Microgravity. NASA public domain image colelction.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a technician continues processing the Express Logistics Carrier-3, or ELC-3 while the STS-133 mission astronauts continue training. The astronauts are at Kennedy to participate in the Payload Crew Equipment Interface Test, or CEIT, which gives the crew an opportunity for hands-on training with tools they'll be using in space and familiarization of the payload they will be delivering to the International Space Station. Launch of space shuttle Discovery is targeted for Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT. For more information visit, www.nasa.gov/shuttle. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller KSC-2010-4560

THEMIS SPACECRAFT - Public domain NASA photogrpaph

Cape Canaveral, Fla. -- Technicians at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, put the instrument mast and science boom on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, known as Curiosity, through a series of deployment tests. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V-541 configuration will be used to loft MSL into space. Curiosity’s 10 science instruments are designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life. The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gasses so that the rover’s spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. MSL is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Nov. 25 with a window extending to Dec. 18 and arrival at Mars Aug. 2012. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl. Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin KSC-2011-5924

International Nickel Co. at the National Institute of Health. Counters and cabinets, National Institute of Health

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) POP + CATCH TEST + SOLAR PANEL

Microgravity. NASA public domain image colelction.

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Optical prots ring the Electrostatic Levitator (ESL) vacuum chamber to admit light from the heating laser (the beam passes through the window at left), poisitioning lasers (one port is at center), and lamps (arc lamp at right), and to allow diagnostic instruments to view the sample. The ESL uses static electricity to suspend an object (about 2-3 mm in diameter) inside a vacuum chamber while a laser heats the sample until it melts. This lets scientists record a wide range of physical properties without the sample contacting the container or any instruments, conditions that would alter the readings. The Electrostatic Levitator is one of several tools used in NASA's microgravity materials science program.

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electrostatic levitator

esl

vacuum chamber

msfc

marshall space flight center