Aeroaging - A New Collaboration between Life Sciences Experts and Aerospace Engineers.

An open discussion between experts from life sciences and aeronautics has been held in order to investigate how both area of research overlap and could be relevant to each other, precisely on the topic of aging. Similarities in aging processes and prediction methodologies have been identified between human aging and aircraft aging. Two axis of collaboration have been raised: 1) The identification of the determinants in Aircraft aging (structural aging). 2) The development of P4 Systems medicine inspired new methodologies in the predictive maintenance.

A novel facility for reduced-gravity testing: A setup for studying low-velocity collisions into granular surfaces.

This work presents an experimental design for studying low-velocity collisions into granular surfaces in low-gravity. In the experiment apparatus, reduced-gravity is simulated by releasing a free-falling projectile into a surface container with a downward acceleration less than that of Earth's gravity. The acceleration of the surface is controlled through the use of an Atwood machine, or a system of pulleys and counterweights. The starting height of the surface container and the initial separation distance between the projectile and surface are variable and chosen to accommodate collision velocities up to 20 cm/s and effective accelerations of ∼0.1 to 1.0 m/s(2). Accelerometers, placed on the surface container and inside the projectile, provide acceleration data, while high-speed cameras capture the collision and act as secondary data sources. The experiment is built into an existing 5.5 m drop tower frame and requires the custom design of all components, including the projectile, surface sample container, release mechanism, and deceleration system. Data from calibration tests verify the efficiency of the experiment's deceleration system and provide a quantitative understanding of the performance of the Atwood system.