A publication of NASA Research Park
NRP POST
The
Summer 2011
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Final Endeavour Launch Carried Kentucky
Space Experiment to Space Station
KSTC, Inc.
Lexington, KY
NASA Research Park partner Kentucky Space (KS)
announced May 16 that Space Shuttle Endeavour’s final
launch carried a unique biomedical experiment as part
of the new Exomedicine Institute (EI) founded by KS.
The experiment, called GlioLab, is a joint
project between Kentucky Space/EI, led
by Morehead State University (MSU) Space
Science Center in Kentucky and the GAUSS-
Group of Astrodynamics at the ”Sapienza”
University of Roma. The launch and return of
the payload is through KS’s strategic partner
NanoRacks LLC.
The Exomedicine Institute (www.exomedicine.com)
is a private, collaborative R&D enterprise
focused on the development and application
of new knowledge, technologies and pos-
sibilities that emerge from a deeper under -
standing of the influences of microgravity on
the dynamics of living systems, and the rigor-
ous application of these insights to advance
medical solutions for the improvement of
everyday life for all people.
Moon Express Lunar Lander
Takes First Flight
by Doug Messier
Silicon Valley, CA
June 30, 2011
NRP’s Moon Express, Inc. announced June 30 a
successful flight test of a prototype lunar lander
system being developed in partnership with NASA.
The company signed a Reimbursable Space Act
Agreement with NASA last year to invest over
$500K into the commercialization of technology
developed by the agency. The agreement aims to
develop new low cost spacecraft to deliver scientific
and exploration payloads to the Moon and other
destinations.
The flight test marks an important milestone in
the collaborative agreement, demonstrating that
innovative public-private partnerships can be utilized
Moon Express lander cont’d on page 3
Kentucky Space cont’d on page 3
The Landing Test Vehicle (LTV), a prototype robotic lunar lander system, in NASA
Ames Hover Test Facility
Space Shuttle Endeavour’s 25th and final launch on May 16, 2011 from NASA’s Kennedy Space
Center in Florida
Photo by NASA/Tony Gray and Tom Farrar
Photo courtesy of NASA
NRP Post
2
www.nasa.gov
NRPWelcomes
CONTENTS
AECOM
Bldg. 19, Room 2045
Commencement date: 7/1/11
AECOM is a global provider of professional technical and management support services
to the transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government markets.
AECOM blends global reach, local knowledge, innovation, and technical excellence
in delivering solutions that create, enhance and sustain the world’s built, natural,
and social environments. Our architects, engineers, landscape architects, planners,
ecologists, economists, program managers, construction managers and technicians work
collaboratively to address complex challenges, particularly in support of highly technical
facilities projects, at all scales and in all settings.
Global Medical Device Partners, Inc.
Bldg. 19, Room 1071
Commencement date: 8/1/11
GMDP, Inc. is a medical device company whose mission is
to support design and development of innovative medical
technologies to improve patient quality of life. Key areas of
focus include assessment and reduction of muscle loss and
function resulting from disease or injury.
National Disaster Resiliency Center
Bldg. 19, Rm 2001
Commencement date: 8/15/11
The NDRC is a member of the Disaster Management
Initiative operated by CMU-SV. They are collaborating
with CMU on the enhancement of emergency management and disaster preparedness,
along with collaborative partnerships between researchers, educators, volunteers,
vendors, charitable groups, community organizations and leaders, government agencies,
businesses and others who would play a role in planning, preparation, response and
recovery prior to, during and after any disaster or emergency event.
Kentucky Space on ISS . . . 1
Moon Express Lunar
Lander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
New Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Google Lunar X Names
New Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
KleenSpeed EV-X11 . . . . . . 4
KleenSpeed Eiata . . . . . . . . 4
CMUSV Disaster
Management . . . . . . . . . . . 6
FutureMed Executive
Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Packing for Mars NRP
Lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Benetech – Technology for
Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Intrinsyx Showcase . . . . . 11
Pete Conrad Spirit of
Innovation Award . . . . . . . 12
Airship Ventures Tour . . . 13
Taksha University . . . . . . . 13
Five9 Network Systems . . 14
ReQall Rover . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Moon Express Announces
Chief Scientist . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Moon Express, Inc.
Bldg. 19, Rooms 1002 - 1006
Commencement date: 4/16/11
Moon Express, Inc. is a privately funded lunar transportation and data
services company establishing new avenues for commercial space
activities beyond Earth orbit. This company is working alongside
NASA Ames scientists to build robotic landing systems for exploration
of the Moon and other low gravity destinations.
www.researchpark.arc.nasa.gov 3
NRP Post
The primary objective of the GlioLab experiment is to inves-
tigate if the combined effects of microgravity and ionizing
radiation increase or decrease the survival rate of cancer cells
affected by Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Glioblastoma is
the most common and aggressive type of primary brain tumor,
to establish new capabilities of mutual benefit to commercial
space companies and NASA.
