Students Participate in Wright StudiesWhile NASA engineers are studying how wind flows around a full-scale model of the 1903 Wright Flyer, hun dreds of classrooms are getting NASA wind tunnel test data about the model in almost real time via the Internet at NASA's educational web site, Wright Flyer Online, at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright The on-line educational project, one of several online offerings from NASA's Quest Project (at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov) continues through the end of the 1998-99 school year. Students are able to interact with NASA experts, project staff and other classrooms through the Internet. A teachers' guide for the fifth through twelfth grades is available to educators and the general public on the web site.
The project includes many clear goals and objectives, allowing students to have fun while learning about current aeronautics and history of the Wright Brothers and early flight. Many activities, including games, puzzles and contests, are on-line to prepare students for the wind tunnel tests, including chat sessions with Ames engineers, pictures of the airplane model and an e-mail question-answer service. In March, the testing of a model of the first aircraft to make a successful powered and piloted flight began in the world's largest wind tunnel complex at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. The tests are being conducted to ensure that a yet-to-be-built replica can be flown safely by a pilot at the same speed and altitude on December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's historic flight. "The Wright Brothers did not have access to such a modern, computerized wind tunnel," said Susan Lee, Aero Design Team Online project manager at Ames. "So, through these wind tunnel tests, engineers will document the flight characteristics of the first real airplane."
Engineers want to improve the Wright Flyer's design to increase the replica's reliability by studying the test model's stability, control and handling at speeds up to 30 miles per hour in the 40-foot by 80-foot wind tunnel at Ames. The test results will be used to compile a historically accurate aerodynamic database of the Wright Flyer. "NASA is here as a resource for the public and to inspire young people. This project seeks to educate and inspire youth; it's much more than dollars and cents," said Pete Zell, wind tunnel test manager at Ames. "I can't think of anything as exciting as using modern technology to test a replica of the biplane that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew for the first time ever in 1903 at Kitty Hawk." For more information, contact Susan Lee at Ames Research Center.
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