Dropping In a Microgravity Environment
What
If
No
Gravity?
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NASA
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DIME. |
What can be found on this web site:
- Introduction
- DIME announcement - HOW TO ENTER!
.
- Helpful Information -background
material to help you to understand DIME
- Check for possible
financial support from your state's space grant consortium
- Summary of the
teams from past DIME competitions
- Acknowledgements
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1. Introduction
Eligibility
The DIME and WING program is open for student teams located in all fifty states of the U.S., Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Please note that only U.S. citizens will be allowed to attend DIME Drop Days at NASA as part of DIME Tier I teams.
DIME & WING Open to Additional U.S. Territories
DIME and WING have been expanded such that they are to open to student teams
from American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,
and the U.S. Virgin Islands in addition to the 50 states, the District of Columbia,
and Puerto Rico. However, for these four additional territories, travel funds
will not be provided for DIME if a proposal is selected as a Tier I winner. Such
a team would be able to participate in a visit to NASA Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio
under the various program stipulations, but would need to provide their own travel
funds. If such a team were selected for Tier I and they so desire, they could
defer to a Tier II participation where their experiment is designed and built
by the team and sent for the NASA staff to operate it in the Drop Tower. [Sept.
13, 2010].
DIME
NASA will provide travel funding to four
Tier I selected teams from the fifty U.S. states, Washington DC, and Puerto
Rico. Up to four student team members and one adult advisor from
each Tier I team will be invited to attend DIME Drop Days in March at
NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. During DIME Drop Days, the
team representatives will conduct their experiment in the NASA 2.2 Second
Drop Tower, analyze their data, and tour NASA facilities.
Approximately four additional DIME proposals will be selected for Tier
II participation. These teams will design their experiments, build
it, and send it to NASA Glenn. The drop tower staff will then operate the
experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower and provide the video and other data
to the team for the team's analysis. These experiments will be subject to
the same constraints and safety review as the Tier I experiments.
A final report is expected from each Tier I & II team after the results of the drop tower operations are analyzed by the student team.
WING
Recognizing the age of WING team members in grades 5-8, these
experiments may be more simple than those proposed under the DIME program
for high school students.
The NASA panel will select top-ranked proposals from those submitted for the
WING program. The exact number may depend on the number and quality of proposals
received, but will most likely be 30.
The selected teams will then construct their experiments, test them at the
home location, and then send the experiment to NASA Glenn. The NASA staff will
then inspect the experiments for safety and drop the experiments in the 2.2
Second Drop Tower in March and April. Data from the drop will be sent to the
team for the team's analysis. After the drop operations are completed, the
experiment will be returned to the team. A final report is expected after the
results of the drop tower operations are analyzed by the student team.
DIME & WING are components of a NASA competition program which allows teams to design and build a science experiment which will then be operated in a NASA microgravity drop tower facility. This program is a project-oriented activity which lasts one school year for the selected teams. A DIME team will be comprised of high-school-aged students while a WING team will be comprised of students in grades 5-8. Teams may be formed from (for example) a science class, a group of classes, a science club, a Scout troop, or simply a bunch of friends. A team (whether DIME or WING) must have an adult advisor, such as a teacher, parent, or technical consultant.
Sponsored by NASA JSC |
| The Teaching From Space Office facilitates education opportunities that use the unique environment of human spaceflight. The TFS Office is located in the Astronaut Office of the NASA Johnson Space Center and works with crewmembers to facilitate live in- flight education downlinks, education payload operations, and education demonstration activities. |
Early in the school year, teams interested in competing will develop an experiment concept, write a proposal for an experiment, and submit the proposal to NASA. It is expected that the ideas and concepts for the experiments be created by the students. In addition, the proposals should be the work of the student team members.
A NASA panel of engineers and scientists will evaluate all of the submitted proposals and select the top-ranked proposals for DIME and for WING. These teams will then continue their experiment development and fabrication leading to operation in the NASA drop tower in March.
Important dates (subject to change):
NOTE: These dates are different from previous years. |
| NOTE: Some of this material is in the Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (pdf) and requires Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader to access it. Acrobat Reader is available FREE from Adobe. |
| This does not imply an endorsement by NASA of this product or company. |
Disclaimer: This education opportunity is subject to availability of funding by NASA. |
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2. How to Enter the DIME and WING Competitions
Stay informed about DIME and WING |
| TO SUBSCRIBE: Sign up to get news via e-mail as DIME and WING are developed. Send us an e-mail today. |
The basic steps of this team competition are:
- Form a team of appropriately aged students with at least one adult advisor
- Research microgravity science and develop a research question
- Prepare and submit a proposal according to the guidelines and rules in the DIME Program Announcement or WING Program Announcement (see below)
- If selected, the team designs and builds their experimental apparatus
- The experiments are sent to NASA Glenn in advance for safety inspection
- Four students and one adult advisor from each selected DIME Tier I team come to NASA Glenn for DIME Drop Days in March to operate their experiment in the drop tower
- Data is sent to each team after their experiment is operated
- Each selected team prepares a final report and submits it to NASA
The basic DIME information is contained in three documents that may be downloaded from these links:
- The DIME Program Announcement contains all of the necessary information for submitting entries to the DIME high school team competition. New version for DIME 2012 installed on August 31, 2011. Discard any previous versions.
