Gary Campbell, garycamp@asu.edu
(480) 965-7209
February 7, 2003

Professors feel pain of lost lives, science in shuttle disaster

The disappointment of losing scientific research aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia pales in comparison to the immense grief of losing the seven astronauts. It's impossible, however, for scientists involved in NASA projects, including many at ASU, not to wonder how the tragedy will impact their ongoing research.

Overall, ASU researchers say the disaster will create a greater resolve to create safer, better ways to explore the unknown.

"I think there is a great drive to explore space that will not be deterred by this," says Laurie Leshin, an ASU cosmochemist who has a proposal before NASA for an unmanned mission to Mars. "If anything, this causes us to dig in our heels even more and try to get out there more safely and more often."

University researchers have a long tradition of working with NASA. In fact, the disaster had a direct link to ASU, as the shuttle was carrying the research of a faculty member and an ASU alumnus.

Professor Petra Fromme, from the chemistry & biochemistry department, lost all of her research data aboard the shuttle when it broke apart on reentry. She was growing a series of protein crystals aboard the shuttle and, upon returning to earth, the crystals would have been exposed to an ultra-high level x-ray. This would have provided a clear, high resolution picture of the protein's structure down to the atomic level. Defining the structure would have given researchers a better understanding of the process of photosynthesis - nature's process for converting light to energy.

Fromme was in Florida at Kennedy Space Center where the shuttle was scheduled to land. Within four hours of its landing, Fromme would have removed the crystals the shuttle and prepared them for transport. The data from the experiment, including a video of the crystals' growth, was all self-contained with the experiment on the shuttle.

As the tragedy unfolded throughout the day Feb. 1, Fromme and the other researchers who had projects on the shuttle were sequestered at the space center. She remained in Florida through Feb. 3 to disassemble the control study she was doing with the project. She is scheduled to attend two academic conferences and will not return to Tempe until mid-February.

Cindy Hutchens, a 1986 graduate from ASU in mechanical engineering, was in charge of the Vapor Compression Distillation Flight Experiment aboard the Columbia. The project was a full-scale demonstration of technology to turn crew members' urine and wastewater aboard the International Space Station into clean water for drinking, cooking and hygiene.

With the entire shuttle fleet now grounded as NASA investigates the cause of the disaster, other shuttle research projects, as well as several related to ASU, are on hold.

Three Corner Sat, a fully functional three satellite constellation built by ASU students in collaboration with New Mexico State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, was planned for launch from the shuttle later this year or early in 2004.

"Obviously the loss of human life is the most important concern," says Helen Reed, engineering professor and faculty adviser for the ASU student satellite program. "The key issue is to determine the cause and to fix it for future missions. We will face a delay but that is a minor concern. I know the students in our program are still dedicated to launching our satellite, and our program will continue to move forward."
Reed said she met Feb. 2 with several of her U.S. Air Force contacts, who are major sponsors for the Three Corner Sat, and they assured her the satellite would still be launched.

Reed said in the last week she has heard from many of her current and former students about the disaster. In the nine years since the student satellite program began, more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students have been involved. Most of the former students are now working in some capacity in the aerospace industry, including former students at both Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Johnson Space Center in Texas.

The delay in shuttle launches could also have an effect on a major tool used by many ASU researchers - the Hubble Space Telescope. A maintenance mission for the telescope is scheduled for a shuttle mission in 2005.

Rogier Windhorst, a professor in the physics and astronomy department, said that without the proper maintenance, the telescope could fail by 2008.

A failure of the telescope would have a major impact on space research as a whole and ASU in particular. ASU is considered a major center for the use of Hubble, used by Windhorst, ASU Astronomy Professor Jeff Hester and countless graduate and postdoctoral students.

Campbell, with ASU Media Relations & Public Information, can be reached at (480) 965-7209 or (garycamp@asu.edu).