The successful milestone involved a controlled flight test of a
Landing Test Vehicle (LTV). The LTV is a prototype robotic lunar
lander system outfitted with a cold gas propulsion system and
landing gear for use in a confined, ground test environment for
relatively easy, quick, and repeatable ground testing. The LTV
offers a unique capability to safely perform risk reduction
and testing on candidate spacecraft hardware and software in
an actual flight environment. The LTV tests allow Moon Express
to assess lunar vehicle design, including guidance, navigation
and control software and new landing leg and mobility
concepts designed by Moon Express engineers. The LTV is also
being used to test a new mini-radar sensor developed by Moon
Express under NASA’s Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data
(ILDD) program.
The company plans to send a series of robotic spacecraft to the
Moon for ongoing exploration and commercial development
focused on benefits to Earth. “I believe in the long term
economic potential of the Moon to produce resources essential
to Earth’s energy future, ” said Naveen Jain, Co-Founder and
Chairman of Moon Express. “The recent discovery of abundant
water on the Moon is the key we needed to economically
liberate valuable lunar resources such as Helium-3 and
platinum group metals to improve life here on Earth. ”
The Google Lunar X Prize, a $30 Million Private
Race to the Moon, Names New Chief
Space science veteran Alexandra Hall will oversee the
Google Lunar X Prize as its senior director, the X Prize
foundation announced July 11. Hall is the co-founder
and former CEO of Airship
Ventures, a company that
uses zeppelins for passenger
flights, science research and
media purposes. She also
served as executive director
of the Chabot Space &
Science Center in Oakland,
Calif. Hall has a degree
in astrophysics from the
University of Leicester in the
United Kingdom. She has
written books about space for both children and adults,
and she hosted the BBC Television show “Final Frontier” .
(From: http://wwww.space.com/12240-google-private-
moon-race-xprize-director.html)
Kentucky Space cont’d from page 1
Moon Express lander cont’d from page 1
Moon Express lander cont’d on page 5
Alexandra Hall
accounting for 52% of all primary brain tumor cases and 20% of
all intracranial tumors. Certain cancer cells have been shown to
reproduce more slowly in a reduced gravity environment. The
team hopes to learn how microgravity affects cellular mitosis
and RNA transcription in these cancer cells, which could ulti-
mately lead to a better understanding of how to treat this type
of cancer.
This initial phase of the GlioLab experiment exposed the
Glioblastoma cell line to microgravity using a commercial plat -
form—the Liquid Mixing Apparatus developed by PA-based
Instrumentation Technology Associates, Inc. The experiment
spent about two weeks on-orbit and has returned to Earth for
analysis in Kentucky.
GlioLab team members include Dr. Ben Malphrus, Director of the
MSU Space Science Center, Dr. Darrin DeMoss, MSU Professor of
Biology, Chantal Cappalletti and Giocomo Marini, Ph.D. students
at the University of Rome who are currently working at MSU.
MSU students from the Space Science Center (Julia O’Brien) and
the Department of Biology and Chemistry (Cara DeMoss and
Will Grey) serve on the science team along with Daniel Erb and
Twyman Clements from Kentucky Space.
For more information visit www.kentuckyspace.com
The International Space Station as photographed by a crew member on
the shuttle Endeavor.
Photo courtesy of NASA
Photo by KQED Quest
NRP Post
4
www.nasa.gov
by Dean Seven
KleenSpeed Technologies' sleek EV-X11 shattered the lap
record for Electric Vehicles on the Mazda Raceway circuit
June 26 at ReFuel 2011. Piloted by KleenSpeed Technologies
President Tim Collins, the racecar of tomorrow set a new lap
record of 1:38:858 for
EVs, breaking the 2010
record of 1:42.5 set
by KleenSpeed’s prior
model, the WX 10.
The sound of the future
pierced Laguna Seca
hills
as
the
EV-X11
flashed down the front
straight at over 120
mph, its eerie high tech
whistle bringing the
message of a powerful
new technology.
“The EV-X11 is a unique
thrill to drive and is truly
the fastest electric track racing car in the world. A completely
new Kleenspeed electric power system with a more powerful
UQM electric motor and controller increased our acceleration
and overall speed. The new system is more powerful, more
sophisticated and lighter. The car was more responsive, had
improved braking control and created more G force in the
corners adding grip,” said Collins.
KleenSpeed Eiata Claims First!
by Dean Seven
KleenSpeed Technologies demonstrated their world class
electric vehicle propulsion engineering with their Eiata’s first
place win in the EV production vehicle conversion class. This
is in addition to their outright title of world’s fastest EV in the
prototype category won by the KleenSpeed EV-X11.
