Future Talk tours NASA Ames

The Future Talk crew

NASA's Ames Research Center, located at Moffett Field in Mountain View, CA, is one of the top space research facilities in the world, and the home of a lot of cutting edge science. The Future Talk crew recently had the opportunity to take a guided tour of ARC, at the invitation of Pete Worden, the ARC director, who appeared as a guest on a recent episode of Future Talk. Dr. Worden is a retired Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force with a Ph.D. in Astronomy who's regarded as an expert in almost every area of space research, both civilian and military. ARC's main focus these days is exoplanetary research, which means finding planets circling other stars and studying them to see if they have any earthlike qualities. The Kepler Mission has already found many planets whose surface temperature appears to be in the range capable of supporting life, and the next step is to study the chemical composition of those planets to see if the actual ingredients for life are present.  

Heat shield simulation

Part of our tour included a visit to Rus Belikov's Coronagraph Lab, which is devising experiments to test for the elements of life, especially oxygen. We also visited the NASA Supercomputing Center, which uses some of the most powerful computer systems in the world to solve difficult problems, many of them involving computer simulations. For example, we saw a display showing the heat resistance properties of differently shaped nosecones traveling at different air speeds, something crucial in launching rockets and also returning them back to earth. 

Simulated air traffic control tower

NASA also contracts with civilian agencies to apply its computing power to earthbound problems as well. We visited a simulated air traffic control tower, where we enjoyed a highly detailed 360 degree view of Los Angeles airport, with planes constantly taking off and landing. We observed the airport operations under several sets of conditions, including daylight, nighttime, rain, snow, fog and earthquake. The purpose of the simulation is to define the best runway layouts for airports so they can handle the maximum number of flights with the least possible risk of accidents. 

After a while, the technician pushed a button,  and instead of seeing LA airport, we were seeing a panoramic view of the surface of Mars, the Curiosity Rover in the distance and its tracks clearly visible. Our overall impression was that of very serious people doing very serious work that could ultimately help us better understand our place in the Universe.