SPACE FLIGHT SYSTEMS RADIOISOTOPE POWER SYSTEMS PROGRAM OFFICE NATIONAL CENTER FOR SPACE EXPLORATION RESEARCH EXTERNAL PARTNERS EDUCATION/OUTREACH SPACE EXPLORATION BENEFITS PROGRAM SUPPORT IMAGE GALLERY



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ISS RESEARCH PROJECT LINKS

GRC MICROGRAVITY & TECHNOLOGY FLIGHT EXPERIMENTS


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Observation and Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS)


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Islands on 1cm bubble		  
       
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      OASIS Quad Chart  
         
         
     
OASIS logo

Objective:

To exploit the unique characteristics of freely suspended liquid crystals in a microgravity environment to advance the understanding of fluid state physics.




Relevance/Impact:

Currently an important unsolved problem ferroelectric liquid crystal micro-displays in the space helmets is the annealing of dislocations generated when the smectic layers are formed on the transparent viewing screen of the display unit. The proposed liquid crystal bubble experiments resolve the annealing dislocation problem of smectic ferroelectric liquid crystal micro-displays, one of the key aspects of generating well aligned electro-optic devices. It will improve the contrast, resolution and response time of the liquid crystal display devices that are currently used on the Helmet Mounted and Head Up display systems.



Development Approach:

  • The OASIS flight instrument will be designed to interface and operate within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).
  • OASIS will be designed for autonomous operation through scripts and ground commanding. Crew time is required for initial installation, checking sample loading and bubble/island formation.
  • A Protoflight approach, including engineering modules will be used for flight hardware development and a high fidelity operational trainer will also be designed.

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    OASIS Experiment Module Functional Schematic



    The OASIS Experiment Module contains four (4) air jets which also contain electrodes (on two air jets) and a heater/cooler tandem (on the other two air jets), a water/glycerol injector, macro and micro cameras, and heater banks to manipulate the islands. The Data Acquisition and Control Unit (DACU) will control the experiment via ISS OASIS laptop and perform data storage.

    Experiment Module


    OASIS Experiment Module (Pro-E Solid Model)


    The OASIS Experiment Module above details two views of the assembly. On the right, the MSG GN2 (Gaseous Nitrogen) line is shown at the lower left of the assembly. The air jets, illuminating white light LED panels, and bubble chamber are shown with the external housing semi-transparent for clarity. In the assembly on the right hand side, a closer view of the bubble chamber shows the injector and macro view camera.


    Project Management:



    Principal Investigator: Prof.Noel Clark, University of Colorado
    European Principal Investigator: Prof. Ralf Stannarius
    Co-Investigators: Prof. Joe Maclennan, Prof. Matt Glaser, University of Colorado

    Contacts at NASA Glenn Research Center

    Project Manager: Nancy R. Hall, NASA GRC
    Nancy.R.Hall@nasa.gov
    216-433-5643
    Project Scientist: Dr.Padetha Tin
    padetha.tin-1@nasa.gov
    216-433-8164

    Engineering Team: ZIN Technologies, Inc.


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