Zero Gravity Research Facility facts for kids
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Zero Gravity Research Facility
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 Location in Cleveland
Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Location | Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio |
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| Built | 1966 |
| Architect | NASA |
| NRHP reference No. | 85002801 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 3, 1985 |
| Designated NHL | October 3, 1985 |
The Zero Gravity Research Facility is a special place at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. It helps scientists study how things behave in a reduced gravity environment. This means they can test what happens when objects feel almost no pull from gravity, just like in space!
This facility has helped with many important space missions and other projects. It uses a tall, empty tube to drop things. This helps researchers learn about parts, systems, liquids, gases, and even how fire acts when gravity is very low.
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What is the Zero Gravity Facility?
This amazing facility has a large concrete shaft. It is about 28 feet (8.5 m) wide and goes 510 feet (160 m) deep into the ground. Inside this shaft is a steel vacuum chamber. This chamber is 20 feet (6.1 m) wide and 470 feet (140 m) tall.
How the Drop Works
Before a test, the air inside the vacuum chamber is sucked out. This makes the pressure very low, like in space. It gets down to 13.3 pascals, which is super close to a perfect vacuum.
Scientists put their test equipment inside a special container. This container can weigh up to 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg). When it's ready, they drop it! The equipment then experiences microgravity for about 5.15 seconds. This is like a short trip to space without leaving Earth.
At the bottom, the container lands in a cart filled with soft styrofoam beads. It slows down very quickly, feeling about 32 times the force of Earth's gravity. Sometimes, it can even feel up to 65 times!
The Service Building
At the top of the shaft, there's a building called the service building. It has a workshop area, a control room, and a super clean room. In the workshop, scientists get their experiments ready. They put the equipment together and make sure it's balanced.
The control room is where all the action happens. From here, people control the vacuum chamber. They also check the experiment before it drops. After the drop, they collect all the information and data.
History of the Facility
The Zero Gravity Research Facility was built in 1966. It was part of NASA's work on the Centaur rocket. This rocket stage helps push spacecraft further into space.
NASA needed to understand how liquids, like the fuel for rockets, would behave in space. They needed to know if the fuel would flow correctly when there was very little gravity. This facility helped them figure that out.
Because of its important role in early space programs, the facility was named a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It's a special place that helped us explore space!
