WASHINGTON – NASA unveiled new technology ideas for the future of space exploration in a series of panels this week that encourage the public to weigh in on where the space agency's limited funding should go.
The first series of panels – part of a yearlong series of technology meetings – ran through today (Jan. 28). The series discussed 14 tech-related space topics, ranging from robotics, power and navigation to entry, descent and landing, including how to land on other worlds and asteroids.
"There are so many different technologies we would like to use, but we need direction – not just from NASA, but from the public and outside experts – about how to best prioritize tech advancements," Karen Thompson, chief technologist of the NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, told TechNewsDaily. "We have limited funding, so key decisions need to be made by the committee, with help from the public, about which technologies should be pursued."
"Advancements need to be made for future space missions to provide crew safety," said Katy Hurlbert, an engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Systems should be developed and provided affordably, and require sustainability in extreme environments and for remote locations."
Technology will also be needed to overcome challenges to crew health, such as an astronaut's psychological well-being in extreme environments and how to deal with limited communications from ground-based medical personnel for diagnosis and consultation as incidents arise.
"New suit materials could also perform multiple functions, such as integrated power generation, injury and radiation protection, and be designed with decreased mass, improved mobility and self-sizing capabilities," Hurlbert said.
"High recurring costs are really impacting our space program. This is true ten years ago, it's true today and will likely be true tomorrow," said Greg Clements, also of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
"Tech enhancements will detect, locate, repair or mitigate an electrical compromise on energized 'live' wires during functional operations or 'dead' wires during maintenance operations," Clements said. "Once damage has occurred to a wire, it can be isolated by a re-routing device and then self-repair itself."
"The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidelines about what is harmful for the environment, and we have to comply with the new rules," said Thompson of Kennedy Space Center. "We need to protect the supplies and technology we already have. When we launch, materials form from solids and liquid fuels that cause acid to eat through the systems. New development needs to protect these materials."
Corrosion is a silent killer of the world's critical infrastructure and costs the world economy over $2 trillion annually, Clements said in his presentation. In fact, the total annual estimated direct cost of corrosion in the United States in 2010 was $578 billion – about 4.2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.
"For NASA, the degradation of structures from corrosion caused by exposure to high temperatures, humidity and the proximity to ocean has resulted in significant ground operations corrosion-related costs," Clements said. "NASA can achieve significant cost savings for the space program and for the nation as a whole by developing and implementing new corrosion prevention, detection and mitigation technologies that provide environmentally friendly, nontoxic materials to prevent corrosion."
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