Studies were carried out and first results were published soon after. He built the first prototype in his garage in a small town near Bern in Switzerland. Baumann set out to develop a revolutionary device to measure venous pressure in the human body non-invasively. She hopes to work for NASA after she graduates from Old Dominion.NASA and Compremium have long been engaged in a true partnership for the advancement of mankind. She's back at school this semester, but Liberto is already planning a way to experience more zero-gravity moments. The research team hopes the video shot during the experiment can be used in classrooms as a visual aid for magnetism concepts. The students took anti-motion-sickness medication and wore flight suits.Īt the end of the flight, the members on Liberto's team were able to see for themselves that magnetic field lines are distinct from gravity because they function even when there is no gravity. You were trying to adapt to the weightless environment,' Liberto says. Liberto's team had to do its experiment within those brief windows of time. To achieve antigravity, the plane climbed steeply, then leveled off at a precise angle, providing everyone in the back of the aircraft 15-20 seconds of zero gravity, or simulations of gravity on the moon (one-sixth of Earth) and Mars (one-third of Earth). The team climbed onto a specially modified 727 and it took off over the Gulf of Mexico. 'Luckily, we kept our experiment very simple, and took the requirements supplied to us to build it very seriously.'įinally, it was flight day.

NASA can come in and make you or break you,' Liberto says. 'It's one of those nerve-racking moments. 7-17 at Ellington Field in Houston.Īfter the students checked in and spent a frantic few days preparing the experiment for its flight test, NASA engineers came in and did a test readiness review, making sure the project was safe to fly. The work culminated with flight week, Jan. 'Lots of sleep was lost, but it definitely paid off in the end,' she says. Liberto was one of two project members who remained behind in Houston.Īnd all of this work was done on top of Liberto's regular duties through the Johnson Space Center internship. Then, after students went home after the Thanksgiving break, the team continued its work by meeting remotely. 'We were evacuated, but the storm sort of followed us,' Liberto laughs. The team's work built steadily through the fall, interrupted for a week by Hurricane Ike. Her project, which included students from across the United States, received most of its funding from the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. Liberto, who is hoping to complete the joint bachelor's and master's degree program in spring 2010, is the first ODU student to participate in the RGSFOP. In an antigravity environment, you can display these magnetic field lines in three dimensions.' 'We were trying to demonstrate how they're very independent of each other. 'For young students, magnetic and electrical fields are very hard to visualize' in two dimensions, Liberto explains. Because of the gravitational pull of Earth, magnetic fields usually appear in two dimensions. It was done by looking at magnetic field lines in the absence of gravity. Liberto's team wanted to demonstrate how the force of magnetism is separate from the force of gravity. The research looked at magnetism concepts.

To win the right to experience a few dozen 15- to 20-second bursts of zero or reduced gravity, Liberto and her team worked tirelessly for four months, preparing their experiment. Her group was selected through the Undergraduate Student Research Program to conduct an experiment in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program (RGSFOP). Liberto, 24, spent last fall in an internship at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 'It was words can't really describe it,' Liberto says. The outgoing Old Dominion University mechanical engineering student is passionate and personable, when talking about her studies, or her outside-school interests.īut the Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology senior struggles to express what it was like to experience flying in an airplane that created a zero gravity environment. Maria Liberto is rarely at a loss for words.

Liberto First ODU Student to Experience Zero Gravity at Space Center

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