.2SecondDropTower.

AteamofNASAandNCMRscientistsandengineers

evaluatethesubmittedproposalsandannouncethe

selectedteamsbymid-December. Thisallowstheteam

tostarttheirexperiment designassoonaspossible.

A NASAorNCMRmentorisassignedtoeachteam

aftertheselectionprocesshasbeencompleted. This

scientistor engineerwill assistwith adviceand

encouragement for theteamduringthedesignand

constructionphase. Thementoralsoservesastheteam's

advocatewiththedroptowerfacilitystaffduringDIME

DropDays.Thementorworksdirectlywiththeteam

duringDIMEDropDaystoensuresuccessful operation

oftheexperiment.

Theselectedteamshaveseveral duedatesinthenext

several monthswheretheysubmitapreliminarydesign

packageandafinaldesignpackageforNASAreview

andapproval.ThedesignreviewsallowNASAtooffer

guidanceandadviceto maketheexperiment more

successful. Thesereviewsalsoprovideinsightintothe

experiment designstospotpotential safetyissuesearly.

Travelandperdiemexpensesforthreedaysare

providedbyNASAforfourstudent representatives and

anadultadvisorfomeachteamto attendtheDIME

DropDaysatNASAGlenninCleveland, Ohiowhere

theywill conducttheirexperiment inthedroptower,

participatein workshops, tourtheNASAcenter,and

participateinotherfunactivities.

AfterDIMEDropDays,eachstudent teampreparesa

finalreportsummarizingtheirscientificfindingsand

conclusionsas well as summarizingtheirDIME

experience.

EDUCATION STANDARDS

The DIME program supports specific national

standards in science and technology. Participation in

DIME will contribute to student mastery of the standards

in Table 1.

The students will accomplish a scientific inquiry

process by investigating microgravity, developing a

hypothesis and conceiving an experiment to test that

hypothesis. The experiment apparatus design will need

to be developed and built to rigorous safety and

operational standards of the NASA facility.

TEAM APPROACH

A team approach is encouraged where team members

with the requisite skills are included. There are a variety

of tasks to be accomplished if a team expects to be

successful. Science students study the phenomena of

microgravity as a topic of physics and they research

experiment concepts as topics of physical science. Skills

in page layout and word processing are necessary due to

the specific rules for preparing a proposal, including

page layout format, number of pages, and technical

content. Attention to detail is important in the final

preparation of an entry to verify the proposal and

associated forms meet the DIME rules. Technology

students prepare the conceptual drawings in the proposal

as well as the design drawings once the team is selected.

The construction of the experiment apparatus can be

done by or with technology students. Science students

conduct 1 g ground tests with the experiment to prove

out operations and to gather a baseline experiment

operation with which to compare the microgravity

results.

Mentors are an important part of a team's work in

DIME, including the adult team advisor and local

scientists and engineers. The adult team advisor and a

local mentor (if there is one) should guide the students,

not do the work for the students.

SELECTION PROCESS

A selection process for evaluating and selecting the

winning teams from the submitted proposals has been

developed. The DIME rules state that the proposals are

created in a 'blind' fashion in which no information

about students' names or location is included. This

permits a fair evaluation of all proposals based on

scientific merit with no bias for location or ethnicity of

students, organization, or advisor.

Emphasis is placed on the science and engineering

aspects of the proposal as seen in the breakdown of

points in Table 2. A subsection of the rubric used for

DIME during the 2002/03 school year is included as

Table 3. The entire rubric is included in the DIME

Program Announcement to guide the teams while

preparing their proposal. The evaluators also use this

rubric to evenly score the proposals. The possible scores

by section are included in the announcement.

SELECTION OF WINNERS

The results of the evaluation are presented to the

DIME staff for the formal selection of winners. After

selection, the advisor for each selected team is notified of

their success. The team is soon rewarded with the

NASA/T_2002-212007 3

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
shipment of ametalplateonwhichtheirexperiment

apparatus willbeconstructed.

At thattimealso,theadvisorof eachnon-selected

teamisgivenregretsfromtheDIMEstaffaswellasa

summaryoftheevaluationresultsof theirproposal. A

participationcertificateandNASAeducational material

aresenttoeachteam.