Driven by KleenSpeed president Tim Collins, the Eiata won in
a diverse field of EV conversions with a lap time of 2:22.972 –
over 19 seconds faster than the 2nd place finisher, a converted
Porsche 914. This is a remarkably quick time for an EV with
the power and capacity specs of the KleenSpeed LITE SYSTEM,
considering that the Eiata chassis is essentially stock, running
on street tires, with no significant track modifications. For
comparison, a stock gas-powered Miata typically laps Laguna
Seca in the 2:05 -2:10 range.
“The car runs at full throttle and full braking with no heat or
power limiting problems, and no performance degradation
until it runs out of energy, which is about seven laps or 12
minutes, with our patent pending 15.4 kWh KleenSpeed ESS
battery
pack.
Three
years of R&D and tireless
effort by our KleenSpeed
engineers, advisors and
component
sponsors
produced this car.”
KleenSpeed
CTO
Dante Zeviar: “The new
KleenSpeed
Battery
Management
System
(BMS) is the brain of our
electric storage solution
featuring our patent-
pending
KleenSpeed
Electric Storage Interface
and KleenSpeed battery
containers. We powered
this car with lithium polymer cells, which substantially reduced
weight, gave us more energy density and increased total energy
to 15.4 kWh.
“Our power train incorporated a Gate’s carbon fiber belt
within a KleenSpeed drive system. Our KleenSpeed telemetry
technology gave our engineers 20 streams of data monitored
Tim Collins: “The LITE SYSTEM performed impressively, and
offered very steady and controllable power, with no heat issues
or power limitation problems. It is an absolutely bullet-proof
system and an elegant conversion. The vehicle integration
engineering by KleenSpeed balanced the system perfectly.”
The KleenSpeed Eiata
EV-X11 cont’d on page 5
The winning KleenSpeed team and their EV-X11, the racecar of tomorrow. “Dante and
the tech team's technology gains over the last year created the electric system power
and reliability to break our record again,” said KleenSpeed President Tim Collins.
Photo courtesy of KleenSpeed
Photo courtesy of KleenSpeed
World’s Fastest EV Prototype Race Car – KleenSpeed's EV-X11
Epic Record Run Reasserts KleenSpeed’s EV R&D Leadership
NRP Post
www.researchpark.arc.nasa.gov 5
Dr. Barney Pell, Co-Founder, CTO and Vice Chairman of Moon
Express, believes that exploration and development of lunar
resources are two of the most important activities for humanity’s
future. “The Moon has never been explored before from an
entrepreneurial perspective, ” he said. “I believe the Moon may
be the greatest wealth creation opportunity in history. It’s not a
question of if, just of who and when. ”
Moon Express plans to adapt NASA’s Common Spacecraft Bus
for use in small, low cost spacecraft designed to deliver payloads
to a variety of locations, including lunar orbit and lunar surface,
Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and Near
Earth Objects (NEOs). The Common Spacecraft Bus design allows
the company to design low cost missions, launch on a variety
of commercial rockets and deliver flexible payloads to the lunar
surface and various orbits.
For Moon Express, the opportunity to commercialize NASA
knowledge and technology to create a commercially viable lunar
lander system is a force multiplier of its private investment. Small
spacecraft missions promise great value given their significantly
lower cost structure, rapid development and deployment schedules,
resulting in more frequent missions within a set budget and time
frame compared to the status quo. The Moon Express partnership
agreement with NASA is consistent with initiatives to embrace
commercial entities to help move the whole industry forward.
The company views NASA’s partnership as exemplary of a
commitment to help nurture the burgeoning commercial spacecraft
industry. Under the agreement, Moon Express is reimbursing NASA
for technical assistance interpreting NASA designs of the Common
Spacecraft Bus for applicability to the company’s new lunar vehicle
design and in the evaluation and testing of new spacecraft systems
and software in a newly refitted hover test facility.
Following the successful flight test, Moon Express CEO Dr. Robert
(Bob) Richards stated that White House policies supporting NASA’s
openness to commercial partnerships combined with Silicon
Valley culture has been a winning combination for the company.
"Locating the company in the NASA Research Park puts us at the
crossroads of the future, ” Richards said. “Silicon Valley has embraced
commercial space and Moon Express is benefiting greatly by our
proximity to the NASA Ames Research Center. ”
Moon Express cont’d from page 3
EV-X11 cont’d from page 4
EV-X11 cont’d on page 5
while the car was
in motion from
our KleenSpeed
BMS and the UQM
controller. Thanks
to our patent
pending Energy
Storage System
and proprietary
BMS with built in
telemetry, we know exactly what is going on with our
car in real time. “
Competition forges the greatest advances in vehicle
technology. KleenSpeed is developing an electric
racecar for track events to meet the challenges of their
definition of overall EV performance– to optimize all
relevant EV system factors – acceleration, top speed,
range and power management. Legendary Mazda
Raceway is one of the world’s most challenging circuits
for man and machine, with 2.238 sinuous miles, 11
unique turns and considerable elevation changes.
