NASA: Day 9
So much happened in so little time that it's hard to think back to the 6 different things you do in one day. I'm back writing this in the Mic. It's like the library, but just better and quieter and there's unoccupied conference rooms that you can use when they're not in use.
I flew solo again for the greater part of today, which is always nice and a little more personal. I started shadowing a guy nicknamed Art in the back of the facilities department. He is the construction manager, and he showed me around the campus showing me more of the pipeline systems. Building up on yesterday and a last week with the civil engineers, Art showed me the hardened plastic (there's a more specific name for it somewhere). The pipes are melted and fused together and ran across long distances underground. To connect pipes or fire hydrants, they dig up the road deep enough to take a T pipe and connect the hydrant to it. The domestic waterline is quite thick. The main waterline is 18" in diameter - and a lot of water runs through it. More T pipes are used, and Art showed me the process of connecting the waterline to a building. After the water is tested and cleared for drinking, the waterline is hooked up. There's a few other connections like a water meter, some electronic equipment for monitoring water pressure, and some protections like a back-flow protector. The back-flow protector measures the water pressure on both sides of the pipe, and if the water is about to backup, the valve shuts and stops water from flowing in the wrong direction. Obviously, this stops water from flowing at all, but it serves as a protection from potential damages. I want one of these installed in my house.
We got to make a pit stop inside the acoustics facility. Inside the facility, the building is designed so well, that if you and someone else stand ten feet away and turn away from each other, you can shout and you will not be able to hear each other. I didn't get a chance to try it out, but supposedly, it's a cool place to be.
Next stop was building 24 with Brian, also from facilities. He's been trying to demolish this building for 9 years, and it's not just him, it's NASA. They've wanted to demolish this building, but because of all the regulations, it's taken nine years. There are motors, lasers, asbestus, and old computers that he is not allowed to just throw out despite being from the 90's. The computers have to be claimed (which nobody wants to claim them of course), or they have to be sent to be disassembled, data wiped, and the components can be recycled, usually in prisons.
This building felt perhaps the most "retro" building of all. There was that classic 50's advertising with cartoons and comic characters. Brian let me keep one.
Then, lunch time with some peeps where we talked about prom related drama. I don't like spending money, and prom is all about spending money. One of my ideas is having some sort of charity where you put all the money that you don't want to spend on a tuxedo, some money goes to some charitable cause, and you also get a Cedar Point ticket or something. I think a lot of kids would choose cedar point over wearing a suit rather than a $140 tux rental. Or just wear suits instead of tuxes and put the money towards something more useful. I'm not a fan of tuxedo business if you couldn't tell.
After lunch, I met with two young electrical engineers: Jason and Matt, both in facilities. They showed me a reactor. When they told me I was going to see a reactor, my first thought was a nuclear reactor. I knew that all of NASA's nuclear testing is done somewhere in Nevada far away from the rest of the world,
They showed me the reactor that they were installing, and I found a photo online of what it essentially was: a copper coil surrounding a giant piece of iron. It creates a magnetic field and makes switching on a motor not as big of a deal. I don't know why, and I'm not familiar with AC power systems, but if they were not installing these in place, breakers could be tripped and bad things would happen.
After seeing the systems, I met again with Brian who drove home his point about underutilized resources. He took me through this lab and told me to count the people actually doing work. This was in a relatively large lab, about the size of half a football field, and there was one person who walked through that portion of the lab. And I noticed that elsewhere, but never really thought of it until he pointed it out. NASA used to have 6,000 employees when Brian came in, and it's reduced to under 3,000 in his words. Tom's number was 2,000 - which includes the contractors on site. Again - don't quote me on those numbers, but I see Brian's point. NASA is downsizing, and these giant labs are underutilized. There's so much equipment that's not being used, and there's not enough people to run the equipment, and even if there was, NASA doesn't have the budget to continue research.
Perhaps this was the most disheartening realization in my experience so far. Brian told me that because of the limitations in NASA's budget, NASA can't afford to inspect and maintain the wind tunnels. They're cutting costs by skipping what was once routine maintenance, which means that eventually, they're going to start up the wind tunnel, and it's not going to work. To me, this is like having a car, but all the sudden losing the money to maintain it. NASA fills up the gas tank and changes the oil, but they can't afford to inspect the car and look for say, the air filter coming into the engine, which is going to cause the engine to break, and then you don't have a car without an engine, do you. Brian is a nice guy, but he doesn't sugar coat the problems that NASA is facing. He loves his job, but the political problems, budget problems, and policies/regulations slow down progress, and saddens me that I get to see one of the few functioning pieces of our government struggle for reasons beyond NASA's control.
I met with Don and found Claire as well as recent employee who works full time. He graduated from Akron as a double E - so he came along with us to the drop tower and the geer lab.
