Editor: I’m checking off an item on my bucket list------I’ll be getting a tour behind the scenes at the NASA Ames Research Center on August 14th---meeting scientists, engineers and some of the nation’s top minds (That will be a series of more educational tech articles to come). Thanks to a contest that is sponsored by Littelfuse, you can have a chance to make the same trip on October 24 of this year! Sign up now and check this off your bucket list too. Also check out some of the videos what you will experience when you are out there.
NASA Ames' main goal now is to transfer technology for commercialization and the betterment of mankind… However, over the years, government and popular support for further space exploration has dwindled, despite its many benefits. So, I’ve made a list of the top 10 reasons we should continue to explore the outer depths, "to go where no man has gone before". Let me know if you have more to add and I’ll possibly do a round two “Top 10 (more) reasons…”
The Space Portal at the NASA Ames Research Center was organized to help accelerate the establishment of the new space economy by:
Developing mutually beneficial partnerships among industry, universities, nonprofits and government.
Serving as the catalyst between NASA and entrepreneurial space organizations to promote commercial space development.
Organizing and executing pioneering developments and demonstrations that open new markets.
Supporting space activities that benefit the public.
Promoting increased demand for space.
Acting as the “friendly front door”, the Space Portal will help make NASA space infrastructure available for commercial development.
Here are the top 10 benefits we will get from the new space economy:
1. Mining for gold in space---Planetary Resources Inc. has surpassed $1.5M via crowdfunding on Kickstarter plus Sir Richard Branson has joined as an investor. Asteroids are filled with precious resources which we have squandered on Earth. See the video below:
NASA Ames NextGen air transportation
2. NASA Ames NextGen air transportation---Our air traffic system is overloaded and NASA Ames Research Center has an advanced airspace modeling and simulation set of tools to help with this problem. By working with the FAA, NASA can be a major partner in helping to model and simulate the national airspace system. Watch this video, courtesy of NASA, regarding SARDA:
Such tools come out of the space race that NASA took part in during our quest for reaching the moon as well as the Space Shuttle Program.
NASA's Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) is being designed to help tower controllers maintain a smooth, uninterrupted flow of aircraft moving towards the runway for departure to maximize runway throughput. (Image courtesy of NASA)
National Lunar Science Institute (NLSI)
3. National Lunar Science Institute (NLSI)—This NASA Ames foundation researches the formation, evolution, composition and potential of the moon, while bridging NASA’s science and exploration communities. I recently met Harrison Schmitt, a member of the last moon landing with Apollo 17. Schmitt is a geologist by trade and told me of the element Helium-3 on the moon. A Space Shuttle bay filled with mined Helium-3, which is plentiful on the Moon but almost non-existent on earth, can power the entire US for one year using Fusion reactors (The by-product is non-radio-active!) Read more about it in his book, “Return to the Moon”
(Image courtesy of NASA)
Space biology
4. Space biology—NASA laboratory experiments lead to new technologies that improve astronaut health and monitoring, while making scientific discoveries that benefit life on Earth.
(Image courtesy of NASA)
Scientists are investigating the ability of living tissue to repair and regenerate after injury for astronaut health on future long-duration space flights. It’s very obvious how this will help us on Earth as well.
NASA Ames is providing scientific and management for building new diagnostic biology capabilities aboard the International Space Station (ISS). (Image courtesy of NASA)
Supercomputing
5. Supercomputing---This area has been recognized by Congress as "vital to the nation's prosperity, national and economic security, industrial production, engineering, and scientific advancement." NASA has used supercomputers for their space exploration work, but NASA Ames also is doing research in re-creating Earth’s oceans inside a supercomputer. I will be visiting NASA Ames on August 15th where Pleiades, NASA’s supercomputer resides.
Using complex computer models and the Pleiades supercomputer, scientists are taking a closer look at Earth's oceans and sea-ice to understand more about how they work and why they are changing. (Image courtesy of NASA)
Other areas of supercomputer research are the study of tropical ecosystems boosting carbon dioxide when temperatures rise, Rotorcraft (eg. V22 Osprey and Blackhawk helicopter) design and how space affects our weather on Earth.
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
6. Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)---NASA implemented red LEDs to grow plants in space, this led to healing humans on earth. That same LED technology used to foster plant growth has contributed to the development of medical devices such as the WARP 10 intended for treatment of chronic pain by emitting energy in the near-IR spectrum for the temporary relief of muscle and joint pain. Quantum Devices invented high intensity, solid state, lighting systems for NASA that also led to photobiomodulation research, photo dynamic cancer therapy and agricultural research on Earth.
The WARP 10 LED device delivers high intensity therapeutic photon energy (Image courtesy of Quantum Devices, Inc)
Artificial limbs
7. Artificial limbs---NASA innovations in robotics and shock absorption/comfort materials in space have inspired the private sector to create solutions for human and animal prostheses. A prime example is Environmental Robots Inc and their development of artificial muscle systems with robotic sensing and actuation capabilities for NASA robotic and extravehicular activities. Check out this amazing video courtesy of Environmental Robots, Inc:
Water purification
8. Water purification---Astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS) or on long space flights in the future, need to be able to have wastewater from respiration, sweat and urine, turned into drinkable water. Now, underdeveloped regions on Earth where well water may be highly contaminated, can benefit from this technology which combines chemical adsorption, ion exchange, and ultra-filtration processes. I will be interviewing scientists at NASA Ames on August 14th who are taking the process that our body’s small intestine uses to filter out all the bad stuff we ingest every day and use that technique to make clean water for the so many people around the world who don’t have what we take for granted.
The forward osmosis is NASA's next generation water recycling technique. It will help reduce the cost of human space flight, as it increases its own reliability. This evolving technology also is starting to drive innovation and advancements in the state-of-the-art terrestrial water recycling.(Image courtesy of NASA)
Pollution remediation
9. Pollution remediation---Man’s quest for more energy, higher profits for fuel, has consequences to our environment. NASA’s microencapsulating technology led to the development of the Petroleum Remediation Product (PRP) that enables industry to safely and permanently clean petroleum-based pollutants from water. Tiny balls of beeswax with hollow centers prevent water from penetrating the microcapsule shell, but oil is absorbed right into the beeswax spheres as they float on the surface of the water before they settle, thereby limiting damage to ocean beds and life. Here is a video by Universal Remediation Inc:
10.
Powdered lubricants
10. Powdered lubricants---NASA scientists developed a solid lubricant coating material as a shaft coating to be deposited by thermal spraying to protect foil air bearings used in oil-free turbomachinery like gas turbines, refrigeration compressors, turbochargers, and hybrid electrical turbogenerators.
Oil-free bushings coated in PS300 save companies thousands of dollars in repair costs. PS300 is a composite high-temperature, lubricating, chrome-oxide-based material that is embedded with compound particles that function as solid lubricants. (Image courtesy of NASA)
As man endeavors to abuse this Earth and its natural resources, and nature’s forces wreak havoc, and man’s fragile nature shatters our idea of “it can’t happen to me”, NASA developments and ingenuity help us improve our quality of life, health, overcome limitations and enhance our commercial progress, critics still believe that space exploration and research is wasteful and frivolous.