“We are just beginning to assess the EV-X11 potential,
as we were running at 65% of maximum torque to set
this new record, " said Collins. “We look forward to taking
the EV-X11 to other famous venues to establish new EV
lap records and demonstrate the viability and incredible
performance of KleenSpeed ‘s EV technology. ”
Dante Zeviar and Tim Collins
Photo courtesy of KleenSpeed
Photo courtesy of KleenSpeed
Representatives from Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) toured
a number of NRP partner facilities and finished with a tour of NASA
Sustainability Base led by NASA Ames Associate Director Dr. Steve
Zornetzer with NASA HQ Director for Partnerships Doug Comstock.
Chrysler executives visited NRP on June 16, 2011. NRP
Director Michael Marlaire gave an extensive briefing on the
NRP followed by a tour.
by Sylvia Leong, Director of External Relations and Admissions,
Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley
The little kid in all of
us became excited
when we caught a
glimpse of the large
vehicles in the park-
ing lot. Even though
their sirens weren’t
wailing,
the chance
to see the state-of-
the-art
equipment
they
contained
piqued our interest.
Sponsored
by
California Fire Chiefs
Association
(CFCA),
California Emergency
Management
Agency
(CalEMA),
Carnegie
Mellon
University
Silicon
Valley (CMUSV), and hosted by NASA Research Park, the
Second Annual CMUSV Disaster Management Initiative
(DMI) Workshop, held jointly with the California Mobile
Command Center (MCC) Vehicle Rally, saw first responders,
technologists, volunteers, and government officials descend
upon the CMUSV campus to learn about new innovations and
collaboration for the work they perform every day.
The action-packed two day workshop featured keynote
speakers and expert-filled panels covering public and
private partnerships, emergency communications at a large-
scale festivals, and how to involve volunteers in disaster
management collaborations. The first keynote speaker, Major
General Scott Johnson, shared personal reflections on his
deployment in response to Hurricane Katrina. He offered
difficult lessons learned and discussed the specific role of the
40th Infantry Division of the California National Guard, which
he commands.
At the end of MG Johnson’s talk, several government
representatives stopped by to show their interest in and
support for the workshop. Guests included California
Assemblymember Paul Fong; Charles Duff, Deputy Director
of NASA Ames Research Center; Sandra Soto, representing
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren’s office; Steve Rice, Vice Mayor of
Los Gatos, CA and Jac Siegel, Mayor of Mountain View, CA.
Two additional keynote talks were well received. Joseph
Pred, Emergency Services Operations Chief for Burning
Man, detailed the logistical and technical challenges and
solutions involved with setting up temporary communications
infrastructure for a short lived city of 50,000 in the middle of
the desert. Of particular note is that federal, state and local
agencies have begun studying the Burning Man festival
environment
for
lessons learned that
can apply to disaster
and other temporary
organizational infra-
structure at scale.
Michael
Cummings,
Federal
Emergency
Management Agency
(FEMA) Region
IX
Private
Sector
Liaison, led another
panel discussion,
“Public/Private Part-
nerships – What’s in it
for Me”, highlighting
best
practice
case
studies in emerging
technologies.
This
keynote was
par-
ticularly
remarkable
due to the panelists involved: Doug Wisman, CalEMA; Jim
Turner, City & County of San Francisco Private Sector Liaison;
Catherine Nelson, Cisco; Peter Ohtaki, California Resiliency
Agency and Martin Griss, Director, CMUSV. The panel rep-
resented federal, state, county, corporate, non-government
organization, and academic sectors. Their contributions
provided much insight to public and private partnerships and
how one can benefit from the other in disaster management.
This was not your average speaker and audience workshop,
but was also hands-on – including vehicle lot demos with
opportunities to tour the mobile command centers that
participated in the rally and disaster communications
exercises. Of particular
interest
to
many
attendees was the Cisco
Network
Emergency
Response Vehicle (NERV),
which is often deployed
in
collaboration
with
CalEMA. Cisco NERV is
a self-powered mobile
communications
center
that
can
be
fully
operational
in
15
minutes, while disaster
response readiness can
take up to 72 hours.
Another
participant
at the MCC rally is a
permanent
resident
Next Generation Emergency Operations
Center
Mobile comand centers and emergency response vehicles at CMUSV DMI Workshop &
MCC Vehicle Rally
Photo by Orange Photography
Photo by Orange Photography
6
www.nasa.gov
NRP Post
Hundreds Participate in Second Annual Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley
Disaster Management Initiative Workshop & Mobile Command Center Vehicle Rally May 22-23