ALTERNATIVES FOR NON-SELECTED TEAMS

For non-selected teams, the efforts put forth in

microgravity study and scientific research to create a

proposal may be used as fundamentals for science fair

projects. With the team selection announcement in midDecember, there is sufficient time for students to expand

their work into projects for spring science fairs. These

teams may also use the opportunity to critically examine

their proposal, their hypothesis, and the experiment

concept. The remaining school year time may be spent

honing the proposal as a DIME proposal entry the

following year.

If the sponsoring organization (e.g. high school or

museum) has a small drop tower, the team could design

and build a smaller demonstration device for that drop

tower. If a small drop tower is not available, perhaps the

team can channel their interest into building one (ref. 2).

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF EXPERIMENT

APPARATUS

Following their selection, a NASA or NCMR mentor

is assigned to guide the team through the more difficult

stage of design, fabrication, and testing.

NASA furnishes each selected team a base plate and

electrical connectors (as required) which together form

the interface with the NASA rig used in the drop tower.

The teams begin to develop the design of their

experiment in more detail and submit a preliminary

design to NASA for review. This review is to assess the

technical aspects of the experiment design for:

• proper interface with the NASA rig,

• adherence to safety requirements,

• acceptable operation in the drop tower, and

• to make sure each team is progressing (and not

waiting for the last minute).

One month later, the teams submit their final design

primarily for review of compliance with the safety

requirements. When construction is completed, the

experiment is shipped to NASA Glenn in a NASAprovided shipping container. A safety committee

inspects the experiment apparatus and its design package

before it will be operated in the drop tower. Safety is a

high priority in the drop tower and student experiments

are naturally expected to meet the applicable safety

standards, as are all other experiments.

DIME DROP DAYS AT NASA GLENN

NASA provides travel expenses for four students and

an adult advisor to attend DIME Drop Days at NASA

Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio. The primary objective is to

operate the teams' experiments in the 2.2 Second Drop

Tower while also participating in workshops and touring

some of the major Center facilities. One of the first

activities after 'breaking the ice' is to tour the drop tower

facility, witness the drop operations of an experiment,

and check over their experiment apparatus since it was

shipped to NASA.

The workshops feature problem solving and team

building exercises for the students, both in their original

teams and as 'mixed' teams. Training in NASAdeveloped image analysis software is also provided to

assist the teams in interpreting their experiment data, if

required. The NASA or NCMR mentor also works with

the team to operate the experiment, assist with

procedures and data interpretation. Visits to NASA

microgravity research laboratories are also provided to

the DIME teams to see first-hand some of the research

currently being conducted.

OPERATION OF STUDENT EXPERIMENTS IN

DROP TOWER

The students are involved in each step of the operation

of their experiment apparatus. After a short orientation to

the Education Rig, which carries their experiment in the

drop tower, the students install their experiment in the

rig, adjust the camera and load their sample materials.

The team's operational procedures are checked and

tested in 1 g for proper sequence and timing with the

experiment apparatus and the rig. The electronic data

logger (if used) is programmed and its operation and data

are tested.

The student team's apparatus is finally tested in a

microgravity environment on their first drop operation

test. The initial test may yield valid data and also

evaluates whether the procedures are correct, the settings

are adjusted properly, and the experiment apparatus

performs as expected. Problems found at this time can be

corrected before the drops on the following day.

Difficulties experienced in the initial drops in the first

two years of Drop Days have included premature

ignition of a combustion sample (procedure problem)

NASA/T_2002-212007 4

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
anda low electromagnet magneticfield strength

(hardwareproblem). Theseinitialteststakethestudents

andtheirexperiment apparatus throughthesequenceof

stepsinvolvedin preparingand operatingtheir

experiment throughthecompletedropoperation.

Theteams' experiment operationsinthedroptower

arewebcast overtheintemetforinterestedpeopleto

observe. Thewebaddressforthewebcast isincludedon

theDIMEwebpage.(ref.4)

STUDENT EXPERIMENTS FOR FIRST TWO

PILOT YEARS

The initial year for DIME occurred during the 2000/

01 school year with two teams participating. One

experiment studied the progression of a flame across a

cotton cloth sample in microgravity as a study in space

station fire safety for crew members. The other

experiment studied the effect of microgravity on the

gravity-driven motion of soybeans in a carbonated

beverage, where bubbles nucleating on the soybeans lift

them in normal gravity, then burst at the surface allowing

the beans to sink.

