NRP POST 2024 Issue 1

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A Publication of NASA Research Park

THE

UC Berkeley NASA 

Partnership Inspiring 

Next Generation
NRP Post

2 www.nasa.gov

IN THIS ISSUE

3 | Moffett Field Museum’s Restoration of 

K-Class Blimp

Moffett Field Museum - Restoration of control car for 

K-Class blimp

4 | Partnership Between UC Berkeley 

and NASA 

Berkeley and NASA Inspiring next generation of explorers

6 | Best Presentation Award won by 

CMU Team

CMU Engineering and Public Policy graduate students 

took home the award for Best Presentation in NASA 

competition

8 | Breakthrough Initiatives Brings 

Technosignature Search to the 

University of Oxford 

Breakthrough Listen – a search for signatures of 

technological life

10 | 2023 Virtual and Onsite Hands-On ESD 

Training by RMV Technology Group

ARC civil servants and support contractors attended a 

3-Day Onsite iNARTE® Certified Space & Defense ESD 

Program MonitorTM course

12 | NASA Ames Important Moments

Photos of important moments from the end of 2023 that 

were taken at NASA Ames Research Park
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 3

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LTA Research, Inc. aren’t the only folks who’ve been busy 

building LTA (Lighter than Air) projects here at Moffett 

Field! Since 2014, the Moffett Field Museum has been 

restoring the control car or “gondola” from K-22, a K-class 

anti-submarine warfare (ASW) blimp stationed at NAS 

Moffett Field during WWII. While not as ambitious as building a 400’ ridged airship, it’s still a significant undertaking, 

and once completed, will be the only restoration of its kind 

west of the Mississippi. 

Our restoration story starts back in 2014, during the environmental remediation of Moffett Field’s iconic Hangar 

One. During this process, all sorts of interesting items 

were found tucked away in the recesses of this storied 

structure, including the salvaged fore and aft sections of 

K-22’s control car from its final crash on April 13, 1943. 

As a result of that crash, the remaining salvaged parts 

remained in Hangar One, only to be rediscovered some 

71 years later. K-22 was built at the Goodyear Airship Dock 

in Akron, Ohio, and delivered to NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey on November 4, 1942. She arrived at NAS Santa Ana 

on November 11, 1942, where she was assigned to Fleet 

Airship Wing Three, (FAW-3), as part of Lighter Than Air 

(LTA or “Z”) Patrol (P) Squadron 31 (ZP-31), and was the 

first K-type to enter service on the West coast. 9 days later 

she was accepted by ZP-32 at NAS Moffett Field, where 

she began her operational career in earnest.

K-22 had a short, somewhat ill-fated operational life, due 

to several mishaps over her short time in service. K-22’s 

war started on November 22, 1942, when, while commanded by LT. H. R. Hobensack USNR, her crew located 

a downed Army P-38 Lightning at sea. Her brief service 

career came to an end, when K-22 struck a hill in the fog at 

Chittenden Pass near Gilroy, California, on April 13, 1943, 

while returning to base. As a result, the control car was 

scraped in place, and the remains trucked back to NAS 

Moffett Field. Thus, with 828.2 flight hours, K-22 was stricken off the Navy LTA rolls after only 51⁄2 months of service. 

These salvaged sections were then offered to the Moffett 

Field Museum in 2014, who are restoring the control car 

to its original 1943 configuration. This restoration project is 

a significant undertaking, incorporating not only repairing 

the original crash-damaged sections, but also fabricating 

all 6 of the control car’s missing middle internal skeletal 

frames from scratch, as well as the entire operational 

interior. Up until 2017, the project was funded entirely by 

museum admissions and donations. In 2018, the first of 

several grants were obtained from the Lennox Foundation.

