Team Super-Hydro prepares to leave

Northwest Nazarene University’s Team Super-Hydro, a team of seven engineering and chemistry students, is preparing to leave for NASA’s Microgravity University Systems Engineering Educational Discovery (SEED) program. The team finished and shipped the box that the experiment will fly in last week.

Team Super-Hydro will arrive at Ellington Field, where NASA’s astronauts train, on Friday, April 20. They will fly their experiment April 26 and 27 after going through physiological training.

The 2012 experiment will extend the team’s previous research on the super-hydrophobic material by focusing on its application in water purification systems aboard space craft. The team will work to separate the water vapor from liquid water in a passive, phase-separation system. In this process, the impurities stay behind in the liquid while the vapor goes on to be cleaned, condensed and re-used.

“We are excited that our program provides once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for aspiring scientists and engineers to study and understand their craft. The students gain useful skills by participating in the program through collaborative planning and teamwork,” said Doug Goforth, NASA RGEFP Manager.

Follow Team Super-Hydro’s progress here.