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Panel launches annual NASA conference at U of M

Monday’s NASA panel made one small step toward economic development in Montana, and one giant leap toward educating the state’s local communities about space research.

Jeff Windmueller Montana Kaimin

About 50 NASA affiliated representatives, business people and community members attended the forum in the UC Theater to hear opinions about the administration’s future and how it will affect Montana.

Monday night’s forum marked the beginning of NASA’s annual conference, titled “Leading Great Research in Space.” The conference is scheduled in conjunction with the Educational and Public Outreach Annual Training Retreat, which is a NASA program meant to spark interest about NASA’s research. The retreat began Monday and will run through Thursday, Nov. 21.

Monday’s panel consisted mostly of NASA representatives, local media members and representatives from UM, including Kate Shanley, chair of UM’s Native American studies department and George Bailey, assistant to the vice president of research and development.

“We asked the panel members first of all what areas of concern they have,” said John Emond, a NASA representative. “One of the panel members mentioned there is a loss of talented individuals,” from Montana.

Once individuals gain the scientific expertise to benefit the space program, they have to leave Montana for places with economies more reliant on NASA research, Emond said.

Another issue raised by the panel was the lack of knowledge in NASA research and development in Montana. Emonds said this problem is commonly found in areas that don’t have NASA space centers located near them, as is the case in Montana.

Although Montana’s population is cut off from space activity, Montanans still need to understand the importance of space research, said Robert Crouch, former astronaut and panel member.

Crouch emphasized that while the research that takes place in space might seem far removed from what’s going on at ground level, the research has a direct affect on Earth.

“I think that the tax money that goes into NASA returns big benefits for this country,” he said.

Space research into fuel combustion may help to create a more efficient engine. While studying the effects that weightlessness can have on an astronaut’s balance may help elderly individuals with inner ear disorders, Crouch said.

The last question the panel focused on was how it felt NASA could improve communication with the American public, especially Montanans.

Panel members agreed that aside from launching a space shuttle in Montana, the public needs to be informed of everything going on at NASA and how it will affect local communities across the country.

Emonds said he hopes events like this week’s will do just that.

The public can view exhibits and demonstrations Tuesday in the James E. Todd Building, which is adjacent to the UC, from 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The open house will show the public ways in which space research can help combat disease, how microgravity research leads to cleaner combustion, how new products have resulted from space expeditions, and how weightless research helps scientists learn about adaptation and evolution.

Another open house will be held Thursday in both the UC and James E. Todd Building from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, a Mobile Aeronautics Education Laboratory, housed in a 53-foot tractor trailer will be in the parking lot next to the James E. Todd Building and open to the public from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. The MAEL allows people to make a simulated cross-country flight.

http://www.kaimin.org/test2.php?ardate=20021119&id=423

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Throttle thrills

By JANE RIDER of the Missoulian

NASA exhibit lets students design aircraft, pilot a virtual space shuttle

The seat aboard the virtual reality flight simulator was a hot one Monday.

Inside a NASA mobile aeronautics education laboratory parked at the University of Montana campus, Hellgate Elementary fifth-graders took turns in front of a control panel of neon green lights and rapidly changing instrument readings.

Their mission: Land the aircraft.

Simple, right?

At the moment, Ryan Casas, 10, was giving it a shot.

"You’re doing good … you’re doing excellent," coached NASA team leader Frank Witcher.

Then came the order to "pull up" as a screen showed a runway rapidly coming into view. Casas struggled for a moment to maneuver the control stick.

Minutes later, he explained what happened next, as he worked on a new aeronautics experiment.

"It was difficult because you have to go a certain speed and maintain a certain level or you crash," he said, of the flight simulator.

"I crashed."

Now he’s working at one of 10 computer workstations lining a narrow corridor within the mobile aeronautics lab. He and about 15 other students are attempting to design a DC-9 aircraft. He tinkers with wing and tail design specifications, manipulates engine type and thrust capacity, and adjusts maximum seating and fuel loads.

They figure for the shortest flight time, the cheapest airfare or the lowest aircraft construction cost to the airline.

A few students cut corners too much on the quality of their designs. When they simulate a test flight from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, the plane "crashes." Back to the drawing board – or in this case the computer-assisted design technology.

Those students who crafted a flight-worthy design move on to the next step to make the aircraft as cost-efficient as possible without jeopardizing safety.

Fifth-graders from Anchorage, Alaska, have the all-time record for designing a safe DC-9 at a rock-bottom construction cost of $19.8 million, Witcher said.

Last week, when the mobile laboratory visited Pablo, eighth-graders came close to beating the record with a design that would cost $20.4 million to build, he said.

Among the Hellgate Elementary bunch, teammates Sarah Lidstrom, 10, and Allie Beall, 11, produced the lowest-costing design among their classmates. Their price tag was $22.3 million.

