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Ed Yeates ReportingNASA's infamous Vomit Comet has played host to another group of Utah researchers. This time, they brought lasers on board. Brigham Young University student researchers wanted to test a theory. They did that, plus a lot more.
If you want to experiment in zero gravity but can't go into space, Vomit Comet is the answer. The NASA plane provides weightlessness by taking a series of steep climbs, followed by free falls. In that interval, those on board float and tumble, experiencing things they've never felt before.
BYU senior Nathon Powers, the captain of the team, decided not to take a motion sickness pill NASA offers before each flight.
Nathon Powers, BYU Physics Team: "My brain was really alert to things. The first time we hit zero gravity, my mind flipped everything. I was seeing upside down, so it looked like everything was upside down in the plane, and it really 'weirded' me out."
Nathon Powers: "I did. I helped it with it's name, the Vomit Comet."
But amidst all this fun or discomfort, some real science unfolded. The team found out that in zero gravity, a laser beam captures particles about the diameter of a spiders web and holds them, the same way it does back on Earth.
That refutes a conventional theory that particles are captured because of rising convection currents. Since they don't happen in zero gravity, something else inherent with the laser is doing it. It's new science that could lead to possible new applications for lasers.
Nathon's experiment aboard the Vomit Comet is only the beginning. From here he goes to the University of Nebraska on a full scholarship, plus a stipend of $25,000 to experiment with lasers even more.
The BYU team experienced its free-fall over the Gulf of Mexico.
