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| Wednesday / 23 August 2006 | ||
Ames Director
Worden Keys on Private Sector, Moon Missions.
Pete Worden (pictured), Director of
NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View CA, says Ames is currently
focused on "small, fast-paced missions to the Moon" and "becoming
a template for working with the private sector." After losing the
Robotic Lunar Exploration Program to Marshall Space Flight Center in
May, Ames was awarded a small
lunar projects office "to develop small robotic spacecraft for
exploration" in support of the Vision for Space Exploration. While
continuing to manage the Lunar
CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (pictured
in background), the new small lunar projects office seems ideally
suited for Ames, and for Worden. Ames managed the last robotic mission
to the Moon -- Lunar Prospector in 1998, and Worden directed the
robotic Clementine Moon mission in 1994. "We're going to find things
out about the Moon ... that we are going to want to follow up with
space missions that can happen within a month, not five years," Worden
says. Another benefit for Worden and Ames is location. Situated in
the heart of Silicon Valley, Ames has access to many information
technology companies. In a recent interview with Brian Berger and
Jeremy Singer in the Federal
Times, Worden says Ames is involved in several partnerships,
including Google and AirLaunch, as well as discussions with the
US Air Force about the development of "small plug-and-play satellites"
that could potentially be assembled in one week. "The merger of space
and information is a huge growth area for the private sector....
I see Ames as a space portal that is strategically located in a dynamic
environment of venture capital, information systems, biotechnology
and space," says Worden.
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