AS NASA INTEREST IN THE EXPLORATION OF ASTEROIDS MATURES THERE IS A RAPIDLY INCREASING NEED FOR A MORE DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE MATERIAL (DUST REGOLITH) ON THE SURFACES OF SMALL AIRLESS BODIES HOW THOSE SURFACES RESPOND TO DISTURBANCES AND WHAT EFFECTS THESE ENVIRONMENTS WILL HAVE ON REDUCED GRAVITY OPERATIONS. STRATA-S1 WILL COMPLIMENT AN ONGOING ISS EXPERIMENT ENABLING TESTING OF TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED IN THE FUTURE FOR DETAILED INVESTIGATION INTO THE FORMATION AND INTERACTION OF SMALL PARTICLES AND LAYERED STRUCTURES IN A LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT WHICH WILL INFORM ROBOTIC AND HUMAN IN SITU EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES.TESTING THIS EXPERIMENT ON A SUBORBITAL FLIGHT WILL ADVANCE THE TRL OF BOTH THE TECHNOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC GOALS BECAUSE WE WILL BE ABLE TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE MECHANICAL DEVICES AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE EXPERIMENT ITSELF IN ALL PHASES OF THE FLIGHT INCLUDING VIBRATIONS AND LOADS DURING LAUNCH THE MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENT AND VIBRATIONS AND LOADS DUE TO LANDING. IN ORDER TO MEET CURRENT AND LONG-TERM TECHNOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC GOALS WE WILL OBSERVE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE REGOLITH COMPRESSION MECHANISMS THE FORCES INSIDE OF THE ETCS (INCLUDING ON THE REGOLITH AND ON THE COMPRESSION MECHANISM) AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE REGOLITH IN THE ETCS AS A FUNCTION OF IN-FLIGHT VIBRATION CONDITIONS DURING TAKE-OFF AND LANDING (HYPER-GRAVITY) AND DURING MICROGRAVITY CONDITIONS. OBSERVATIONS OF HOW THESE SIMULANTS BEHAVE WILL ALLOW US TO INTERPRET DATA FROM AN ONGOING ISS EXPERIMENT AND REFINE WHICH SIMULANTS ARE APPROPRIATE FOR FUTURE EXPERIMENTS ON THE ISS. MONITORING THE COMPRESSION MECHANISMS FUNCTIONALITY UNDER IN-FLIGHT VIBRATIONS AS WELL AS DURING HYPER-GRAVITY AND MICROGRAVITY LOADS WILL PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO COMPLETED MISSION PHASE FOR STRATA-1 FOR WHICH WE COULD ONLY OBSERVE THE EFFECTS OF LAUNCH ONCE IT WAS POWERED ON AT THE ISS AND DETERMINE BETTER OPERATING PROCEDURES BEFORE RETURNING THE EXPERIMENT FROM THE ISS. WHILE MANY OF THE FLIGHT COMPONENTS HAVE BEEN TESTED IN-FLIGHT AND THE ELECTRONICS WILL BE EVALUATED AND THOROUGHLY TESTED ON THE GROUND IT IS NECESSARY TO ASSESS THEIR BEHAVIOR IN ALL PHASES OF FLIGHT AND IN LONGER DURATION UG THAT WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ON THE GROUND BOTH TO EVALUATE THE TECHNOLOGY AND ADVANCE THE TRL PRIOR TO FUTURE POTENTIAL FLIGHTS.THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROPOSED EXPERIMENT ARE: 1) INVESTIGATE THE PERFORMANCE OF A REGOLITH COMPRESSION MECHANISM UNDER VARYING GRAVITY LOADS AND EXPLORE THE EFFECT OF THOSE LOADS ON GRANULAR MATERIALS. 2) OBSERVE THE BEHAVIOR OF GRANULAR MATERIAL AND LAYERED STRUCTURE FORMATION IN A LOW-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE BEHAVIOR OF SIMILAR MATERIALS ON A CURRENT ISS EXPERIMENT AND REFINE SIMULANT SELECTION FOR FUTURE ISS EXPERIMENTS. BECAUSE IT WILL ENABLE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO DUST/ REGOLITH ON PLANETARY SURFACES STRATA-S1 IS RELEVANT TO APPENDIX TOPIC 1: DEMONSTRATION OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY PAYLOADS AND TECHNOLOGY AREAS TA 07 (HUMAN EXPLORATION DESTINATION SYSTEMS) AND TA 08 (SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS OBSERVATORIES AND SENSOR SYSTEMS).