Cagayano student’s gravity experiment tested in International Space Station

Cagayan, Philippines – A third-year college student from Sanchez Mira, Cagayan, proposed a microgravity experiment involving a rotation of dumbbell-shaped object in space which was tested and evaluated in the International Space Station (ISS).

Dr. Wakata Koichi, an astronaut of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), assessed and tested said experiment in the Japanese Experimental Module or “Kibo” in the ISS.

During the evaluation, his experiment has demonstrated the behavior of rotating dumbbell-shaped objects in space.

William Kevin Abran’s "Rotation of Dumbbell-shaped Objects in Space” experiment will help in the designs of spacecraft and offer a real-life example affirming the validity of Newton’s Laws of Motion and Ehrenfest Theorem in microgravity, according to the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) on January 22, 2023.

“Based on preliminary observation from our experiment "Rotation of Dumbbell-shaped object in Space," we are able to show that the rotation of rigid objects with only 2 unique principal moments of inertia is stable. The results are very similar to the way we predicted them,” Abran posted on his Facebook account.

Selection of Abran’s experiment

Abran's experiment was among the six entries made in the final phase of the evaluation carried out in the ISS recently, following the selection conducted by the Asian Try Zero-G (ATZG) competition.

Around 200 entries from students, young engineers, and researchers in the different countries in the Asia-Pacific region participated in the competition.

Experiments were evaluated based on scientific significance, novelty, safety, resource requirement, and feasibility.

Meantime, the 3rd year student expressed his gratitude for the opportunity that the experiment he described as simple was chosen to be conducted in ISS and had a positive outcome.

“In the program, there were older and younger participants. There were even participants from the veterinary and pharmaceutical fields and not just physics students. Just saying this to let you know that this kind of opportunity is something that you can pull off too. Just continue being curious about the world - or even beyond it!” he added.

Who is William Kevin Abran?

William hails from Barangay Callungan, Sanchez Mira, Cagayan. He is studying Applied Physics at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños.

Meantime, Abran is currently writing a scientific paper discussing the results of his experiment.

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