Technology can only reach a certain extent. One Dell PC in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Building certainly reached its limit, as the computer casually overheated and caused a fire that spread to roughly the size of a pickup truck.
“It smells like electrical burnt along with plastic and along with other kind of weirdo chemicals,” Dr. Anil V. Rao, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Florida, said about the current state of the floor where his office is located.
“It released a whole bunch of toxic fumes and toxic materials. So, it doesn’t smell like wood, let’s put it that way,” Rao said as he continued to explain why he isn’t allowed in his office. Rao develops mathematical and computational techniques for space mission planning.
“It’s calculus. It’s a lot of calculus,” Rao admitted when describing his work in pseudospectral methods.
Basically, time is continuous, but a computer cannot calculate an infinite dimensional process like continuity. It needs a limit as a sort of restriction. Then, the computer can give a solution for a specific point in time. The solution acts how filling in a section of a color-by-numbers would, where through the process of creating little subsections of the overall picture, pseudospectral techniques will eventually create the same process of continuous measurement.
Rao has worked with NASA on seven research projects since July 2003, developing the basic framework with pseudospectral methods for the agency to advance its own software and technology in hopes of returning to the moon. But why does NASA want to return to the moon if that achievement happened over 50 years ago?
“It’s not just about going to the moon, but we will actually have a space station similar to the ISS (International Space Station) called Gateway that’ll be orbiting the moon instead of orbiting Earth,” Glenn Medina, a graduate aerospace engineering student with NASA, explained.
To put it in Mario Kart terms, the gravity in lunar orbit for a rocket launch is like accelerating on the rainbow bridge, speeding past all the competitors straight into the lead. Compare that with launching from Earth’s gravity, which would act like the sixth-place racer, (probably a Bowser-type character) who’s driving on a normal road and experiences more resistance from the surface. This rainbow bridge acceleration from lunar orbit would make the time to advance farther into deep space more manageable than launching from Earth.
NASA spent seven years traveling to Saturn with the launching of the Cassini spacecraft. Having Gateway in lunar orbit would shave years off of that time frame and allow for exploring extraterrestrial bodies like Mars to be affordable.
“The purpose of having astronauts is not just to go into space, but it’s to do science,” Medina said.
“There are lists of technologies that exist on Earth simply because we were able to do the research in space.”
Artificial limbs, insulin pumps, solar cells and water filtration systems are some of the many advancements made possible because of the scientists onboard the International Space Station over the last 20 years. Oh, and don’t forget freeze-dried foods. Cereal would not have those weird, dried fruit pieces without the research done in space.
“There’s like an inspiration part to it, too,” Medina stated. NASA has been very vocal with the Artemis missions landing the first woman and first person of color on the moon.
“The astronaut corps years ago felt like something that was always out of reach,” Medina continued.
With the privatization of space flight by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, this inclusivity and equality in the astronaut program could bring the agency back to the forefront of public attention like it was at the peak of the Apollo missions.
“The biggest hurdle is sustaining it because presidential administrations don’t think alike in terms of this. In 1970, after Apollo 11 landed, the interest in going to the moon just died,” Rao said.
On its website, NASA states how the Artemis missions are different from its Apollo predecessor as it is the first step for the agency to get to Mars, not the final destination like it was when Neil Armstrong took those first steps on the moon.
