NASA Day 16: It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday
Today was one of the rare days in which I was excited to get up at 6:15 in the morning. Today, was Plum Brook Station. Unlike Glenn, Plum Brook is more like a park. I got to Glenn, and walked into the visitor center. There were two guys in there, it was their first time in the center. They had to wait until their person came and picked them up through the gate because it was their first time in the facility. I thought that Cass would have to come and get me, but because I've already been there, I showed them my ID, and they printed off my badge and let me through with no hassle. I felt special - like a regular.
Audrey came back from her vacation in Vegas - she had a good time. Her, Emily, Cass, Steven, Keith, and I all packed into the one and only... gold mini van and drove off to Plum Brook station. It's probably not the only and only gold mini van, but it seems to be the best car in the facilities division. It's not even that nice of a mini van; it's just that there's problems with some of the other vehicles. Nothing major - but people like the gold mini van.
Plum Brook Station's facilities are primarily used to emulate environmental conditions ranging from earth's orbit to deep space. We toured two facilities starting with B-2, aka the NICE Facility. I forgot what NICE stands for, but I empathize with the scientists every time they hear a nice pun.
The B-2 facility tests full scale launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated conditions. The thing being launched is mostly underground, and looks almost like a mini drop tower. The vacuum's pressure will decrease as well as the temperature. Or - they can simulate solar heating if they needed. The B-2 isn't that different from any of the other vacuum chambers, but it's capable of large quantities. Unfortunately, there was lots of scaffolding in the way, and the lid was closed, and we couldn't see inside, but the top looked pretty massive.
I think I'm mixing up the B-2 and the NICE facility. We saw three facilities in total, but I'm having conflicting memories.
At another facility, maybe the B-2. maybe the NICE, maybe something else, we talked about the future of electric propulsion: which is hopefully electricity. We had a conversation with Gerald Hill for roughly over an hour. His facility was not impressive, but the idea was perhaps the most tangible one I've seen all year. Currently, the lithium-ion batteries are still heavy enough where the electricity they provide doesn't outbalance the burden they put on due to their weight. However, Gerry expects this to change in the near future, citing a loose fact that the guy who invented the lithium-ion battery invented something 5 times more efficient for it's size. He also cited hybrid planes which I think are being tested which should help with fuel efficiency. I asked him what's the hold up, and he mentioned safety. These engines have to undergo lots of testing before put on public planes, but Boeing already has a model. I'm not sure if they are testing it in person or not, but Gerry said something along the lines of "I would be surprised if these aren't flying by 2021." Just a side note: I'm uncertain about these facts, please don't quote/cite me for any of this.
The best part of Plum Brook Station hands down was the Space Power Facility. It's the world's largest space environmental simulation chamber, 100' in diameter, 122' high. It was designed to test nuclear rockets when built, but NASA cancelled any nuclear testing after it was built. The building is also the world's most powerful spacecraft acoustic chamber, low frequency vibration text stand, and has the ability to test for electromagnetic interference.
I'm not going to finish this at the moment, but https://facilities.grc.nasa.gov/spf/ here's a link to the facility's info page.
I went back to NASA Glenn, said goodbye, dropped off some chocolate, and am ultimately sad to be leaving, but I hope to be back one day. Wish I wasn't cutting this journal short - but NASA has been a blast!
The B-2 facility tests full scale launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated conditions. The thing being launched is mostly underground, and looks almost like a mini drop tower. The vacuum's pressure will decrease as well as the temperature. Or - they can simulate solar heating if they needed. The B-2 isn't that different from any of the other vacuum chambers, but it's capable of large quantities. Unfortunately, there was lots of scaffolding in the way, and the lid was closed, and we couldn't see inside, but the top looked pretty massive.
I think I'm mixing up the B-2 and the NICE facility. We saw three facilities in total, but I'm having conflicting memories.
At another facility, maybe the B-2. maybe the NICE, maybe something else, we talked about the future of electric propulsion: which is hopefully electricity. We had a conversation with Gerald Hill for roughly over an hour. His facility was not impressive, but the idea was perhaps the most tangible one I've seen all year. Currently, the lithium-ion batteries are still heavy enough where the electricity they provide doesn't outbalance the burden they put on due to their weight. However, Gerry expects this to change in the near future, citing a loose fact that the guy who invented the lithium-ion battery invented something 5 times more efficient for it's size. He also cited hybrid planes which I think are being tested which should help with fuel efficiency. I asked him what's the hold up, and he mentioned safety. These engines have to undergo lots of testing before put on public planes, but Boeing already has a model. I'm not sure if they are testing it in person or not, but Gerry said something along the lines of "I would be surprised if these aren't flying by 2021." Just a side note: I'm uncertain about these facts, please don't quote/cite me for any of this.
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| The Space Power Facility |
I'm not going to finish this at the moment, but https://facilities.grc.nasa.gov/spf/ here's a link to the facility's info page.
I went back to NASA Glenn, said goodbye, dropped off some chocolate, and am ultimately sad to be leaving, but I hope to be back one day. Wish I wasn't cutting this journal short - but NASA has been a blast!
