Three experiments from Utah State University have been launched into space in one week - a particularly busy week for USU's space research program.
USU student Gregory S. Peterson saw his ion arc experiment launched on the space shuttle Discovery, along with the Hubble telescope. Peterson, a 25-year-old undergraduate from Brigham City, had his experiment selected by NASA in its Student Shuttle Involvement Project (SSIP).Thiokol Corporation sponsored Peterson's work and staff members Val King and Jeff Blakeley of USU's Space Dynamics Laboratory helped Peterson prepare the experiment.
Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan was to run the experiment for Peterson early Thursday morning.
The school also has been launching "sounding rocket" experiments that are short-lived and take measurements in a limited part of the atmosphere. The data they collect will keep scientists working for some time, said Paul Huber, assistant to the director of the Space Dynamics Laboratory at USU.
One rocket, launched Tuesday from Wallops Island, Va., was designed to create a supersonic shock wave in the atmosphere that would in turn be measured by on-board instruments, he said.
Known as "UV Bow Shock," the experiment determined the strength of ultraviolet radiation emitted as a result of the shock wave.
Another rocket, launched Wednesday from White Sands, N.M., and sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, carried the "Excede III" experiment, an acronym for "atmospheric excitation via controlled energy deposition experiment."