Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science<\/a> (CLASS), one of nine virtual institutes NASA funds to focus on questions concerning space science and human space exploration. CLASS finds itself in a unique position because its experts happen to be in hot demand as NASA and private space companies prepare to send people to other planets.<\/p>\n\u201cNASA is starting to get serious about Mars, so they are looking to do more research in the area of airless bodies [asteroids and planets with barren surfaces] as part of the highway to Mars, and that\u2019s where we come in,\u201d said Dan Britt, the 麻豆原创 geophysicist who leads CLASS. \u201cWe are a virtual institute that is a compilation of skills that look at surfaces of airless bodies like asteroids and the moons of Mars. We look at everything from dust to microgravity. We offer the best scientific advice so the engineers at NASA can design the hardware needed to keep people alive in these alien environments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of CLASS at 麻豆原创 are creating asteroid simulant (asteroid fake dirt) to help private companies and NASA develop the machinery and protocols to mine minerals and other resources from asteroids. Some of the team members are studying how dirt interacts with microgravity in anticipation of spacecraft approaching and landing on other planets.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace exploration isn\u2019t cheap,\u201d Britt said. \u201cThere are some real challenges and that takes money. Since putting a man on the moon, NASA has been underfunded. It\u2019s no surprise we haven\u2019t done more that\u2019s exciting for the American public since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Britt sees private companies entering the field of space exploration as a great catalyst.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing to have competition of new ideas,\u201d he said. \u201cWith big innovators who are willing to spend money and aren\u2019t so worried about public perception of setbacks, it\u2019s really jump-started this again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commercial space entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk of SpaceX and Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin have poured millions of dollars into their programs to develop vehicles that can get people back into space since the shuttle program retired in 2011. They\u2019ve had some public mishaps, but they\u2019ve also created two vehicles that in just a few years are on the cusp of meeting their objectives.<\/p>\n
Professor Josh Colwell, who is also a CLASS member, is taking advantage of the opportunities provided by these private companies, too. Colwell has had two experiments fly aboard the new spacecrafts developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great way to get experiments completed quickly,\u201d Colwell said. \u201cAnd what we\u2019re learning can really help us answer how our planets were formed. That will help us understand what we encounter as we begin to explore other planets.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to NASA, a human mission to and from the Mars system could last two years, \u00a0or longer, including six to nine months of transit each way. Unlike trips to the International Space Station, there is no quick way home. Those missions will have to be independent of Earth and its resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"麻豆原创 has diligently and methodically been making a name for itself in the world of planetary exploration, and it\u2019s beginning to pay off in big ways. Not only are two 麻豆原创 professors part of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to collect asteroid samples \u2013 a first for the United States, but scientists are playing critical roles as NASA and private space companies…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":73405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,27],"tags":[982,1146,2229,4361],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-78536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-student-life","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-dan-britt","tag-humberto-campins","tag-space"],"yoast_head":"\n
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