Moffett Field Museum’s Restoration of a WWII 

K-Class Blimp

By Jeff Wasel PhD, Executive Director, Moffett Field Museum, 

November 11, 2023

K-Class blimps in Moffett’s Hangar One

Completed new build gondola frames mated with frames 

salvaged from 1943 crash; note beginning of keel framing
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4 www.nasa.gov

The University of California Berkeley and San Francisco-based developer SKS Partners 

proposed the new campus and innovation hub 

for research and advancements in astronautics, 

aeronautics, quantum computing, climate studies, social sciences, and more during an event 

on October 16, 2023 at NASA Ames.

Berkeley Space Center follows on a NASAUC Berkeley partnership created to explore 

potential mutually beneficial learning opportunities, including accelerating local and national capabilities for transporting cargo and 

passengers using emerging automation and 

electric propulsion technologies; examining 

how biomanufacturing can enable deep space 

exploration; and leveraging NASA’s high-performance computing assets. The new campus 

aims to bring together researchers from the 

private sector, academia, and the government 

to tackle the complex scientific, technological, 

and societal issues facing our world.

“The diverse portfolios of NASA Ames and Berkeley open potential future collaborations in a variety of areas including interplanetary exploration, 

air transportation capabilities, the search for life 

beyond our planet, and environmental studies 

for the benefit of all,” said Eugene Tu, Ames 

center director.

NASA Research Park is a world-class research 

and development hub for government, academia, non-profits, and industry, located at 

Ames in Moffett Field, California. Ames has 

a long history of partnering with diverse entities – from space technology start-ups to the 

Federal Aviation Administration – to combine 

strengths to tackle great challenges. Through 

the Berkeley Space Center, UC Berkeley joins 

NASA Hosts Unveiling of Plans for New 

Silicon Valley Innovation Hub

A new campus, called Berkeley Space Center, aims to offer lab, office, and educational spaces along with student and faculty housing, a conference center, 

and retail space on 36 acres within the NASA Research Park at the agency’s 

Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

Press Release By Rachel Hoover October 16, 2023
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5

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Carnegie Mellon as the second major university to choose NASA Research Park for a new 

campus.

“The Berkeley Space Center will bring together leading experts in academia, government, 

and industry to enable new collaboration in aerospace, bioengineering, advanced air mobility, and 

other areas of research,” said U.S. Rep. Anna G. 

Eshoo. “Bravo to NASA Ames and UC Berkeley 

on this watershed moment in the transformation of Moffett Field into an innovation hub 

and a model for bringing together the brightest minds in academia and government.”

The United States Geological Survey serves 

as another model partnership at Ames, with 

development of a new campus collocating at 

NASA Research Park to support joint 

research in lunar prospecting, earthquake simulations, ecology, remote 

sensing work, and more.

“As an advocate for advancing the science and technology ecosystem of the 

Bay Area, I’m very proud to see this 

collaboration happening here in Silicon Valley,” said U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren. “This is a perfect example of the 

importance of NASA’s enhanced use 

leasing (EUL) authority, which allows us to 

take full advantage of NASA’s unique infrastructure and capabilities. Everybody benefits when we put smart policies to use, like 

EUL. The product of this partnership could 

create jobs, build a collaborative atmosphere, 

and help train the next generation of STEM 

leaders. I look forward to following along the 

progress of the Center’s construction and, 

one day, touring the Berkeley Space Center.”

Learn more about Ames’ worldclass research and development in aeronautics, science, 

and exploration technology at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/ames

For news media: 

Members of the news media 

interested in covering this topic 

should reach out to the Ames 

newsroom.
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6 www.nasa.gov

For a group of Carnegie Mellon University researchers, hydrogen is the future.

Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) graduate students Jon 

Gordon, Jaih Hunter-Hill, Anna Cobb, and Xiaohan Wu, and 

CMU Design student Dorthy Li presented their research, “The 

Role of Hydrogen in Aviation Decarbonization,” at NASA’s 

Gateways to Blue Skies: Clean Aviation Energy Competition, 

winning the Best Presentation award.

