Four undergraduate Portland State University Students will travel to NASA Johnson Space Center's Ellington Field in Houston to participate in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program (RGSFOP). The PSU group is one of only 50 teams selected to participate, and this will be the second consecutive year that PSU has performed a conduit phase separation experiment.

Each year, the RGSFOP gives undergraduates the opportunity to propose, build and fly a reduced gravity experiment. The teams will perform their experiment aboard NASA's C-9 aircraft, also known as the "Weightless Wonder," which produces weightlessness in 18 to 25 second increments by executing a series of parabolas (a parabola is a steep climb followed by a free fall) over the Gulf of Mexico. During the free falls, the students gather data and experience weightlessness.

This year's experiment, called the "Conduit Phase Separation Team II," is designed to separate liquid and gas in a zero gravity environment by passing the mixture through a specially designed conduit. The results could be helpful in future designs of fluid-separation systems for spacecraft. The students - Jennifer Jones, Jessica Pierry, Jesse McCormack and Pete Levno - developed the project in conjunction with Mark Weislogel, a professor of Mechanical Engineering who worked at NASA before coming to PSU. Following their flight, the team will evaluate findings, draw conclusions and provide the results to NASA.

The Portland State University student team will arrive at Ellington Field, where astronauts do their T-38 training, on April 17. They will then go through physiological training and fly their experiment during the week of April 21 to 25.

For more information about the students and their experiment, please contact the Office of University Communications at 503-725-3711 or Mark Weislogel at (503) 725-4292.

For more information about the RGSFOP, visit http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov
or contact Jenna C. Mills at NASA Johnson Space Center's Public Affairs Office at 281-483-5111, or jenna.c.mills@nasa.gov.