Crystal Growth Furnace system configuration and planned experiments on the Second United States Microgravity Laboratory Mission

Ravi Srinivas ,Michael Fiske ,G Hambright ,Melvin Ainsworth ,Dirk Schaefer

doi:10.2514/6.1994-334

Abstract

The Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) is currently undergoing modifications and refurbishment and is currently undergoing modifications and refurbishment and is manifested to refly on the Second United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML-2) mission scheduled for launch in September 1995. The CGF was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the Microgravity Science and Applications Division (MSAD) programs at NASA Headquarters. The refurbishment and reflight program is being managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. Funding and program support for the CGF project is provided to MSFC by the office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications at NASA Headquarters. This paper presents an overview of the CGF system configuration for the USML-2 mission, and provides a brief description of the planned on-orbit experiment operation.

Highlights

IntroductionThe Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) successfully completed its maiden flight in June/July 1992 on the First United States Microgravity
The Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) successfully completed its maiden flight in June/July 1992 on the First United States MicrogravityLaboratory (USML-1) mission
The Sample Interface Demarcation System (SIDS) capabilities are divided into two main functions, Mechanical Pulse Interface Demarcation (MPID) and Electrical Pulse Interface Demarcation (EPID)

Summary

Introduction

The CGF successfully completed its maiden flight in June/July 1992 on the First United States Microgravity. The system performed successfully in all aspects, and all the mission objectives were met. A number of system capabilities were exercised, including demonstration of the crew interaction with the experiment hardware using the Flexible Glovebox (FGBX) for sample insertion and retrieval. The Principal Investigator (PI) was allowed interaction with the experiment operation by means of realtime ground commanding to control the initiation of crystal growth. The flight hardware was returned to the contractor facility in September 1992 for postflight checkout which was completed in December 1992. Postflight ground truth science testing in the Ground Control Experiment Laboratory (GCEL) unit for all the four USML-I

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion