Zero G Corp to Test NASA Experiment Rack in Parabolic Flight at Parabolic Arc

SPACE FLORIDA PRESS RELEASE

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (September 8, 2008) — Space Florida and NASA at Kennedy Space Center will initiate testing on a new space experiment rack concept – named FASTRACK™ – aboard NASA’s first commercial research flights on ZERO Gravity Corporation’s parabolic aircraft September 9-12, 2008, at Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Space Florida and NASA-KSC teamed up in January 2008 to design the new rack, which will support two standard Space Shuttle mid-deck lockers. The rack will facilitate NASA and commercial use of reusable U.S. suborbital flight vehicles in support of science investigations and technology development. The rack will also accommodate experiments aboard parabolic aircraft such as ZERO-G’s modified Boeing 727 jet, and may also be adapted in the future for additional orbiting vehicles and facilities.

Three science investigations to be performed on the September flights include:

Baseline characterization of the microgravity environment in FASTRACK™ payload accommodations using instrumentation provided by NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
A fluid dynamics experiment by the University of Central Florida to study Faraday wave interfaces in microgravity.
Tests of a biomedical sensor to evaluate its effectiveness in performing continuous, non-invasive monitoring and recording of human hemodynamics during changes in gravity.

FASTRACK™ will enable customers to test experiments, apparatus, and analytical techniques in hardware compatible with the International Space Station. It will also allow customers to perform science that can be carried out during reduced gravity periods in parabolic aircraft.

“From a research and technology development perspective, we are excited to provide this type of opportunity to commercial customers,” noted Steve Kohler, Space Florida President. “FASTRACK™ will provide the type of safe, dependable infrastructure needed to launch the future of microgravity research. We are pleased to play an integral role in that development.”

Space Florida provided funding for the design and development of the FASTRACK™ space experiment rack system. Space Florida also worked closely with NASA to define top-level requirements and specifications for the design and played an integral role in the approval of development testing and operations plans.

The FASTRACK™ is being jointly developed under a Space Act Agreement between KSC and Space Florida, both of which have contracted with the Bionetics Corporation to accomplish design, fabrication and testing of the experiment rack. FASTRACK™ is a trademark of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.