langley

The primary objective of NASA space shuttle mission STS-87 was experiments in microgravity. Experimentsconducted ranged from combustion in low gravity to the more relative solidificationfurnace AADSF(Advanced Automated Directional Solidification Furnace). This mission grew three samples of Lead-Tin-Telluride (PbSnTe). Thiscompund semiconductor is extremely difficult to grow on Earth due to itssensitivity to motion.

The objective of the MIDAS experiment was to measure the precise electrical properties of several high temperature superconductor (HTS) materials during spaceflight. MIDAS is a space experiment which launched in September of 1996 on the Shuttle (STS-79), and was transferred to the Mir Space Station for several months of operation. MIDAS was returned to Earth in January of 1997 by STS-81. MIDAS was developed at NASA Langley Research Center.