NASA Breaks Ground For Advanced Propulsion Research Lab

ROCKET SCIENCE

architecture for rocket scientists

Huntsville - Jul 09, 2002
NASA sbroke ground Monday on a state-of-the-art research facility intended to revolutionize 21st century space propulsion, helping to power future space vehicles on journeys to the farthest reaches of the solar system -- and, eventually, beyond it.

The Propulsion Research Laboratory -- part of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center -- will be housed on a 21-acre site on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala. It will be occupied primarily by propulsion scientists and technologists from the Marshall Center's existing Propulsion Research Center.

"This world-class facility sets the stage for propulsion research that will utterly revolutionize space travel as we know it," said Marshall Center Director Art Stephenson, who was expected to share earth-turning duties at the ceremony with U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer of Alabama's 5th Congressional District.

"Scientific exploration of our solar system and the galaxy beyond can no longer afford to be delayed by the limitations of conventional propulsion technologies," Stephenson added.

"Today, we turn over the first sods of earth for construction," said Dr. Stephen L. Rodgers, manager of the Propulsion Research Center. "In very short order, we will turn over the conventions of modern space travel as we know it, and rewrite the textbook on how future deep-space missions are flown."

The 108,000-square-foot facility will provide office and laboratory space for propulsion research and small-scale experiments supporting cheaper, more efficient and safer access to space. Studies will be conducted in a number of fields, including solar energy, advanced chemical propulsion technologies, and processes based on fission, fusion and antimatter. Construction is expected to be completed in April 2004

The facility's site was a natural choice, Rodgers said, given the Marshall Center's existing, world-class, propulsion-study resources, as well as Marshall's partnership with the National Space Science and Technology Center. The NSSTC, a Huntsville-based clearinghouse for cutting-edge space science and propulsion research, was founded by the Marshall Center, along with local, state and national university partners and other federal agencies. It has been in operation since 2001.

ROCKET SCIENCE

NASA Selects Teams To Lead New Ion Engine Project

Washington - June 27, 2002
NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington today announced the selection of a team for the development of an advanced ion propulsion system - an alternative to conventional chemical propulsion that could revolutionize the way we send science missions into the solar system. A second team was selected to develop advanced ion optics, which are critical components of ion engines.

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