The aerodynamic dragshield is a 24 foot high by 7 foot diameter, 3,600 pound "bomb"-shaped capsule which isolates the experiment package from the air drag forces. Doors on the side of the dragshield allow experiment packages as large as 3 ft.x 3 ft.x 3 ft. and weights of 450 lbs. to be placed inside. As the dragshield falls along a set of rails from the 336 foot level, it is accelerated downward by a small jet of nitrogen gas which pushes the floor out from under the experiment package. The dragshield is designed to provide a minimum acceleration on the experiment package of 10E-4 g's. At 40 feet from ground level, the dragshield enters the catch tube and compresses the air inside. This compression provides deacceleration on the order of 30 g's. Final cushioning is provided by 6 feet of fiber mats.
By fixing the experiment package to the floor of the dragshield and using an appropriately designed drag plate attached to the tail, the rate of descent can be controlled and thereby the g-level experienced by the experiment. This aspect of the tower allows experimenters to simulate the g-levels of the moon or other planets for studying fluid dynamics on future non-terrestrial space missions.
A variety of support equipment is available including real-time video imagery, high-speed film camera, compressed gas sources, a high temperature vacuum furnace, and other related equipment. Accelerometer data is also available. Data from an experiment is recorded digitally by an on-board data acquisition system.
Click to see the Drop Tower in action--Warning: This is a 6 Mb (16 sec.) movie. It will take a considerable amount of time to download with a modem connection .
Curator:Thomas Rathz/UAH tom.rathz@msfc.nasa.gov
Principal Investigator: Dr. Michael Robinson/MSFC mike.robinson@msfc.nasa.gov