At the drop tower, I learned about why they test things in zero gravity environments. One reason is for combustion testing because flames operate differently without gravity.
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| Art and I in a mechanical room observing water lines and other equipment |
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| These can't be thrown out |
After finishing up at the demolition of building 24, we went over to another building. Inside, they were testing an object's resistance to burn over extended periods of time. Like weeks, months, or years.
Sometimes, the department of defense or area 51 calls us up and wants to test stuff. I can neither confirm or deny the existence behind these secure doors. The doors are are almost absurdly secure. There's a notice on the door that states the procedure of unlocking the door. First, they have to call security, leave their name, and other identification information. Then you have to scan your badge, enter a pin, then use the combination lock on the front of the door. And once you enter the door, there's another keypad where you have to enter a pin to disarm the door.
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| I can neither confirm or deny the existence of aliens. |
After lunch, I met with two young electrical engineers: Jason and Matt, both in facilities. They showed me a reactor. When they told me I was going to see a reactor, my first thought was a nuclear reactor. I knew that all of NASA's nuclear testing is done somewhere in Nevada far away from the rest of the world,
They showed me the reactor that they were installing, and I found a photo online of what it essentially was: a copper coil surrounding a giant piece of iron. It creates a magnetic field and makes switching on a motor not as big of a deal. I don't know why, and I'm not familiar with AC power systems, but if they were not installing these in place, breakers could be tripped and bad things would happen.
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| NASA's parking could use a little work |
Perhaps this was the most disheartening realization in my experience so far. Brian told me that because of the limitations in NASA's budget, NASA can't afford to inspect and maintain the wind tunnels. They're cutting costs by skipping what was once routine maintenance, which means that eventually, they're going to start up the wind tunnel, and it's not going to work. To me, this is like having a car, but all the sudden losing the money to maintain it. NASA fills up the gas tank and changes the oil, but they can't afford to inspect the car and look for say, the air filter coming into the engine, which is going to cause the engine to break, and then you don't have a car without an engine, do you. Brian is a nice guy, but he doesn't sugar coat the problems that NASA is facing. He loves his job, but the political problems, budget problems, and policies/regulations slow down progress, and saddens me that I get to see one of the few functioning pieces of our government struggle for reasons beyond NASA's control.
I met with Don and found Claire as well as recent employee who works full time. He graduated from Akron as a double E - so he came along with us to the drop tower and the geer lab.
At the drop tower, I learned about why they test things in zero gravity environments. One reason is for combustion testing because flames operate differently without gravity.
When scientists drop stuff down this 510' hole that's about as tall as the Washington monument, they do so in a sealed vacuum to eliminate any air pressure. The pressure drops to 10^-2 torr. For scale, the air around us is about 760 torr, so it's well sealed. After an hour of depressurizing the hole, they drop an object, capture video footage, and capture whatever data that needs to be captured. At the bottom, the object experiences 35Gs, or 35 times what you normally feel standing on the surface of earth. The object falls into this giant pit of Styrofoam that slows the object down.
Once, there was a group of kids who asked if they can throw a quarter and the scientists said that they only take paper bills. And then the kids started throwing down money which took quite a long time to reach the bottom. Someone threw an army parachute guy down without the vacuum seal and Eric Newman said it took it a minute or two to reach the bottom.
The test vehicles can be 3.5' wide and 13.5' tall, so the vehicles are rocket shaped, often times with some sort of pressurized part that they light on fire for the 5.18 seconds it takes for the object to experience free fall in the vacuum. Pretty impressive stuff for 1966.
The GEER lab, or the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig is a small facility that simulates extreme environments. When I visited, they were in the middle of an 80 day test putting these small stones inside Venus. They study materials that corrode and react poorly inside different environments. Once, they tried to test some computers and found that Venus isn't a fan of copper. So then they tested gold plated copper - but mother nature won, and eventually, they had to use some form of gold circuitry. Rather expensive? Yes, but it's effective.
The testing room is locked up because they are testing hazardous gasses like the caustic sulfuric acid and these stone like objects to see what happens to them. The chamber supports temperatures up to 500°C or 932°F. Pretty hot stuff to say the least. They can pressures of nearly from a near vacuum to that of 90 times earth's atmospheric pressure. They have a permit for unattended testing, so they let the facility test when nobody is around.
At the end, we talked to a chemical engineer about how she mixes up to 8 different gasses and water to simulate the conditions of Venus or Jupiter.
By that time, Tom, Cass, and Larry were gone, and I left home to grab my books and barely make my 6:00 piano lesson. Long day? Yes, but I'm alway having a fun time.
Tomorrow is Lab Day 2017. I don't know what that means yet, but there's an event for children at NASA. Also - a day to meet Mr. Dowdell's daughter in the safety department? Maybe...
