Duncan, C.

Mccormack, R.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

IWNSANews
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Washington. D C 20546
AC 202 755-8370
For Release
IMMEDIATE
Richard McCormack
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/755-8583)
Christine Duncan
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 205/453-0034)
RELEASE NO: 77-197
CLOUD LABORATORY IN SPACE TO STUDY EARTH WEATHER
The old saying, "Everyone talks about the weather,
but nobody does anything about it" may soon be put to rest
by space age engineers and scientists. NASA and the General
Electric Co., Valley Forge, Pa., are planning to build a
special weather laboratory that will be carried into space
by the Space Shuttle and its Spacelab in the early 1980s to
study the causes of weather here on Earth. NASA and General
Electric are expected to sign a $5.6 million contract to
build the laboratory called the Atmospheric Cloud Physics
Laboratory (ACPL) this week. The space agency chose General
Electric to negotiate a contract for the work in June.
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September 20, 1977
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In the weightless environment of space, this highly
sophisticated automated laboratory will he able to perform
weather experiments that have not been possible on Earth.
Years of study have yielded a wealth of data on weather
phenomena, but scientists have never been able to study
properly the minute physical processes of cloud formation.
Earth's gravity distorts experiments and renders the results
incomplete.
Now, NASA may have found a way to help these scientists
fill in some of the blanks.
Charles R. Ellsworth, manager of the cloud physics
laboratory task team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala., explains two of the problems caused by
gravity in Earth-bound laboratories:
"In an experimental cloud chamber on Earth, drops form
and fall out of sight so quickly that they cannot be observed
properly. In space, without the pull of gravity, the drops
form and remain suspended so that the formation process can
be observed as long as necessary.
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"Convection, or movement of air or fluid, is an effect
of gravity that occurs in cloud chambers when temperature
differences are present, such as a higher temperature on one
side of the chamber. This effect distorts the cloud forma-
tion procedure. Convection does not occur when there is no
gravity.
"This new laboratory operating in orbit will essentially
eliminate problems caused by gravity," he concludes, "and
allow scientists to study the microphysical processes of
cloud formation without that hindrance."
NASA has selected eight of 26 experiment proposals sub-
mitted by the scientific community to be performed in the
ACPL on early Spacelab missions. The laboratory will remain
in Spacelab during the mission and return to Earth with data
from the experiments. The ACPL can be used many times on
such missions, giving other scientists an opportunity to
carry out different experiments and research leading toward
their ultimate goal of controlling local weather.
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Scientists whose experiments will be performed en the
first mission are:
Prof. Warren C. Kocmond, executive director of the
Energy and Atmospheric Environment Center, Univer-
sity of Nevada, Reno.
Dr. Donald E. Hagen, assistant professor at the
Graduate Center for Cloud Physics Research,
University of Missouri, Rolla.
Dr. Patrick Squires, director of the Convective
Storms Division, National Center for Atmospheric
Research, Boulder, Colo.
Dr. Bernard J. Anderson, cloud physicist in the
Space Sciences Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight
Center.
Scientists whose experiments will be performed on
subsequent missions are:
Dr. Larry R. Eaton, program scientist for the ACPL
Program at General Electric Co., Philadelphia, Pa.
Dr. Gabor Vali, professor at the Department of
Atmospheric Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie.
Dr. Clive Saunders, professor in the Physics
Department at the University of Manchester, England.
Prof. Peter Hobbs, professor in the Atmospheric
Sciences Department, University of Washington,
Seattle.
-end-


Cloud laboratory in space to study earth weather

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