FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE WEBINAR
In this webinar moderated by Flight Opportunities personnel, researchers will discuss ways they have leveraged suborbital flights to mature their technologies and build flight heritage ahead of missions sending those technologies to the Moon. Researchers from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Interlune will share overviews of the lunar technologies they’ve developed: OSCAR, a tool to convert trash and human waste generated during spaceflight into useful gases, and Prospect Moon, a lunar resource prospecting tool.
They will also discuss how Flight Opportunities, with its fly-fix-fly ethos, helped them test the technologies, and apply lessons from the tests to help prepare for lunar missions. Attendees will learn not only about these emerging technologies but also about how to think through a flight test plan and how to access testing on a range of suborbital vehicles to advance technologies for NASA’s next chapter of lunar exploration.
Join on your computer, mobile app, or room device
+1 256-715-9946 | Phone Conference ID: 420 921 329#
Gary Lai is a Co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Interlune. As an aerospace engineer, he has been working to open the space frontier in the 21st century so humankind can use the resources of outer space to create a sustainable, prosperous future.
He served as the chief architect for New Shepard, a vehicle developed by aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin, and flew on New Shepard’s 20th mission to space. Through his work, he has developed not just technical knowledge but also program management and business development expertise, allowing him to design and integrate meaningful space systems.
Mr. Lai holds degrees from Cornell University, where he credits a class he took with the late astronomer Carl Sagan as steering him towards a career in engineering and space exploration, and the University of Washington, where he currently serves on the External Advisory Board for the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Malay Shah is a thermofluids engineer at NASA where he provides thermal and fluid analysis support to a range of projects at Kennedy Space Center, including ignition over-pressure sound suppression water nozzle coverage and modeling chemical reactors. He has worked closely on developing, building, and testing the OSCAR technology to convert non-metabolic waste into useful gasses such as methane, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide.
By processing small pieces of trash in a high-temperature reactor, OSCAR is advancing new and innovative technology for managing waste in space. Mr.
Shah holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Central Florida.
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Designed to distill and share the most important lessons learned by suborbital researchers, these webinars are chance to hear from subject matter experts on best practices for preparing for suborbital flight tests.
Find our Community of Practice webinar series, Flight Opportunities’ Lessons Learned, newsletters, reports and fact sheets related to program activities, and solicitations archives.
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RTMD Small Spacecraft & Distributed Systems (SSDS)
Gary Lai, Co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer, Interlune
Malay Shah, Aerospace Technology, Gas and Fluid Systems, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Seth Schisler, Technology and Flight Test Manager, NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program
