An experiment to determine survival, behavior and comb building activity of bees at zero gravity (0 g) was conducted through the Shuttle Student Involvement Program (S.S.I.P.). A bee enclosure module (B.E.M.) was designed to hold ca 3 400 worker bees and a queen for 7 days during a NASA Space Shuttle mission in April 1984. Honey bees at 0 g survived with low mortality, flew within a small flight chamber in the B.E.M., constructed ca 200 cm2 of comb and stored sugar syrup within it. The queen laid ca 35 eggs within newly constructed comb but these did not survive transfer to a hive upon their return to earth. The geometry of comb pieces built at 0 g was compared with comb from an early B.E.M. trial at one gravity (I g) and from a normal hive. Cell densities, depths, diameters and wall thicknesses were all similar whether built at 0 g or I g. Cell angles were also similar but did not angle consistently « downward p when built at 0 g.

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The pressure drops and heat transfer coefficients of helical vane inserts of four different pitch-tube diameter ratios were measured over a Reynolds number range of about 30,000 to 300,000. The heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drops increased with increasing mass flew rate and decreasing insert pitch-tube diameter ratio. A momentum analysis, based on solid body rotation, resulted in new expressions for the momentum and frictional pressure drops for fully-developed flow in these inserts. Helical vane friction factors and Stanton numbers, computed from the experimental data in accordance with parameters derived from the analysis, correlated with conventional plain tube expressions.

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