The second pilot year for DIME was the following

school year with four teams participating. There was one

combustion experiment and three fluid physics

experiments. The combustion experiment studied the

flame spread across standard office paper in

microgravity. The first fluid physics experiment studied

the interface shape between different combinations of

oils and water in a microgravity environment. The

second fluid physics experiment studied the effect of

microgravity on the shape of a magnetic fluid immersed

in alcohol within a magnetic field. The third fluid physics

experiment studied the effect of microgravity and gravity

on the shape and motion of immiscible fluid droplets.

SUMMARY

The student team members and the advisors enjoyed

the DIME program and felt that they experienced a

process similar to NASA research. The DIME teams

participated in a process of creating a hypothesis,

developing an experiment to test that hypothesis, and

creating a proposal to accomplish that research. As

opposed to standard high school laboratory experiments,

in DIME the students had to design and build their

experiment apparatus and procedures for conducting the

tests.

Performing the tests in the NASA 2.2 Second Drop

Tower and analyzing the data with NASA mentors was a

high point of their research. The DIME teams concluded

their DIME research with a final report.

REFERENCES

1) Statement of Sean ©'Keefe, Administrator, National

Aeronautics and Space Administration before the

Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,

United States Senate, June 19, 2002

2) NASA (1998), The Microgravity Demonstrator, EG1998-12-49-MSFC, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center,

Huntsville, AL

3) DIME Program Announcement, NASA Glenn Research

Center,

http: //microgravity. grc. nasa. gov/

MSD/DIME/DIME 2 0 0 3_PA. pdf

4) DIME web page,

http: //microgravity. grc. nasa. gov/

DIME. html

NASA/T_2002-212007 5

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Table 1: National education standards which apply to DIME

National Science Teachers Association

(NSTA) Standards

Science as inquiry

+ Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

Science and technology

+ Abilities of technological design

International Technology Education

Association (ITEA) Standards

Design

+ Students will develop an understanding of the

attributes of design

Table 2: Possible points for major sections of DIME proposals

Section Points

I. Science Objectives 41

II. Technical Plan 30

III. Team Organization 9

IV. Creativity, Originality, 12

Attention To Detail

V. Resource Credits 8

Total 100

NASA/T_2002-212007 6

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Table 3: One subsection of the DIME rubric for proposal evaluation

I. SCIENCE OBJECTIVES

(A) RESEARCH QUESTION / HYPOTHESIS

1. Does the proposal 2. Does the proposal 3. Is microgravity a 4. Is the hypothesis

have a clear research have a hypothesis major factor in this testable in 2.2 POINTS

question and related to the proposed seconds?

hypothesis? research question? experiment?

The relationship of the No clear connection to Unable to detect factors

Neither research question hypothesis and the

microgravity is in experiment to

1 nor hypothesis are research question cannot explained, determine response time. presented in the proposal, be determined.

An The hypothesis is The need for The information is unclear research

2 question or hypothesis is unclear; the experiment microgravity effect is unclear or not stated; the

stated, relates poorly or not at all unclear or was not experiment samples may

to the research question, explained clearly, need to be modified.

A research question and A microgravity effect is Response time short

hypothesis are present The hypothesis is clear clear and somewhat enough for reaction to be

3 but both are poorly and is somewhat related utilized in the complete within 2.2

stated, or may contain to the research question, experiment, seconds. inaccuracies.

A clear research question

and hypothesis are

present but they are not

testable, variables are not

identified, or they contain

inaccuracies.

The research question is

clear, the hypothesis is

testable, variables are

identified; variables are

identified as dependent,

independent, and control

is defined.

The hypothesis is clearly

stated and it appears that

the experiment will yield

significant data related to

the research question.

The hypothesis is clearly

stated and the experiment

will yield data that

address research question

and hypothesis in a

compelling way.

The microgravity effect

is clearly stated and is

utilized in the

experiment.

Microgravity is essential

to the hypothesis and the

research question and is

described in detail.

