A Utah State University student will have an experiment aboard the space shuttle Discovery when it goes into orbit next month.
The experiment of Gregory S. Peterson, 25, an undergraduate student in chemistry and biology, will study the effects of weightlessness and magnetic fields on an ion arc.Peterson conceived the experiment when he was a student at Box Elder High School in Brigham City. It was selected by NASA and has been sponsored by Thiokol Corp.
Peterson will be at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to observe televised images of the arc as his experiment is conducted.
The experiment is to be conducted on the third day of the mission by mission specialist Kathy Sullivan and pilot Charlie Bolden.
The major objective of the shuttle flight, scheduled for April 12, is deploying the Hubble Space Telescope.