Trip Report
NASA-Johnson Space Center, EPSCoR Expo, May 8-9, 2000
Daniel Swets, Augustana College

I attended the 2000 EPSCoR Expo held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas May 8-9, 2000. Donn Sickorez and Wes Tarkington (University Affairs Office, JSC) hosted representatives from many of the NASA EPSCoR-eligible states. It was good to have a representative there from South Dakota, since there was an obvious roll call of missing eligible states.

The meeting started with a short welcome from George Abbey, JSC director. I think it showed the level of commitment of JSC to education that the Center Director would come to address a collection of potential collaborators. In fact, the entire conference had the same feel: JSC personnel dying to engage in collaboration with us. JSC is NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, and as such, I was skeptical about the linkages we would be able to establish with our Earth-science focus in South Dakota. There were, however some possibilities as described below.

Research briefings.

• Charles Lloyd, lead coordinating scientist in the Space And Life Sciences Directorate at JSC, gave a presentation about the research thrusts of the directorate in general and about the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in particular. He also discussed NASA’s CPR initiative: the Critical Path Roadmap. For major operations, such as extended space flight, there are many issues and risks that need to be addressed/mitigated. It did not seem directly applicable to our current EPSCoR thrust, but I have copies of the presentations I can send to interested parties.

• Dr. Wendel spoke next about Space Sciences: Earth Science & Space Exploration Division. His Division is split between the HEDS program and the Planetary Science program. The HEDS half deals with things like physical environment research and development, issues such as orbital debris/hypervelocity impact, and WARF, a window on the International Space Station where there are plans to install some instrumentation to view the earth for research purposes. I did not get contact information for Dr. Wendell, but Donn Sickorez at the UAO would have this information.

• John Connelly, engineering directorate, steps that come after the Space Station and the supporting critical technologies. This presentation, though interesting, did not seem to apply directly to our current EPSCoR focus, but I have copies of the presentation I can send to interested parties.

Conversations with Researchers.

After the research briefings, we had an opportunity to visit with NASA researchers (and some contractors) that had specific interest in pairing with University researchers to pursue their projects. Some of the project leaders I spoke with are as follows. I have brief summaries of each of these with contact information for interested parties.

• James D. Rush, jamds.d.rush1@jsc.nasa.gov, Active Noise Control for Space Applications. This project is looking at reducing the ambient noise in spacecraft such as the Shuttle and Space Station by producing canceling waveforms from speakers. This project did not apply to our current EPSCoR focus but was relevant to another research project I have.
• Michael Taylor, michael.taylor1@jsc.nasa.gov, OSMOSSYS: Object-Oriented Simulation of Maintenance and Operations for Space Systems Upgrades. This project simulates the reliability, maintenance, and logistics for system components. This did not apply to our current EPSCoR focus, but was relevant to another Augustana computer science department research project.
• Fred Grissom (LinCom Corp.), fgrissom@lincom-asg.com, and Bob Savely (NASA), robert.t.savely1@jsc.nasa.gov, ICAT: Intelligent Computer-Aided Training. This project provides a mechanism for teachers to prescribe a course of study, and provides the computer with an active feedback system for students. Applications include training for NASA but also distance education. This did not apply to our current EPSCoR focus, but was relevant to a research project in Augustana’s education department.
• Non-destructive Evaluation for Spacecraft Applications, missing contact information, but JPL is the lead Center for this project. This project seeks to perform evaluation using X-ray or ultrasonic inspection.
• Neural-Net processed electronic holography in rotating machines, missing contact information, but Glenn Research Center is the lead Center for the project. This project uses ANN technology to detect blade damage in a rotating engine stage.

South Dakota NASA EPSCoR-related projects

• Space Shuttle/ISS Earth Observation Photography. This project archives and provides space shuttle and ISS photography for research or pleasure. This seemed like a potential source for remote data other than our satellite imagery. They gave the following methods for obtaining images:

• http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
• http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov
• http://images.jsc.nasa.gov
• http://nix.nasa.gov
• http://shuttle.nasa.gov
• Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC), University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-6031, 505-277-3622
• Media Services Corporation, Media Resource Center, NASA/Johnson Space Center, P.O. Box 58425, Mail Code AP42, Houston, TX 77258-8425, 281-483-4231
• NASA CORE, Lorain County Joint Vocational School, 15181 Route 58 South, Oberlin, OH 44074
• For more information, write Dr. Kamlesh Lulla, Chief Office of Earth Sciences, Mail Code SN13, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, 281-483-5066, klulla@ems.jsc.nasa.gov

• NASA/JSC Regenerative Life Support project. This project looks to create a self-contained, self-sustaining life support environment (plants provide food/oxygen, waste provides plant nutrients). In particular, I discussed South Dakota’s prairie wetlands project as a model for water/plant integration. They were very interested in looking at collaborative research arrangements, and provided me with the following contact information:

NASA/JSC Regenerative Life Support Contact List

Advanced Life Support Web Site
http://ADVLIFESUPPORT.JSC.NASA.GOV/

Water Recovery
        Nigel Packham         281-483-5138
        Karen Pickering 281-483-2688
        Barry Finger              281-483-5235
        BIO-Plex Water Lead
               Jay Almlie        281-244-5121

Crop Production
        Dan Barta                 281-244-5118
        Keith Henderson 281-483-4802
        BIO-Plex Biomass Production Lead
                Juan Castillo 281-483-7298

Air Revitalization
        Sandra Brasseaux    281-483-9224
        John Graf                  281-483-9226
        BIO-Plex Air Lead
                Karen Meyers 281-483-2913

Solid Waste Processing
        Chuck Verostko 281-483-9228
        John Feighery         281-483-7873
        BIO-Plex Solids Lead
                Mike Alazraki 281-483-0004

Thermal Control
        Katy Hurlbert         281-483-4536
        BIO-Plex Thermal Leads
                Imelda Cantu  281-244-5120
                Richard Morton  281-333-6103

Food Production
        Vickie Kloeris         281-483-3634
        BIO-Plex Food Processing Lead
                Laurie Peterson  281-244-5715

• Life Sciences Data Archive (LDSA). This project collects and distributes results of NASA Life Sciences Division’s space flight research program. This archive seems like it may be of interest to SD researchers planning to pursue microgravity research. A web site is at http://ldsa.jsc.nasa.gov.

   In addition to the project-specific information, we received promotional material, in true NASA voluminous fashion:

• The International Space Station
• NASA’s SBIR/STTR participation guide
• Inspection 2000, to be held November 1-3, 2000, at JSC.
• NASA Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Project (KC-135).

Project and contact information.

• I received an Information Summaries sheet that discusses NASA facilities and (in general terms) what they do at each Center
• I received the JSC Resident Research Associateships: Opportunities for Research that describes postdoctoral and senior research projects at JSC.
• I received a copy of the Inspection 99 Exhibit catalog and Educational Opportunity that has further contact information on a wide variety of projects.

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