The competition, which is sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate’s University Innovation Project, 

“is an initiative to engage college students in researching climate-friendly technologies and applications that will establish 

a zero emissions future for aviation.”

The theme of this year’s contest asked students to conceptualize the life cycle of a clean energy option, from source to 

flight. Presentations were judged on feasibility, viability, and 

environmental impact.

Gordon said aviation is one of the hardest transportation sectors to decarbonize, but he feels there is real potential for hydrogen as a fuel source.

“We spent time looking into other alternative fuels that we 

thought could be interesting, but we ended up taking the approach that if we want our work to really mean something, 

we have to choose what we feel is the most realistic option,” 

Cobb said.

Moving forward, Gordon said their hope is that NASA, the 

Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Energy (DOE) will seriously consider their research and take specific action as a result.

“I hope our research for this NASA competition could provide 

valuable insights for decision-makers in the aviation industry,” 

Wu said. “Moreover, I also hope this research could bring a 

heated discussion on hydrogen’s role in transportation decarbonization in the academic world.” The team summarized 

their work into a policy brief that they plan to share with the 

hydrogen and aviation community. Their infographic, and full 

report are available.

Gordon said the team feels that aviation is not discussed 

nearly enough in conversations about hydrogen end-users. 

He explains that the DOE is investing billions of dollars into 

Hydrogen Hubs––hydrogen production facilities that will be 

placed in eight to 10 areas across the country. He said if aviation is not part of the conversation as a hydrogen offtaker 

while these hubs are being created, it will delay hydrogen’s 

role in aviation decarbonization by years.

“If we act now, we can decarbonize aviation much more,” Gordon said. “How fast hydrogen is able to penetrate the market 

of aviation is dependent on the next few years of planning.”

Cobb explained the difficulties in decarbonizing aviation include the slow turnover rate for planes (30+ years), fueling 

infrastructure, and range.

CMU Team Wins Best Presentation 

Award at NASA Competition By Emma Skidmore

A group of Engineering and Public Policy graduate students took 

home the award for Best Presentation on behalf of the NASA’s Gateways to Blue Skies: Clean Aviation Energy Competition.

6 www.nasa.gov
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7

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“Being limited in range and fueling infrastructure introduces difficulties with flight scheduling; certain aircrafts can only fly to 

certain airports,” she said.

Gordon said they anticipate three types of energy sources to 

replace jet fuel: batteries, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation 

fuel. Batteries will be used for short-range flights while hydrogen can be used for longer travel times. While airlines have the 

goal of having net-zero emissions by 2050, Gordon noted they 

can’t reach that goal by using sustainable aviation fuel because 

it still produces emissions, albeit less than traditional jet fuel.

“We think it’s extra important for hydrogen to be part of the 

solution because it can actually be zero emission,” he said.

The team took a four-pronged approach to their research that 

included a literature review of more than 70 sources, interviews 

with 13 stakeholders, market share analysis, and a multi-objective optimization model. The goal of the optimization model 

is to analyze trade-offs between their two objectives: minimizing emissions and minimizing costs.

Peter Zhang, assistant professor of operations research in the 

Heinz College and team advisor, said he was impressed by 

how independent and motivated the team was.

“The most impressive part is the amount of details and perspectives they bring into every meeting—a strong indicator of 

their enthusiasm and work ethic,” Zhang said. “In a good project like this, advisors have enough ‘ingredients’ to work with 

and can very quickly help them prioritize.”

The team also created and defined a supply chain system to 

illustrate how hydrogen will be transported from hubs to airports.

“With our optimization model, we’re able to choose how we 

want to make hydrogen and, probably more importantly, how 

we want to move that hydrogen in terms of what’s going to be 

the most cost effective versus emissions intensive,” Cobb said.

Hunter-Hill said one of the challenges in their research was 

coming up with realistic ways to achieve a future that does not 

yet exist.

