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ZIN Tech Receives NASA Space Act Award
2/18/2004
ZIN Technologies,Inc. has been awarded a NASA Space Act Award for Technology to the PCS Project Team a Space Act/Board Action Award for Technology (NASA Case No. LEW-17620-1) titled 'Physics Of Colloids In Space Experiment On ISS: A Complex, Flexible Remotely-Commanded Light Scattering Instrument'.
The Physics of Colloids in Space (PCS) is an Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack-based microgravity science experiment that was performed on the International Space Station from June 2001 until February 2002. PCS gathered data on the basic physical properties of colloids (very small particles - about one hundredth the thickness of a human hair - suspended in a liquid or a gas), by concurrently studying three different types of colloids with the objective of understanding how colloidal structures grow, the rates at which they grow, and the structures that they form. This information is useful to gain insight into the basic nature of liquid-to-solid phase transitions, to better understand how colloidal constituent properties affect the properties of the bulk colloidal suspension, and to begin to probe the unique light scattering properties of nano-engineered binary colloidal alloys. The PCS experiment was developed over a 6-year period of time and was operated over a 9-month time period by a team of civil servants and contractors at Glenn Research Center (GRC). The recognized contribution by the Glenn Research Center PCS Project Team is two-fold: 1) a significant microgravity experiment, PCS, was developed and deployed, and then ultimately executed on the International Space Station (ISS) during calendar years 2001-2002, and 2) as a result of these efforts, NASA now possesses a reusable ISS payload platform/ system (also called PCS) which additional science researchers can use in the near future on ISS to realize extended periods of microgravity for colloids and other complex fluids research.
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