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All payloads performed well during the 16-day mission. NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) science project teams report the overall performance of the experimental hardware and equipment employed on the mission was highly successful, with 100 percent operational success being achieved for virtually all of the experiments.

However, for the following group of four biology and protein crystallization research instruments, no scientific results will be available as no samples or electronic data can be provided to the Investigators for analysis:

Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility (APCF): included 38 experiment containers. Data were recorded on a digital tape and the scientific results consisted of the processed experiment samples.   Biobox was related to four experiments. The results of Biobox consisted of processed experiment samples. Only facility telemetry data are actually available which indicate a perfect performance of Biobox.   Biopack was related to eight experiments. Scientific results of Biopack consisted of processed experiments samples.

European Research in Space and Terrestrial Osteoporosis (ERISTO) was related to two experiments with 12 experiment samples consisting of human bone cells. ERISTO made use of the OSTEO on loan from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Again, the science results were represented by the samples themselves.

For the following experiments, most of which involved the physical science disciplines of combustion research, material sciences, and fluid physics, anywhere between 50-90 percent of the data was acquired:

• The Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) investigators estimate that careful analysis of the downlinked data should result in achieving 50 to 60% of their science goals. The MGM experiment used the microgravity of orbit to test sand columns under conditions that cannot be obtained from experiments on Earth. The knowledge gained from this will be applied to improving foundations for buildings and increasing understanding of how earthquakes and other forces disturb grains of soil and sand.
  
  Stein Sture, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said he got up to 70 percent of data needed for his experiment, which tested sand columns to study the mechanics of granular materials. The new knowledge will improve foundations for buildings and the handling of powdered materials in chemical, agricultural and other industries.
  
  "We should have most of the data to really make some good conclusions. We're very glad we had this opportunity and will be forever thankful to the Astronauts that they were able to do these experiments in the excellent way they did," he said. "Our thoughts go out to the Astronauts and their families. That is certainly the first thing on the minds of scientists."
   
• Almost all of the data from Critical Viscosity of Xenon, an experiment sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was acquired before the end of the mission. This experiment measured the changes in viscosity (resistance to flow) of xenon, a pure fluid with a very simple structure and a critical temperature just below room temperature. The data may help scientists better understand shear thinning in complex fluids such as paints and foods (e.g., whipped cream), which need to flow easily during application and stand firm afterwards.
   
• STARNAV, a star tracker navigation system from Texas A&M University accomplished all of its objectives. This educational experiment was designed to validate a new algorithm for determining precise spacecraft attitude without prior knowledge of position. According to John Junkins, a professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M and head of the STARNAV project, "If I had gotten nothing out of it, I would say my losses are minimal, compared with the loss of life. I was just fortuitous [the experiment] had the opportunity to ride on the shuttle."
   

SPACEHAB's Space Media commercial payload, STARS, saw many amazing results on this mission. As part of an education program with experiments designed by students, the STARS payload (www.starsprogram.com)  received daily downlink of video, photos, humidity and temperature readings. Students from Australia, China, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, and the United States designed these six experiments. They were able to achieve approximately 70 percent of their scientific objectives, providing unique insight into the low gravity impact on the behavior and development of ants, bees, silkworms, and fish eggs, the random crystal growth of cobalt and calcium, and the web spinning ability of spiders. The ant experiment was part of six student investigations aboard Columbia that studied how such creatures as spiders and silkworms behave in space. The ants, for example, tunnel much faster in space. The students involved in designing the ant experiment intend to complete their research based on the data that was returned prior to Columbia's breakup. "Their intent is to finish the experiment as a tribute to the Astronauts, as a way to show respect to them," said Charlotte Archibald, a chemistry teacher who supervised four students from Fowler High School in Syracuse, New York, who were involved in an experiment that looked at whether ants tunnel more slowly in microgravity.

• The Solar Constant Experiment (SOLCON), managed by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium and sponsored by NASA, was designed to measure the solar constant and identify variations in the value during a solar cycle. This experiment was a 100 percent success. The data will ensure continuity of the solar constant level obtained by instruments mounted on free flyers, over climate time scale duration.
   
• The Low Power Transceiver (LPT) experiments were completed and 100 percent of the data collected. These experiments demonstrated LPT's ability to do simultaneous communications and on-board navigation in space. The data from this experiment may provide more cost-effective space operations in future satellites
   
• The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) acquired an image of a pall of gray smoke hanging above the Amazon rainforest illustrating how complex interactions between smoke and the atmosphere can influence weather and climate. This experiment was one of Ilan Ramon's main tasks during Columbia's final mission.

The Combustion Module-2 Experiment package - which studied how spherical flames, extremely lean fuel-air mixtures near the lower limits of combustion, burn in space - is expected to produce a near-100% completion as there was enough information, including video and photographs, downlinked during Columbia's mission to allow results to be analyzed completely. According to project director Paul Ronney, he takes some comfort in knowing the hard work as well as enjoyment they put into his project yielded enough data for its completion.   Ronney, who's studied the mysterious, low-combustion spherical flames since discovering them in 1984, said it will take him at least a year to analyze the data from his experiment. "In some cases I will have to do some detective work and make some judgments because we don't have a complete record," he said. "I will make the most inferences I can without being totally speculative. I have more of a responsibility to squeeze as much scientific data as I can from these results, which is what they would have wanted." The lack of gravity allows the flames to burn longer than they could on Earth, and the experiments produced the weakest flames ever burned in space or on Earth and the longest burning flame in space to date. Ronney believes the results could one day lead to better combustion engines with higher fuel efficiency and fewer pollutants.

For the following group of three research instruments all resulting data from experiments were received well prior to the loss of Columbia, and will be available for further scientific analysis:

• Com2Plex was related to three technological experiments exploring new Loop Heat Pipe designs proposed by Industry. Telemetry data of all experiments indicated already significant improvements of heat transfer capabilities. More detailed analyses of the data will be performed in the future.
   
• Facility for Adsorption and Surface Tension (FAST) concluded all three experiments during the flight. All information (telemetry and video data) is available for further analysis by three investigator groups.
   
• Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System (ARMS) was related to 7 flight experiments and 1 ground experiment in pulmonary and cardio-vascular research in microgravity. All pre-flight Baseline Data Collection (BDC) information and all flight data are available in electronic form for further analysis by the Investigators.

The final results from these and other experiments will be determined in the coming months as the acquired data are analyzed. More information about the research performed by the Columbia crew is available on the Internet at:

http://spaceresearch.nasa.gov