Development of Optimal Bubble-Seeding Microheaters to Study Nucleate Boiling Heat Transfer in Microgravity

Heat management is a critical issue facing engineers of spaceflight systems. Nucleate boiling has high heat transfer rates, but further study is needed to apply this method effectively to a heat transfer system in a microgravity environment. The USU Get Away Special (GAS) team is conducting a series of experiments aboard NASA\u27s Weightless Wonder aircraft to further understanding of nucleate boiling activity in microgravity. Two specific focuses of the current experiment are determining optimal surface geometries of microheater arrays designed to induce nucleate boiling and constructing a lighting and video system to spatially and temporally resolve the anticipated jets of fine, high-speed bubbles. As we use these systems to collect and connect data, we expect to gain an increased understanding of the conditions, parameters, and applications of nucleate boiling in microgravity

The Effects of Space Environment on Wireless Communication Devices\u27 Performance

This project evaluates the effects of the space environment on small radio hardware devices called Bluetooth (a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances) chips (hoovers). When electronics are exposed to the harsh environment outside the Earth\u27s atmosphere, they sometimes do not perform as expected. The USU Getaway Away Special (GAS) team is now in the design stages of launching a CubeSat (a 10 cm cubed autonomous satellite to fly in Low Earth Orbit). In order to conduct experiments proposed for the USU GAS Cubesat, Bluetooth wireless communication will be used. By testing commercially available hardware in appropriate custom configurations, the reliability and quality of the CubeSat experiments will be greatly improved. The project funding will purchase enough Bluetooth hardware chips to test survivability when exposed to 100-1000 rads, a temperature range from -20°C to 100°C, and a pressure of 10-5 Torr to 103 Torr