| Japanese |
Space utilization
A 50-meter class drop-tower has been built on the site of Uematsu Electric (Kyowa, Akabira-shi), an hour’s drive from Sapporo, providing a gravity-free experiment environment for about 3 seconds. It is the only one large drop facility available in Japan, and opportunity of the drop experiments is open for any customers who need microgravity environment with a reasonable cost. HASTIC is in charge of contract work, and Uematsu Electric is in charge of the operation of the drop facility and supporting customers to prepare their experimental setup. Examples of experiments are a combustion phenomena in microgravity, primary confirmation of spacecraft behavior, fluid dynamic motion in microgravity, and so on. Another activities by an HASTIC researcher regarding space utilization is development of a small scale microgravity facility called as Ez-Space that can realize a zero-gravity environment for about 1 second.
Laboratory of Space Utilization
The photos show the 50-meter drop tower and drop capsule under preparation.
HASTIC 50M Drop Tower “COSMOTORRE”
●Aim of the Facility
A lot of researchers in Japan are involved in Microgravity science dealing with gravity dependent phenomena. Now, new drop tower to provide around 3sec Microgravity time is constructed aiming at lower cost test opportunities, especially for preliminary experiments before project proposal. The new facility will attain (1) low cost and frequent experiments, (2) open for all researchers in the world, and (3) useful even for educational purpose.
●Specifications
| Issues | Specifications |
|---|---|
| μG time | 2.5-3 sec (45mdrop) |
| G-quality | >10-3 G0 |
| Payload size | Φ50cmｘ 105cm |
| Total weight | 400 kg |
| Capsule type | With inner capsule |
●Expected Projects and Subjects ever Attained
・Fire safety in space
・Carbon nano-tube (CNT) formation in microgravity
・Behavior of satellite release
・Fundamental researches on fluid and combustion science
・Project base learning for students
・Weight scale instruments development in space
Technical information on the drop tower（PDF）
| Office of HASTIC Room301, Akai-Manshion Hokudai-mae, Kita 10 Nishi 4, Kita-ku, Sapporo 001-0010, Japan
e-mail:office@hastic.jp TEL：+81-11-398-5505 FAX：+81-11-398-5506 |
