Long Duration Exposure Facility
Imagine you have a special room that can go into space and stay there for a very long time, like 6 years! This room is called the Long Duration Exposure Facility or LDEF for short.
Inside this room, there are lots of different things that scientists want to study in space. Things like metals, plastics, and even seeds from plants! These things are put in special spots inside the LDEF, kind of like how you put your toys in your toy chest.
Once the scientists put everything they want to study inside the LDEF, it gets launched into space on a rocket. The LDEF stays in space for 6 years, which is a really long time! During that time, it orbits the Earth over and over again, going through lots of different kinds of space weather like solar flares and cosmic radiation.
After 6 years, the LDEF comes back down to Earth and the scientists take all of the things that they put inside of it out. Then, they study how all of those things were affected by being in space for so long. This helps them learn more about how space affects different kinds of materials and how things can be improved for future space missions.
Inside this room, there are lots of different things that scientists want to study in space. Things like metals, plastics, and even seeds from plants! These things are put in special spots inside the LDEF, kind of like how you put your toys in your toy chest.
Once the scientists put everything they want to study inside the LDEF, it gets launched into space on a rocket. The LDEF stays in space for 6 years, which is a really long time! During that time, it orbits the Earth over and over again, going through lots of different kinds of space weather like solar flares and cosmic radiation.
After 6 years, the LDEF comes back down to Earth and the scientists take all of the things that they put inside of it out. Then, they study how all of those things were affected by being in space for so long. This helps them learn more about how space affects different kinds of materials and how things can be improved for future space missions.