Student capstone project helps NASA

A team of students studying mechanical engineering at MSU invented and designed a device that will help NASA study microbial buildup in water pipes.

On NASA’s International Space Station microbial buildup prevents plumbing from working properly. To properly analyze the problem and develop a solution, researchers needed a way to simulate the microgravity found in low Earth orbit.

NASA’s issue was initially brought to Stephan Warnat’s, Ph.D. attention during the Montana Biofilm Meeting hosted by MSU, which ran from July 14-16, 2020. He shared the problem with a team of students —seniors Spencer Ball, Ryan Davis, Haley Ketteler and Connor Tappe— who he served as an advisor to. He suggested they come up with a solution as part of their capstone project.

The capstone project is a task that all engineering seniors must complete to graduate. Students have two semesters to collaborate and design, draw up specifications and write a paper or construct a prototype that demonstrates the knowledge and skills they have acquired while in school. Warnat praised the project’s requirements and expectations. “Students have to pull together [everything they have learned] from their core credits and classes,” Warnat said.

Warnat was equally enthused about the students’ low gravity simulator project. “[I] realized early on it would be a really successful project,” he said. Warnat had given the students minimal restraints and minimal requirements for what the system had to do. It paid off in the end with the completion of a prototype that could successfully simulate the microgravity of low Earth orbit. “[I was] very pleased in the end when they brought me a prototype,” Warnat said.

The students were able to present the device to NASA last fall. According to MSU News Service, “NASA is very pleased with the design and will use the device in future research efforts.” NASA has also issued a $100,000 grant for the prototype to aid in developing the sensors that will be used to detect biofilm growth in the space station’s plumbing. Warnat will continue to lead the team because of his expertise with sensors, actuators and microelectromechanical systems. Also helping lead the project is Christine Foreman, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.