“We had to come up with best-case assumptions for the world 

that could be. I think one of the challenges with that is so much 

of the analysis that we found is based upon very case- specific 

studies,” Hunter-Hill said. “We wanted to try to account for 

different outcomes in a world that we can’t predict.”

Hunter-Hill said the creation of the supply chain process is one 

of the things that makes their research stand out.

“We’re trying to integrate multiple sources of information to 

create a future that doesn’t exist but is realistic to potentially 

exist,” he said.

Doing research in a team environment, Wu said, was inspirational. He explained they were able to split up the work based 

on everyone’s strengths, and he worked on assessing hydrogen’s environmental impact by building and solving the model.

“I think the biggest success was team cooperation,” Wu said. “Every 

team meeting was very productive and inspirational, and everyone 

got and gave a lot of useful ideas in those meetings we had. Every 

teammate cared about this project very much and devoted 100%.”

For media inquiries, please contact 

Monica Cooney at 

mcooney@andrew.cmu.edu

Jon Gordon, Graduate Student, Engineering and Public Policy

“If we act now, we can decarbonize aviation 

much more.”

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7
8 www.nasa.gov

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NASA and other space agencies have long been involved in the exploration of life beyond Earth, attempting to answer the age-old question, “Are we alone in 

the Universe?” In the search for signatures of life, much 

of the focus has naturally been on the markers of biological life, or “biosignatures”. However, since the beginning of the Listen program in 2015, the search for 

technosignatures –signatures of technological life – has 

matured into an academically rigorous disciple with a 

surge in peer-reviewed publications and multiple global 

partnerships.

This new era was made possible by the pioneering work 

in astrobiology and exoplanet research by NASA, and 

especially the results of the Ames-led Kepler mission 

which discovered thousands of extrasolar planets and 

confirmed that Earth-like planets are relatively common 

in the galaxy. The connection between NASA’s planet 

finding missions and the search for technosignatures 

was cemented through Breakthrough Listen’s partnership with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite 

(TESS) via Professor Sara Seager (MIT), Deputy Science Director. 

The newly announced partnership with Oxford leverages the university’s astrophysics expertise and brings 

online new facilities like the MeerKAT and LSST, in addition to developing an innovative Lunar Farside Radio 

NRP’s Breakthrough Initiatives Brings 

Technosignature Search to the 

University of Oxford

Breakthrough Listen – a search for signatures of technological life beyond 

Earth – has a new international base at the University of Oxford in the UK. 

The Listen program is managed by the Breakthrough Initiatives, which is 

headquartered in the NASA Research Park at the NASA Ames Research 

Center. As such, the program stands on the shoulders of Astrobiology research giants, many of whom originated from the Ames campus.

Breakthrough Inititives, October 2023
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 9

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Observatory. “We are delighted to launch a new era of 

Listen here at Oxford. This collaboration will be a tremendous fusion of knowledge, resources, and passion 

to understand our place in the cosmos,” said Dr. S. 

Pete Worden, Executive Director of the Breakthrough 

Initiatives and former Director of NASA Ames Research 

Center.

The partnership coincides with an important new phase 

for Breakthrough Listen. In 2023, the project will begin 

working with data from the MeerKAT telescope array 

in South Africa, which offers unprecedented sensitivity 

and field of view capabilities. Breakthrough Listen will 

also utilize data from the Vera Rubin Observatory in 

Chile, expected to be operational in 2024.

The program will leverage machine learning and AI to 

analyze massive datasets. In January 2023, a new AI 

method identified eight previously undetected potential 

technosignatures.

Breakthrough Listen uses radio telescopes worldwide 

to scan the skies. Since 2015, it has surveyed thousands of stars, the Milky Way galaxy, and dozens of 

other galaxies. To date, it has published over 70 papers and discovered 72 Fast Radio Bursts. 

“This is an extraordinarily exciting partnership, bringing 

a large-scale SETI programme to the UK which in turn 

greatly enhances our existing research programmes 

at Oxford,” said Professor Rob Fender, Head of Astrophysics at Oxford’s Department of Physics.

An innovative idea being explored is placing a radio 

telescope on the lunar farside. The Lunar Farside 

Technosignature and Transient Telescope (LFT3) 

would provide a pathfinder survey at the dawn 

of lunar farside activities. LFT3 would deploy 

a highly sensitive 3-meter aperture array telescope on the Lunar Farside along with the 

electronics to process and relay processed 

data appropriate for cutting-edge technosignature science. Given the optimal location, an array of this size yields significant sensitivity to such signals that is not 

achievable anywhere else in our solar neighborhood.

The lunar farside represents a unique observational 

location in our solar system since the Earth is never 

above its horizon. This means that the RFI environment in which the telescope is immersed is as pristine 

as possible. Although it is challenging to get sufficient 

payload to the Lunar Farside, we are at the dawn of 

an exciting age in which serious Moon-based scientific activity is becoming feasible at a reasonable cost. 

NASA is spearheading this effort through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Further, 

LFT3 will follow NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar 

Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission, a mobile robot mission which is scheduled to land at the South Pole of 

the Moon in late 2024 on a 100-day mission. Developed by NASA Ames, the VIPER mission will help determine how the Moon’s resources can support human 

activity on the Moon and beyond.

For more on NASA and technosignatures: 

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1765/searching-for-signs-of-intelligent-life-technosignatures/
10 www.nasa.gov

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In March 2023, ARC civil servants and support contractors attended the 3-Day Onsite iNARTE® Certified Space & Defense ESD Program MonitorTM 

course to meet NASA requirements for ESD workstation requirements to NASA STD. 8739.6B, Chapter 

7, taught by Bob Vermillion, RMV CEO/Founder, CPP, 

Fellow, Certified ESD & Product Safety Engineer-iNARTE.® 

From April 24-28, 2023, the RMV leadership team held 

a 5-day comprehensive iNARTE® Certified, Aerospace 

& Defense ESD EngineerTM training course for NASA, 

DoD and DOE contractors. The RMV leadership with 

Agency ESD Program Manager support led the individual break-out sessions for ESD Instrument training. 

An astronomical success!

The iNARTE® ESD Space & Defense training included 

Class 0Z & 0A Safeguards, ESD Products and Packaging, Material Handling, Long Term Storage & Transport 

and how to locate ESD Events during manufacturing and 

assembly before liftoff. Suspect ESD Counterfeit products and protective packaging were also included to 

demonstrate the high risk of online purchases without 

verification for Mission Critical projects.

Hands-on sessions to differentiate conforming and 

non-conforming materials in real time proved to be a 

real game changer of Supplier products and packaging. 

Workshops and breakout sessions reinforced the training with safety procedures in place. ESD/ESA Issues 

and CubeSat Integrity, Equipment Standards, Reliability, 

Low RH ESD Testing Methods (for harsh environments) 

2023 Virtual and Onsite Hands-On ESD Training 

for the Agency and Defense Contractors was a 

Huge Success!

In March 2023, ARC civil servants and support contractors attended the 3-Day 

Onsite iNARTE® Certified Space & Defense ESD Program MonitorTM course 

to meet NASA requirements for ESD workstation requirements to NASA STD. 

8739.6B, Chapter 7, taught by Bob Vermillion, RMV CEO/Founder, CPP, Fellow, 

Certified ESD & Product Safety Engineer-iNARTE.® 

Renee Mitchell, President RMV Technology Group LLC, Moffett Field, California December 20, 2023
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11

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and correct usage of ESD Instrumentation with support 

Case Studies were highlighted to include ESD Protected Area (EPA) Certification and Verification Measurements for NASA-STD-8739.6B, Chapter 7, ANSI/ESD 

S20.20 compliance and applicable MIL-STDs for ESD 

Assessment Practices and troubleshooting of Mission 

requirements.

In November 2023, the iNARTE® Space & Defense Virtual 3-Day iNARTE® ESD Program MonitorTM course 

took place from the lab at RMV for multiple NASA centers. In 2021, Bob Vermillion received an Award of Excellence from NASA for the design and development of 

a Virtual Training platform held in July 2021 during the 

height of the COVID shutdown. 

In cooperation with Exemplar Global, the 3rd party international global certification body, RMV exclusively 

designed and developed a unique iNARTE® Space & 

Defense platform of courses for material and product 

conformance of ultra-sensitive devices that require ESD 

protection for environmental extremes at each stage 

from deployment to re-entry from space, the arctic and 

desert-like conditions, as in theatre and for National 

Defense that require missile readiness at all times. 

RMV courses are intended for Project Managers, Supervisors, Avionics and Quality Engineers, lab technicians, repair depots and Facility Operations where extreme environmental conditions will impact those that 

package, handle, store, transport and kit EEE sensitive 

parts for land, air, sea and space for contractor compliance to NASA Standard 8739.6B, Chapter 7, now 

required by NASA for all new contracts. 

Since 2009, RMV, a NASA Industry Partner and Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, is located onsite at NASA Ames Research Park. Recently relocated to our new HQ, RMV is just two blocks over from 

our original location, down the street from the NASA 

Badging office and one block south of the USGS newly 

constructed facility. The remodeling and reconstruction 

of the historic dirigible for GOOGLE can be seen from 

our front door. 

In support of the Agency, RMV is the largest and most 

advanced ESD Materials and Product Qualification 

Testing Laboratory on a NASA site in addition to our 

internationally accredited iNARTE® Training Center for 

NASA and the DoD to better protect the Warfighter.

 

For more information on the next On-Site iNARTE® 

Space & Defense ESD Program Monitor Training 

Course, please contact Renee Mitchell at 650-964-

4792 or email renee@esdrmv.com. You can also visit 

www.esdaerospacetraining.org. We always welcome 

your inquiries by phone or email. 

Media Contact: 

Renee Mitchell, President

RMV Technology Group LLC

renee@esdrmv.com

(650) 964-4792
12 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

NP-2024-02-02-ARC

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NRP 

A Publication of NASA Research Park

POST

NASA Research Park

Editor, Layout and Design: TED TRIANO

Phone: (650) 604-2NRP

Email: arc-dl-nrp-post@mail.nasa.gov

Website: www.nasa.gov/researchpark

January 25, 2024, former Center Director Scott Hubbard and former Deputy Center Director Bill Berry visited the NRP. Dr. Eugene Tu, 

Ames Center Director accompanied and showed them the USGS space in building 19 and the newly built lab. They are holding rock 

core samples from the USGS Paleomagnetism lab! These kinds of samples helped prove continental drift, and this lab is one of the few 

federal labs equipped to measure ancient magnetic fields, on earth and off world!

On November 30, 2023, Ames leadership visited the newly built USGS lab 

building in the NRP. John Stock, Director, USGS National Innovation Center 

provided a tour of the facility.

Leadership from NASA Ames Research Center, University of California Berkeley, and SKS Partners, LLC 

pose at Oct 16, 2023 media event announcing plans 

for the new Berkeley Space Center campus at NASA 

Research Park.

On August 23, 2023, Mejghan Haider, Director of NRP hosted a visit by 

National Park Service (NPS) to learn about leasing efforts and partnerships opportunities, the group visited the USGS space in Bldg. 19 and 

Carnegie Mellon University in Bldg. 23. 

Panel featuring NASA Ames Center Director Dr. Eugene Tu, UC Berkeley 

Chancellor Carol Christ, and SKS Partners Managing Partner Dan Kingsley listen as Nobel laureate Dr. Saul Perlmutter speaks on Oct 16, 2023. 

On February 14, 2024 Casey Swails Deputy Associate Administrator 

for Business Operations visited NASA Research Park.