CD players used in demonstrating gyroscopic stabilization in microgravity
Taking CD players into the International Space Station, Science Officer Don Pettit demonstrates gyroscopic spin stabilization in microgravity in the Saturday morning science. Floating a CD player in microgravity, Pettit shows us how the player spins irrationally, and when the CD inside is played how the spinning becomes more stable, a spinning CD provide enough stability to set the player quite stable. Pettit also combines two and three CD players perpendicularly, tied by tape to depict a gyroscopically stabilized platform, in the off position the CD players again act like solid bodies and spin irrationally, but when they are turned on they show a far better stability than a single CD player. This means a stable platform can be used as an utility device up in gravity.
