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UH, NASA linked

Physics research lost in disaster

By Ray Hafner
Senior Staff Writer

Professor Alex Ignatiev was relaxing at his lake house in Crockett, Texas, just north of Palestine, when he heard what he called a "large, muscled sound."

When the UH physicist went back inside and turned on the news, he heard the reports of the Columbia explosion and began to "put two and two together."

Ignatiev is the director of the Space Vacuum and Epitaxy Center at UH, and while none of the centeris experiments were on this flight, he spent much of the day commiserating with colleagues who did lose projects.

"The data and new knowledge that we were generating in space has been lost," Ignatiev said.

Less than 25 miles from the Johnson Space Center, UH is one of the most space-centered campuses in the country. From research projects to NASA employees getting another degree, UH is a vital part of the space community. SVEC alone has 8,000 square feet of research space and $3 million worth of equipment dedicated to studying aspects of film deposition and superconductivity.

The Cullen College of Engineering, in addition to graduating several astronauts, has seven joint programs with NASA. Those range from faculty fellowship programs to studies on the effects of Martian dust.

Edgar Bering, a physics professor, is working on developing a propulsion system that would transport astronauts on a manned mission to Mars, possibly as early as 2018. 

Bering believes the tragedy means, if anything, the funds for the project will increase and the timetable will be sped up. Bering also has a research project studying plasma effects on the international space station that was intended to go up on the next shuttle mission.

Many of the professors contacted for this story described the mood at NASA as "somber." Ignatiev said the people he talked to were in "relatively high energy mode," trying to understand what went wrong.

"This is not a demonstrative bunch of people," Bering said. "Acknowledging a bad day means itis really awful."

UH is the only college in the world to offer a masteris degree in space architecture. Larry Bell, director of the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture, said, "the big question is going to be is there actually some design flaw or design vulnerability?"

"One would hope this is a one-time accident," he said.

Both Bering and Bell agreed that the most pressing thing for the future of space flight would be the development of a new generation of launch vehicles.

All the professors said the long-term future for NASA was still strong. Bering said he was especially encouraged by the public support for the program and President Bushis intentions to add $470 million to the budget. 

Ignatiev, who specializes in the commercialization of space, believes that despite the risks, space travel will continue to be pursued.

"Risk has always been there, and companies realize that," he said. "But if the benefit outweighs the risk then you go for the benefit."
 

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