UPDATE: Student Experiment Arrives at International Space Station

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s HTV2 takes off to the International Space Station, where astronauts will perform the final steps of a chemical experiment being conducted by Ohio State engineering students. (Photo courtesy Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

When aerospace engineering student Michael Snyder was just 6 years old, his dream was to be an astronautical engineer and send something he built or worked on into space.

Now earning his master’s degree at Ohio State, Snyder is seeing his wish come true.

Snyder and aeronautical and astronautical engineering student Stephen Levine, a junior, worked with faculty members to finalize a chemical experiment that was launched aboard a Japanese space vehicle Saturday and docked at the International Space Station this morning. The experiment will be transferred to the International Space Station within the next few days. Snyder and Levine are completing a project started in 2010 by another team of students and are advised by Professor Umit Ozkan and Burcu Mirkelamoglu, a research associate, both of Ohio State’s Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

“It was a surreal moment watching the launch live, knowing that an experiment I was involved in and built was up there finally, after 18 years of desiring it. Stephen and I worked very hard at finalizing the design and building and testing the experiment,” Snyder said.

The experiment, which was launched to the International Space Station aboard a Japanese cargo transporter, HTV2, is focused on isolating the effect of gravity on the growth of ceria nanoparticles. Ceria (CeO2) is used as a support or catalyst in many technologically important reactions, such as high-temperature coatings for jet engines, solid oxide fuel cells for next-generation automobiles, and emissions abatement. The experiment will contribute information on whether reduced gravity leads to a higher level of performance for the catalyst.

The experiment traveled to space in a CubeLab, a cubic container measuring 10 centimeters in each dimension, that is produced by NanoRacks, a Houston-based company. Belcan Corp., an engineering company in Cincinnati, is underwriting the $25,000 cost of the project and provided technical expertise on the experiment’s design. Belcan connected NanoRacks with Ohio State via Phil Combs, president of Belcan’s Advanced Technology Division, who is an Ohio State aerospace engineering alumnus and strong supporter of the university’s aerospace engineering activities.

The experiment requires mixing of cerium nitrate and sodium hydroxide solutions, which will then combine to grow crystals over time until the solution reaches equilibrium. Snyder and NanoRacks chief technology officer Michael Johnson came up with the idea to place the cerium solution in an inner, plastic capsule inside a Teflon tube that contains the sodium hydroxide solution. Both are then surrounded in three levels of containment in a cylindrical-shaped stick. Different levels of the solutions are contained in the experiment’s 24 sticks.

Within a few days of the HTV2’s docking at the space station, as early as Feb. 3, the astronauts will perform the experiment by bending the sticks, similar to the way in which common glow sticks are activated, to break the inner cerium capsule and mix the solutions. Then they will put the sticks back into the CubeLab, where the crystals will grow and remain until the experiment returns to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft scheduled for a March 16, 2011, departure.

“Once the cube is returned to us, we will immediately remove the mix sticks, identify the concentrations in each, label them, and send them to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering for analysis,” Snyder said.

“It has been my pleasure to work with the OSU student team to successfully design and build the CubeLab experimental package for the International Space Station,” said Jim Smith, Belcan corporate chief engineer. “This unique opportunity enabled the students to apply what they have learned; work with the launch integrator, NanoRacks, and NASA; and gain valuable, practical experience. This success lays the foundation for future cooperative efforts where we can continue to utilize Belcan’s expertise to enhance the educational experience for the OSU community.”

Jeff Manber, managing director of Houston-based NanoRacks, producer of the CubeLab container in which the experiment has traveled to the space station, says the company’s standardization of hardware and use of off-the-shelf technology allows for a less expensive way to make space experiments more accessible to researchers.

“The exciting thing for everybody is we only signed the contract with Belcan less than a year ago,” Manber said. “For space, that’s remarkably fast and puts the program within reach for students. So a student can design the experiment, get approval, get funding and fly the experiment to space within a year. It’s a really a good way to make sure we stay competitive and keep students interested in technology, by actually letting them do space experiments.”

Keep tabs on the mission through the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s HTV2 website.

News media contacts:Joan Slattery Wall, Ohio State College of Engineering communications, 614-292-4064, wall.107@osu.edu
Michael Snyder, student CubeLab team member, snyder.686@osu.edu