Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. LENGTH: Short
One of the main goals of the 11-day science voyage is for astronauts to deploy a four-ton stainless steel dish that will hurtle through space at 17,500 mph about 30 miles behind the shuttle for four days.
As the shield moves through space, the front will knock away the last vestiges of the Earth's atmosphere, setting up a weightless vacuum on the back side.
There, scientists have placed seven metal surfaces, each coated with a solution designed to stimulate the growth of crystals.
The vacuum is 1,000 to 10,000 times better than the best vacuum that can be created on Earth. That atmosphere allows the crystals to grow more perfectly than any others ever produced, said NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham.
``The process develops atom by atom, layer by layer, until it forms a thin crystalline wafer film,'' Buckingham said. ``Scientists will lift that film and try to use it in semiconductors.''
Scientists believe that the new material created in space will result in the purest, most efficient material ever used in semiconductors and fiber optics.
If so, that translates into better digital cellular phone communications, sharper high-resolution television and better quality from any of a thousand kinds of messages carried on fiber-optic cable, Buckingham said.
by CNB