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Grissom supports Purdue scientific experiment

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Gary Lockard
  • 434th ARW Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. --  Air Force aircrews routinely fly people and cargo to different parts of the world.

On July 28, a KC-135R Stratotanker crew from here took Professor Ephraim Fischbach of Purdue University's physics department, his staff and their cargo to Thule Air Base, Greenland, to conduct a scientific experiment.

"Grissom ARB is in many ways the key component in this exciting experiment," the professor said. "Without the transportation that Grissom will be providing to and from Thule, this mission could never take place."

Other members of the research team include Jere Jenkins of Purdue's nuclear engineering department, Col. Michael Silver of the Purdue Air Force ROTC, faculty from the U.S. Air Force Academy and cadets from both schools.

Thule AB is the Air Force's northernmost base. It's about 945 miles from the North Pole.

While in Greenland, the professor and his staff of 12 will study the behavior of electronic systems and radioactive decays during a rare total solar eclipse.

"The core objective is to study the behavior of electronics during a solar eclipse," he said.

"There will be a solar eclipse on Aug. 1, which will pass almost directly over Thule," he explained. "We will be making a number of careful measurements including the decay rates of radioactive elements before, during and after the eclipse."

Planning for the experiment began in March 2007, and one major concern was finding reliable transportation to and from the remote permafrost-encrusted base.

Professor Fischbach learned about Grissom and the capability of its KC-135s during a civic leader orientation flight in June 2007.

With Grissom just an hour's drive from the Purdue's West Lafayette, Ind., campus, the idea soon emerged of having Grissom play a key role by providing transportation.

After coordinating with various Air Force organizations, including Air Mobility Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Force Space Command and the U.S. Air Force Academy, the trip was approved.

The Arctic Science Center at Thule routinely hosts visiting scientists and will be the temporary home for Professor Fischbach's staff during their nine-day stay. At this time of the year, Thule experiences sunlight 24-hours a day with temperatures in the 30s.

Members of the team hope the data gathered will help researchers learn how solar activity disrupts various forms of communications, such as satellite communications, Global Positioning Systems and other equipment used by the Department of Defense.
"We hope this experiment may allow us to anticipate these disruptions and take steps to avoid or minimize the problems," the professor said.

The long-term goal is to develop technology that would provide warnings of impending solar events to ensure critical communications remain uninterrupted. No such technology currently exists.

The efforts of the research team will continue long after the eclipse is over and the team has returned to the college campus.

"All of us will spend many months analyzing the data and writing up the results of the various experiments," Professor Fischbach said.

According to Air Force officials, the trip will also benefit three Purdue ROTC and two Air Force Academy cadets, who are part of the research team. The cadets have been involved in the planning of the experiment. They will help perform the experiment and will be co-authors on upcoming technical papers resulting from the experiment.

Flying people and cargo aboard a KC-135R may seem routine, but the final destination and purpose make this a unique mission.  (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)