DIME & WING are components of a NASA competition program which allows teams to design and build a science experiment which will then be operated in a NASA microgravity drop tower facility. This program is a project-oriented activity which lasts one school year for the selected teams. A DIME team will be comprised of high-school-aged students while a WING team will be comprised of students in grades 6-9. Teams may be formed from (for example) a science class, a group of classes, a science club, a Scout troop, or simply a bunch of friends. A team (whether DIME or WING) must have an adult advisor, such as a teacher, parent, or technical consultant.

Early in the school year, teams interested in competing will develop an experiment concept, write a proposal for an experiment, and submit the proposal to NASA. It is expected that the ideas and concepts for the experiments be created by the students. In addition, the proposals should be the work of the student team members.

A NASA panel of engineers and scientists will evaluate all of the submitted proposals and select the top-ranked proposals for DIME and for WING. These teams will then continue their experiment development and fabrication leading to operation in the NASA drop tower in April.

DIME

NASA will provide funding to four Tier I selected teams. Up to four student team members and one adult advisor from each Tier I team will be invited to attend DIME Drop Days in April at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. During DIME Drop Days, the team representatives will conduct their experiment in the NASA 2.2 Second Drop Tower, analyze their data, tour NASA facilities, and participate in workshops.

NEW FOR 2010!
Approximately four additional DIME proposals will be selected for Tier II participation. These teams will design their experiments, build it, and send it to NASA Glenn. The drop tower staff will then operate the experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower and provide the video and other data to the team for the team's analysis. These experiments will be subject to the same constraints and safety review as the Tier I experiments.

A final report is expected after the results of the drop tower operations are analyzed by the student teams.

WING

NEW FOR 2010!
The NASA panel will select top-ranked proposals from those submitted for the WING program. The exact number may depend on the number and quality of proposals received, but will most likely be more than ten.

Recognizing the age of WING team members in grades 6-9, these experiments may be more simple than those proposed under the DIME program for high school students. The selected teams will then construct their experiments, test them at the home location, and then send the experiment to NASA Glenn. The NASA DIME staff will then inspect the experiments for safety and then drop the experiment in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower in March and April. Data from the drop will then be sent to the team for the team's analysis and final report. The experiment will be returned to the team.

The DIME and WING program is open for student teams located in all fifty states of the U.S., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Please note that only U.S. citizens will be allowed to attend DIME Drop Days at NASA as part of DIME Tier I teams.

Important dates (subject to change):