Washington, D.C.
Satchell Engineering & Associates staff was contracted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the design and construction of a 6.2 million gallon pool for use as a laboratory for simulating zero-gravity training and test conditions. A pool of this size was needed to configure a number of different space vehicle equipment.
In order to ensure the zero-gravity effect that was necessary, the pool’s hydraulic design was a significant concern in the design. The “zero-gravity” condition required a “zero-current” environment to exist and as a result, all distribution piping was limited to extremely low velocities to prevent unrealistic effects from impacting the simulation environment tank. Satchell Engineering & Associates were able to tackle the challenge face on and successfully simulated the conditions needed.
