NASA Continues To Ignore Its Own Good Stuff (Update)
Paragon’s NASA Funded Technology Now Used in Mine Refuge Chambers
“This is a great example of NASA investment fostering entrepreneurial activity in other markets” said Phil McAlister, director of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Development in Washington. “The technology was developed as part of an effort to stimulate the private sector to develop commercial space transportation concepts and enable capabilities for future commercial support of human spaceflight with U.S. taxpayer dollars and Paragon’s private investment. The company then found another market for it, leading to the development of a new commercial product and service, which will help save the lives of American miners.”
Keith’s note: No mention is made of this at NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Development website, NASA Spinoffs/OCT or anywhere else at NASA.gov
Odyssey Moon & NSL Satellites Ltd. to Launch Science Experiments to International Space Station
“The project is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. Says Managing Director Jeffrey Manber, “NanoRacks is delighted to again be working with the educational community, this time for showing students the potential of using space as a tool for learning.”
No mention of this is made at CASIS, ISS National Lab website, or anywhere else at NASA.gov
More Stealth NASA Spinoffs (2nd Update), earlier post
Keith’s update: I have learned that NASA posted this article on the mining technology on 27 September and sent out one tweet via @Commercial_crew. Otherwise, no media alerts were sent out by email. If you saw the single tweet or happened to visit the commercial crew or KSC webpage, then you saw the article. Otherwise, you would not know where to find it. Meanwhile, the Odyssey Moon/NSL, Nanoracks news is till being ignored by CASIS and NASA.
I’ve been pushing for this to get attention for a while – its a great story, especially to those of us who come from mining backgrounds. When you’re a thousand feet underground and things go sour, you might as well be on another planet for the time it may take help to reach you. I always found it interesting that miners (and farmers too!) could identify with astros if they were to compare notes.
We live in a very self-absorbed culture, and unsurprisingly both NASA and space advocates really don’t care … even though they should. Each has a narrow idea of interest, typically a specific agenda performed in a specific manner only. They cannot see beyond the end of there noses, even things that can help them.
How does this help? Well, coal mining is very cost sensitive, yet extremely risky, so the combination is quite literally explosive. Now lets say you establish a business case that expands the “life support” market because it can fit the cost sensitive profile for the industry … and the next accident allows miners to survive when it was thought they’re dead – e.g. it delivers on its promise. Will then a miner or an astro do without said tech?
Now, if you increase the market size, volume, and velocity for life support systems, the cost / quality / capabilities of such are refined. In fact, this is the only way they will be – look at computer / software technology for proven example.
Good. NASA needed a spinoff from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 economic stimulus funds. It has to prove that it did not waste the money.
The money was used for the first CCDEV funding. Producing launch vehicles and capsules is good but they are not spinoffs.
Paragon was one of the recipients. Paragon Space Development Corporation used the $1.44 million to develop the Commercial Crew Transport-Air Revitalization System (CCT-ARS).
Wow, I have to say it is about damn time they start using this kind of thing! Are some kind of refuges commonly used now? Next disaster that comes up, this would be in the news. Then when some companies get these, they will be compared against the ones that don’t. Good mention of the cost sensitivity in mining, because they probably should have had at least more rudimentary refuges for a long time. Mining is still listed as one of the most dangerous jobs after fishing, logging, piloting, farming.