University officials were joined by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Friday during the first tour of the new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Bridenstine, a former Oklahoma U.S. representative who was nominated to his position in 2018, visited the Autonomous Systems Lab, the UAS Fabrication Lab, the Payload Operations Center and the Bioastronautics High Bay in the $101 million building, which officially opens Monday.
He focused on the intersection of government, universities and industry, as well as the upcoming Artemis Project that plans a return to the moon in preparation for sending humans to Mars, during the tour.
Bridenstine is touring the country and spending time in several districts, touring facilities and meeting people, he said. At CU Boulder, he said he’s excited to see those intersecting partners working on the same goal while also engaging students preparing for careers in aerospace.
“It’s really what’s going to make sure the United States of America stays in the lead for the next 50 years,” he said.
He also discussed the contributions Colorado has made to space research, saying NASA spends more in the state than anywhere else, “and it doesn’t even have a center.”
“Science books have been rewritten based on what has happened in Colorado,” he said.
Bridenstine, who was joined by CU system President Mark Kennedy and Regent Linda Shoemaker, D-Boulder, first toured a project workspace in the Autonomous Systems Planning, Evaluating and Networking (ASPEN) Lab where students work on creating and testing drones.
Eric Frew, a professor of aerospace at CU Boulder, said the lab has a large, gym-like space with a garage door at one end that allows students to bring mobile command units inside, work on drones and robots, and then drive out to test them.
It’s not just the physical drones CU Boulder works on, Frew said, but also the software and electronics. The workspace visited by Bridenstine displayed several drones made at the university, including those used in Project TORUS, which collects data on storm supercells that can develop into tornadoes, and Project MOSAIC, which will help investigate Arctic climate change. Many of the drones displayed have been deployed in six continents over the past decade or so, Frew told Bridenstine.
Next, Bridenstine visited the fabrication lab, where students presented the various CubeSat devices, which are small satellites, they are working on. Students at CU Boulder are also developing a device to go to the moon on the Artemis Project.
“This is the intersection of education and development that is important for our country,” he said.
He next went to the Human Research Lab, where he tried on an augmented reality headset that let him walk around in a spacecraft. Right away, he opened the hatch door, earning laughs from those in attendance.
The technology lets researchers evaluate people’s performance in a simulated space, said Allie Anderson, assistant professor of bioastronautics.
Bridenstine’s final stop was at the Bioastronautics High Bay, where Jim Voss, a scholar in residence at the lab, told him about the infamous mockup of the cockpit of the Dream Chaser craft that was visible during the building’s construction.
After the tour, Bridenstine answered questions from students in the 200-seat auditorium in the new building.
He talked about NASA’s “starts and stops” with previous attempts to go to the moon, gather resources and then go to Mars, saying the country has to approach it in a bipartisan, apolitical way.
A student also asked about International Traffic in Arms Regulations and whether Bridenstine thinks NASA should be more liberal in hiring international students. The regulations generally prohibit foreign people from working with U.S. citizens on projects on the U.S. Munitions List.
While Bridenstine said the rules have led the country to lose out on developing more advanced communications technology, there still needs to be a balance between “openness and security.”
“The nation that controls the technology controls the world,” he said.
Another student asked about the budget request that would give $1.6 billion more to NASA at the expense of the budget for Pell Grants for students. The proposed budget would transfer almost $4 billion in surplus from Pell Grant funds to cover the cost.
Bridenstine responded that NASA can’t “cannibalize” itself to fund Project Artemis, as it tried to do in the past. He also said that it requested more money to speed up the project, and where that money comes from is “above my pay grade.” He added it would be a mistake to attribute any budget cuts to NASA, as doing so could politicize the situation.
