Publication Date:
2013-08-31
Description:
A Get Away Special (GAS) experiment payload to investigate microgravity effects on solidification phenomena of selected experimental samples has been designed for flight. It is intended that the first flight of the assembly will (1) study the p-n junction characteristics for advancing semiconductor device applications, (2) study the effects of gravity-driven convection on the growth of HgCd crystals, (3) compare the textures of the sample which crystallizes in microgravity with those found in chondrite meteorites, and (4) modify glass optical characteristics through divalent oxygen exchange. The space flight experiment consists of many small furnaces. While the experiment payload is in the low gravity environment of orbital flight, the payload controller will sequentially activate the furnaces to heat samples to their melt state and then allow cooling to resolidification in a controlled fashion. The materials processed in the microgravity environment of space will be compared to the same materials processed on earth in a one-gravity environment. This paper discusses the design of all subassemblies (furnance, electronics, and power systems) in the experiment. A complete description of the experimental materials is also presented.
Keywords:
MATERIALS PROCESSING
Type:
NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center, The 1992 Shuttle Small Payloads Symposium; p 95-101
Format:
application/pdf
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