July 16 Speaker: PISCES' Kelso

No snakes have gone into space, said Rob Kelso, executive director of Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), but frogs have.

 

Kelso spoke at Wednesday's (7/16) meeting about the program, its promise, and its benefits to Hawaii Island.  But first, the frogs:

 

Frogs have a similar middle ear to humans, so off they went to where no frog has before dared to go, so they could be studied for the impact of weightlessness on the ear.  Pigs have gone too, because their backbon is the same as humans, so they could be evaluated for the impact of G forces on the bone structure.

 

Kelso said Hawaii is a little like the international space station.  Everything needs to be brought in.  The concept of living off the land can be taken to great lengths.  For example, basalt, a plentiful substance on Hawaii Island (and on Mars and the moon), could replace the tons and  tons of cement that are shipped into the state.  A test sidewalk is in devleopment. 

 

And structures are being engineered using essentially 3D printers.  A house, he said, can be built in 48 hours, right to the appliances, using this technology.

 

He spoke about jobs in the aerospace industry here, from the basalt work to suborbital tourists flights that are being planned out of Kona.

 

Kelso also noted that he'd found photos that are now on the PISCES website, that are from early space training missions, when Apollo Missions 13 through 17, and some backup crews worked in the spacy terrain of our mountains.