Space Product Development Weekly Highlights – January 8, 2003

Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing (CAMMP) – Zeolite
Crystal Growth (ZCG) Spare Autoclaves

Dr. Albert Sacco, CAMMP Director,
and the ZCG team successfully preformed ground commanding to activate
the spare autoclaves on flight day 3 of Stage 11A, Increment 6. This
will increase the commercial research return to ZCG by greater than 25%.
The ZCG team commanded all the mixing for the ZCG furnace autoclaves
from the ground. However, Commander Ken Bowersox manually mixed one autoclave
and rotated the autoclaves to minimize bubble formation, which was first
observed during clear autoclave operations. This will minimize excess
surface area and thus reduce nucleation, which will greatly improve the
crystals grown.