- The WING Program Announcement contains all of the necessary information for submitting entries to the WING competition for teams in grades 5-8. New version for WING 2012 installed on August 31, 2011. Discard any previous versions.
- The DIME & WING Educators Resource Guide contains assistance for educators and team advisors for the topic of microgravity. The steps for developing an experiment and proposal are outlined with suggestions for producing a polished proposal.
- The DIME Experiment Design Requirements document contains the guidelines, requirements, and constraints for designing a DIME team's experiment apparatus to successfully operate in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower. (The WING Program Announcement contains this information for WING experiments.)
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3. Helpful Information
- Additional information about the 2.2 Second Drop Tower at the NASA Glenn Research Center is available. A description of the drop tower in text and pictures is available there.
(Bear in mind that some of the detailed information on the Drop Tower pages is not applicable to DIME and WING teams.)
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A YouTube channel has been established for DIME and WING. That channel contains more videos that illustrate the drop tower and a few of the previous experiments constructed by DIME teams. If you have a YouTube account, subscribe to the DIME & WING page! - A Destination Tomorrow video taking you behind
the scenes at the 2.2 Second Drop Tower. This is the drop tower where DIME
& WING experiments are operated.
You will need Adobe Flash Player 8 or later and JavaScript enabled to view this video.If necessary, turn on closed captioning.
- Here is the NASA What is Microgravity?
descriptive page. Linked from that page, there are related video clips,
such as microgravity fluid physics and combustion science. Play the
video here by clicking the start button.
You will need Adobe Flash Player 8 or later and JavaScript enabled to view this video.If necessary, turn on closed captioning.
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4. Possible support by your state's space grant consortium
The NASA-supported space grant consortium in your state may be able to support your team during your participation in DIME. A directory by state is maintained on the WWW of all the space consortia across the country. Eligibility for DIME is nationwide, so consult that list for the consortium in your state, DC, or Puerto Rico.
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5. Who has won the DIME competitions?
DIME participation in the past has been coast-to-coast.
| 2010/2011 | - | DIME Tier I teams from Fredonia, Wisconsin; Troy, Michigan; Coconut Grove, Florida; and Toledo, Ohio. DIME Tier II teams from Goffstown, New Hampshire; Lone Tree, Iowa; Northbrook, Illinois; and Coconut Grove, Florida WING teams from Saratoga, California; Norwood, Massachusetts; Shaker Heights, Ohio (2 teams); Dallas, Pennsylvania (3 teams from 2 schools); Plains, Pennsylvania (2 teams); Norfolk, Virginia; and White Salmon, Washington (4 teams). |
| 2009/2010 | - | DIME Tier I teams
from Tualatin, Oregon; Plattsburgh, New York; Northbrook, Illinois; and Toledo,
Ohio. DIME Tier II teams from Houston, Texas; Troy, Michigan; Northbrook, Illinois; and Columbus, Georgia DIME Tier III teams from Washington DC; and Troy, Michigan (3 teams). WING teams from Mooresville, Indiana; Littleton, Colorado; Troy, Michigan; Basking Ridge, New Jersey; and 14 teams from these Pennsylvania towns: Exeter, Kingston, Hanover Twp., Drums, Tunkhannock, Dallas, Lehman, and Mountaintop. |
| 2007 to 2009 | - | DIME was on a hiatus. |
| 2005/2006 | - | Teams from Tualatin, Oregon; Cincinnati, Ohio; Northbrook, Illinois; and Bay Village, Ohio. |
| 2004/2005 | - | Teams from Tualatin, Oregon; Columbus, Georgia; Northbrook, Illinois; and Troy, Michigan. |
| 2003/2004 | - | Teams from Miami, Florida; Akron, Ohio; Troy, Michigan; and Cincinnati, Ohio. |
| 2002/2003 | - | Teams from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Troy, Michigan; Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and Cincinnati, Ohio. (first nation-wide year) |
| 2001/2002 | - | Teams from Bay Village, Columbus, and Cincinnati (two teams), Ohio. |
| 2000/2001 | - | Teams from Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. (DIME pilot year) |
WING Image Gallery
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6. Acknowledgements
The Dropping In a Microgravity Environment (DIME) program is a cooperative effort of many organizations.
- Teaching From Space Program, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
- Educational Programs Office, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
- ISS and Human Research Project Office, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
- Space Processes and Experiments Division, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
- National Center for Space Exploration Research, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
- Office of Education, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC
- Testing Division, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
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This page maintained by
Nancy R. Hall, NASA Glenn Research Center.
nancy.r.hall@nasa.gov
Last Updated
September 26, 2011