Swamp Works Research Lab
The main lab in this high tech research lab run by NASA scientists reminded me of a “make your space” library concept or a playroom for the characters on the Big Bang Theory TV Series. The large open air lab design promotes interaction between research teams. From our viewing area the room was filled with computers, 3-D printers, drone prototypes, robot miners and robot parts, a regolith testing area (fully enclosed to insure the particles did not escape into the work area), and pieces and parts of complex machinery. I was instantly drawn in by the pure science and experimentation that was clearly not just on display. The room was literally alive even though none of the scientists had arrived to work yet (we were there very early in the morning). I thought to myself that this is the type of work space or job that would be difficult to leave at the end of the day.
The experiments and research was organized to address the next big challenge and that is space exploration to another world like an asteroid, planet, or moon (not just Earth’s). Drones to fly into very steep craters and then mine for water, larger heavier robotic miners that will be able to land prior to a manned mission and mine the regolith (soil), and finally machines that will take the mined regolith, extract any water or resources, then almost like a 3-D printer, create landing pavers that will fit together to form a landing pad. Dream it, build it, experiment with it, refine it, test it in the regolith chamber. I would imagine this is the ideal place where scientific ingenuity and invention become reality.
Application and Spinoff Potential
As I gleaned down on the almost alive workspace in the main Swamp Works Lab I immediately realized how the technology breakthroughs and inventions that were being created will benefit society outside of space exploration. My geology background steered my thoughts towards the extraction and exploration of methane gas hydrates on the ocean floor. Space; with its low or microgravity and low pressure environments, presents similar challenges as the unique environmental conditions found in the deep ocean. It is estimated that there is enough energy stored in methane gas hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico alone to provide all the energy needs our country needs for the next few hundred years. Why are we not mining it? Because we have not “thought it off of the ocean floor yet”, but I believe it is research like the topics that are currently being addressed at the Swamp Works Lab that will eventually lead to the breakthroughs needed to make mining methane gas hydrates a reality on Earth.
We were not permitted to photograph the active work space at the Swamp Works Lab, but they did provide a few photos on their Facebook page and are as follows:
The Regolith Chamber
After touring Swamp Works we were taken to an adjacent research lab investigating dust mitigation and robot built reentry heat shields for spacecraft (similar manner to the regolith landing pad construction). The heat shields were cool, but it was the dust mitigation that I found fascinating. One problem that was encountered during the Moon missions was that the lunar regolith was very hard to remove and was profoundly abrasive. Because the Moon is not large enough to hold an atmosphere there is very little chemical weathering. Micrometeorite bombardment powders the mostly basaltic rock into very fine yet very angular particles. These obsidian-like fractured grains are very abrasive, are dangerous when inhaled, and must be removed from astronaut suits, space sensors, as well as from the sides and windows of any spacecraft or structure. Since there is no water on the moon it is very difficult to just “brush off the dust”, and it gets into every little nook and cranny of the spacesuits. But at the Swamp Works scientists have figured out a way to remove the dust but creating an electrostatic force field. This invention can be incorporated into spacesuits as well as structures, and once turned on, can very effectively remove dust contamination. Dr. Carlos Calle, manager of the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Lab was gave us a demonstration which I was permitted to videotape. It sounds like something out of a movie but I can see astronauts entering a room where they activate their suits and all the dust almost instantaneously jumps off of them and is whisked away into a collector system. Can you imagine how useful this will someday be in our lives? Just activate the room and vaarrooom, it is clean. The first video of Dr. Calle shows how the dust can be removed when you activate the system (which uses very little energy and can be realistically used with a solar powered system). The second video shows how if the system is left on it can repel dust to prevent it from sticking to the surface in the first place.
Read more:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/mitigating_dust_prt.htm