High School Students Build a Duct Tape Dispenser for NASA

For more than 50 years, NASA astronauts have relied on duct tape as a fix-it-all for everything from a lunar rover on the moon to an air leak on board the International Space Station. Up until now, though, they have not had an easy way to dispense the adhesive. Enter high school students from five different states, who have come up with the solution. HUNCH, or High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware, is a nationwide program that challenges students to design and build equipment that is then launched and used aboard the space station. Now in its 18th year, HUNCH students have built lockers, handrails, various tools and a galley table for the crew to eat at and share meals. The program has even come up with some of the food items that have been added to the astronauts' menus.

Before the HUNCH dispenser, rolls of duct tape — which is also referred to as "grey tape" or "Mach 25 tape" — and Kapton high temperature tape were generally stuck to the edges of work areas, on handrails or wherever in reach. To cut the tape from the roll, the astronauts needed to use scissors or, in a pinch, they tore it with their teeth. The need for the tape dispenser underscores the many uses that tapes have on the station. More than 20 different adhesives are used aboard the orbital complex, though duct tape and Kapton tape are the most popular. The tapes are used for everyday activities, much like on Earth, but also to keep items from floating away in the microgravity environment of space.



Credits:
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-031221a-space-station-hunch-tape-dispenser.html