N/A

(item 4 is only

worth 3 points)

N/A

NASA/T_2002-212007 7

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
iiiiiiiiii@iii

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiTiiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiii6iiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiigiii

iiiiiiiiiiii4iiiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiii

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii2iiiii

Figure 1: Diagram of the 2.2 Second Drop Tower. Figure 3: Combustion chamber apparatus built by a

student team for the DIME competition. The

student's equipment is mounted to the

NASA-provided base plate.

Figure 2: Drag shield and experiment (inside) midway through the 2.2 second free-fall.

Figure 4: Student team members load samples into

their experiment apparatus which has been

mounted into the NASA drop rig.

NASA/T_2002-212007 8

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Figure5: Student teammembersadjustthevideo

cameraontheNASAdroprig.

Dropping In a Mierogravity Environment

AUG ! SEP ! OCT ] NOV DEC

NASA ACTIVITIi_S

DIME i Pr})posal ew luation

Anr_ouncemefit ii _

Sdected teaI _d A

_ announc _

TEAM ACTIVITiES__ i Submit pl

t_roposal p_eparation i p

Submit proposal _t

f'General School Year v.

Team_

Submit

safety pa(

JAN FEB

Oper_

Nt

eliminary design

ackage to NASA

Zk

design e_ periment

nal desigl and

kage to N &SA

Teams _uild exp(

Ship exp _riment tc

MAR [ APR [ MAY [

Safety evaluation

te experir_ent in

,SA Drop_Tower

Attehd DIME _)rop

Days at NASA

A

ii Sub_it final A

_ report to_NASA _

riment ii iI iI

NASA_

Figure 6: DIME school year schedule

NASA/T_2002-212007 9

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Form Approved REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE

OMB No. 0704-0188

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources,

gathering and maintainingthe data needed, and completing and reviewingthe collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this

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1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED

December 2002 Technical Memorandum

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS

NASA Microgravity Science Competition for High-School-Aged Student Teams

6. AUTHOR(S)

Richard DeLombard, Dennis Stocker, Carol Hodanbosi, and Eric Baumann

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field

Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Washington, DC 20546-0001

WBS-22-101-58-13

8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION

REPORTNUMBER

E-13694

10. SPONSORING/MONITORING

AGENCY REPORT NUMBER

NASA TM--2002-212007

AIAA-2003-0944

11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

Prepared for the 41 stAerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and

Astronautics, Reno, Nevada, January 6-9, 2003. Richard DeLombard, Dennis Stocker, and Eric Baumann, NASA Glenn

Research Center; Carol Hodanbosi, National Center for Microgravity Research, Cleveland, Ohio 44135.

Responsible person, Richard DeLombard, organization code 6727, 216-433-5285.

12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Unclassified -Unlimited

Subject Category: 80 Distribution: Nonstandard

Available electronically at http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov

This publication is available from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information, 301-621-0390.

12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE

13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)

NASA participates in a wide variety of educational activities including competitive events. There are competitive events

sponsored by NASA and student teams which are mentored by NASA centers. This participation by NASA in public

forums serves to bring the excitement of aerospace science to students and educators. A new competition for highschool-aged student teams involving projects in microgravity has completed two pilot years and will have national

eligibility for teams during the 2002-2003 school year. A team participating in the Dropping In a Microgravity Environment will research the field of microgravity, develop a hypothesis, and prepare a proposal for an experiment to be

conducted in a microgravity drop tower facility. A team of NASA scientists and engineers will select the top proposals

and those teams will then design and build their experiment apparatus. When the experiment apparatus are completed,

team representatives will visit NASA Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio for operation of their facility and participate in workshops and center tours. Presented in this paper will be a description of DIME, an overview of the planning and execution

of such a program, results from the first two pilot years, and a status of the first national competition.

14. SUBJECT TERMS

Research and development; Education; Competition; Drop towers; Microgravity;

Schools; Students

17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

OF REPORT

Unclassified

NSN 7540-01-280-5500

15. NUMBER OF PAGES

15

16. PRICE CODE

18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT

OF THIS PAGE OF ABSTRACT

Unclassified Unclassified

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)

Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18

298-102