NORCAT moot attracts NASA, CSA officials: conference focused on convergence of mining, space technologies.Greater Sudbury- Jim Richard is fast becoming an expert on lunar regolith reg·o·lith n. The layer of loose rock resting on bedrock, constituting the surface of most land. Also called mantle rock. [Greek rh . That's the space term for the layer of loose material, or overburden, found on top of the moon's bedrock. When the next wave of NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. space flights to the moon and Mars takes place sometime after 2010, resource extraction to find extraterrestrial reserves of water, oxygen and hydrogen in preparation for colonizing and travelling in space, will likely be part of the mission profiles. That's why in early June, space agency officials gathered with representatives from various technology companies at a former producing Falconbridge Mine in Onaping, northwest of Sudbury, to tap into the region's expertise in deep hard-rock mining and mineral processing mineral processing or ore dressing Mechanical treatment of crude ores to separate the valuable minerals. Mineral processing was at first applied only to ores of precious metals but later came to be used to recover other metals and nonmetallic minerals. . The second annual Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium, hosted by Cambrian College's NORCAT NORCAT Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (mineral mining R&D organization) (Northern Centre for Advanced Technology), attracted visitors from NASA's Glenn Research Center The Glenn Research Center (more correctly, the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field) is a NASA center, located in Cleveland, Ohio between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation (part of the Cleveland Metroparks). and the Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the original home of NASA, is a lead center for propulsion, Space Shuttle propulsion, Shuttle external fuel tank, crew training and payloads, International Space Station (ISS) design and construction, for computers, networks, and , the Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA or, in French, l'Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the Canadian government space agency responsible for Canada's space program. It was established in March 1989 by the Canadian Space Agency Act and sanctioned in December 1990. and a number of North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. robotics, engineering and telecommunications firms. Among the attendees was Richard, vice-president of Electric Vehicle Controllers (EVC See VESA Enhanced Video Connector. ), a Sudbury mining supplier, who is collaborating with the University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. The university has two main campuses: the principal campus founded in 1785 in Fredericton and a smaller campus which was opened in Saint John in 1964. and NORCAT in developing what he describes as a "lunar playground" to duplicate the physical properties of the moon's surface. In order to do the preparatory test drilling and excavating on Earth, NASA needs simulated extraterrestrial environments, known as lunar simulants, to determine if a drill can operate under such conditions. Richard's involvement in the project has gone light years beyond installing control systems for underground mining locomotives. As part of a NORCAT development team, Richard has helped build various prototypes of a lightweight electric drill, known as the CanaDrill, which could be part of Canada's contribution to future NASA missions. "As mining equipment developers, it's necessary to simulate conditions that these pieces of equipment will operate under as closely as we can," says Richard, whose company has secured contracts revolving around drilling and excavating with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. "We want to know what impact that's going to have on the equipment that we're proposing to develop for lunar excavation." From what scientists say, most of the moon's resources--hydrogen and oxygen--can be extracted from the regolith, which can be used for fuel and life support. "If they find it in a water form, that's the holy grail." Orbiter studies indicate there are very strong hydrogen indicators. On top of operating a drill in a cold, microgravity environment, the moon's loose surface material poses its own unique set of design challenges. Modifications will have to be made to the design of the core capture devices because of the soil. "With traditional diamond drilling, you're extracting solid cores. If not ... we have to develop technologies to capture an unconsolidated core. There will be some impact on the drill bit design and I suspect differences in the drilling approach." Though not willing to disclose what his company's contracts are worth, he says they are part of a larger $24 million project involving a number of companies looking at various experiments associated with excavating equipment. While the contract is subject to NASA review next January, he's optimistic the space exploration business will have a positive impact for EVC. He has had discussions with NORCAT about gearing up a workforce for the project. "Without blowing our own horn, people are starting to take us seriously." Gerry Sanders, the head of NASA's Propulsion and Fluid Systems Branch, says the space agency is delving into new capabilities for upcoming moon missions that they've never done before. Sudbury's knowledge in mining is key for long-term space exploration. NASA is looking at funding a mission to the moon's polar region and doing some excavating and prospecting there. Sander is the principal technology investigator for that experiment. "What I'm looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. are mechanical engineers and geologists associated with digging up and processing hard material," says Sander. He came back to Sudbury after attending last year's inaugural symposium. NORCAT is one of NASA's partners on the excavation project to gather lunar samples down to a depth of one metre. Last year, they answered NASA's external call for proposals, which resulted in 80 projects and released a tremendous amount of research toward space technology preparation programs. www.norcat.org www.space.gc.ca www.nasa.gov By IAN ROSS Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion