A heat shield partially made from Martian or lunar soil, lighting that
lets plants grow in space and specialized containers that keep astronauts from
getting infected by biological experiments were some of the ideas shown to
NASA's chief technologist during his two-day visit to laboratories at Kennedy
Space Center in Florida.
Although known for pioneering tools and techniques to prepare payloads and
launch spacecraft successfully, the space center and its partner Space Florida
also operate labs for scientists performing cutting edge research in other
fields.
"It's very exciting to be here at Kennedy Space Center because one of the
best parts of my job is thinking about the future," said Mason Peck,
NASA's chief technologist. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to do this
in the first place."
Peck, who has been in his NASA post for six months, has been visiting NASA
centers across the nation to see up-close what developments are under way. The
trips are important for a variety of reasons, but Peck said there is a certain
element of fun in seeing such things, too.
"If you really want to geek out about technology, which is what I like
doing, you have to come to a place like KSC," Peck said.
The Morpheus lander that is to start flight tests soon at the Shuttle Landing
Facility was also shown to Peck, along with an Atlas V rocket that United
Launch Alliance is prepping for a future mission.
Keywords – Chief technologist
praises Kennedy Advances, Morpheus lander, Kennedy Space Center, Martian or
lunar soil that lets plants grow in space.
No comments:
Post a Comment