The KC-135 "Vomit Comet" is used to produce 20-30 second periods of "microgravity" conditions. Longer periods of low gravity levels like those of the Moon or Mars can also be simulated. | |
 
A candle flame in normal and microgravity conditions. The absence of buoyancy eliminates "natural convection" and a pointed flame becomes spherical. | |
The FIST team conducts experiments aboard the KC-135 aircraft in the FEANICS chamber. The FEANICS allows the team to control environmental conditions during each test (oxygen concentration, forced flow velocity, externally applied heat flux) and contains byproducts of combustion. The chamber is equiped with instrumentation to monitor environmental conditions and ports allow for infrared, ultraviolet and visible light imagery. | |
The UC Berkeley and NASA team aboard the KC-135. | |
The FEANICS enclosure with supporting hardware aboard the KC-135. | |
Inserting the FIST module into the FEANICS enclosure. | |
A microgravity period aboard the aircraft. | |
The ground based FIST experiment with IR imagery in foreground. | |
The FIST experiment with particle image velocimetry and continuous mass loss measurement. | |
Researcher with a FIST experiment in progress. | |
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