"We used different options to design the wings, the engines," Lidstrom said. "You can decide how much thrust you want the aircraft to have."

"It’s really cool," she said.

Casas called the aircraft design phase of the NASA lesson "awesome."

"You have to try so many combinations and you have to find the right price," he said.

It’s the kind of reaction to the Mobile Aeronautics Education Laboratory that NASA officials aim for when they roll into town with the oversized trailer. They are in Missoula this week as part of NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research conference at UM.

Events continue through Thursday, including a community night from 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday in Rooms 204, 205 and 210 of the Todd Building. An open house will feature NASA officials, exhibits, interactive displays and an appearance by an astronaut.

The conference is part of a new outreach effort to educate the public more about how space exploration and research benefit life on Earth. The Glen Research Center provided the mobile aeronautics lab – a state-of-the-art classroom packed with new technologies – for K-12 students and teachers.

Witcher has been with the program since its inception seven years ago and follows the lab across the country.

"We try to get to areas that normally wouldn’t have the technology available," he said.

Middle-school students do the best on simulations such as the DC-9 design, he said. He’s convinced that’s because science and math are still so much a part of middle school curriculum and the subjects are still fresh in their minds.

The purpose of the mobile lab visit is to showcase the unit for replication and to inspire students to pursue careers in math and science.

"There is no greater way to stimulate students’ interest in science and math than with aeronautics," he said.

David Bixby, Hellgate Elementary fifth-grade teacher, agreed.

"It gives them a greater appreciation of why they are learning the things they are learning in school," Bixby said. "It makes connections to the real world and hopefully will motivate them."

Witcher said NASA is encouraging the construction of stationary aeronautics labs across the country at sites such as schools, universities, museums and colleges.

"Colleges like it because it brings kids in to view the campus," he said.

To replicate the mobile unit at a permanent site would cost about $200,000, Witcher said, and would take about six months to construct. A minimum space of 600 square feet is needed.

Some communities seek corporate sponsorship to fund the facility. In other cases, NASA has picked up the tab, funding about four sites a year.

NASA is currently working to establish a network of aeronautics education labs nationwide, he said.

Reporter Jane Rider can be reached at 523-5298 or at [email protected]

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Aerospace commission issues warning on industry ‘crisis’

By Anne C. Mulkern
Denver Post Washington Bureau

The nation’s aerospace and aviation industries face impending economic and scientific disaster without a government commitment to rebuilding the troubled sector, a commission studying the future of the industries said Monday.

"There have been systemic failures over the years," Robert Walker, chairman of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, told congressional aides. "Our nation and the aerospace sector face great economic challenges as a result of those failures. The commission today issues an urgent call for action. The crisis we now face is real."

The warning came as the commission issued its final report, the result of a year-long study. The voluminous report offers nine recommendations, including that the government establish a national aerospace policy, create a new government-wide management structure and find ways to better prepare the future aerospace workforce.

Aerospace and aviation jobs are filled by more than 38,000 people in Colorado at an average wage of $48,500 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state ranks 19th nationwide in total aerospace and aviation employment. California ranks first with 293,701 jobs.

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s president and chief operating officer, Robert Stevens, a member of the 12-person commission appointed by the president and Congress, said a reconfiguration of the industry and its funding mechanisms is vital to the future health of the company’s Littleton-based space systems division.

The division manufactures rockets that launch satellites and other devices that are dependent on robust commercial demand, which no longer exists. Finding a new funding source is crucial for those rockets to be available for future defense needs, he said.

"We have the wrong business model in place today," Stevens said. "This is a crisis of greater proportion than the airline industry is facing."

The commission will present its findings to Vice President Dick Cheney today.

The Capitol Hill committees that oversee aerospace and aviation had just received the report, and members said it was too soon to comment on findings.

The report does not put a cost on its suggestions, saying that the government should first look at how it allocates resources to the industry and whether they could be designated more efficiently. But some new funding is necessary, Walker said, particularly for research and development.

The report is the first to look at aerospace, space-related defense and commercial aviation as a combined unit. Many of the problems the industries now face, the report says, are the result of disjointed oversight and resource allocation from unrelated government agencies.

To solve that problem, the commission suggests reforming the government structure that oversees aerospace issues. It suggests an aerospace policy coordinating council within the White House, a joint committee in Congress and a bureau of aerospace management within other government agencies.

The report also points out a need to update air traffic management, making it more automated. The Defense Department already uses some technology that could be used by the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA, the report says.

It also suggests streamlining airport runway development to allow airports to increase their capacity. In the future, there could be "air taxis" ferrying people over shorter distances. In terms of space travel, the report suggests focusing on technologies instead of destinations.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E999591%257E,00.html

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