National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A publication of NASA Research Park

NRP POST The

Spring 2013

Google Starting Construction on New Campus

by John Letzing, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires 

2/22/13

Google Inc. says it plans to start building a new corporate campus adjacent to its Silicon Valley headquarters as the Internet 

giant continues to grow at a rapid clip. 

“We are beginning construction on our new Bayview Campus, 

which is a key to our growth and another sign of our commitment to the area,” a Google spokesman said in a statement.

Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. was previously 

occupied by Silicon Graphics Inc. The new campus would be 

built on land leased from the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration. In a 2008 announcement, Google said it had 

agreed to lease more than 42 acres of land at NASA Research 

Park, where it intended to build up to 1.2 million square feet 

of offices and research facilities “in a campus-style setting.”

Google said at that time it expected the first phase of construction on the new campus to begin by the end of September 

2013. Under the terms of the 40-year agreement announced 

then, Google would pay NASA an initial base rent of $3.66 

million annually.

Plans for the new campus were detailed by Vanity Fair magazine, 

which noted that it will be made up of nine buildings connected 

by bridges on about 1.1 million square feet. 

BBC TV visited NASA Research Park for two different shows. 

On BBC TV World News, a new series of Horizons, "An Insight 

into the Future of Global Business", began airing "Space Innovation: How science used in space is benefitting us on Earth" 

(see press release on page 3). 

You can watch the 30-minute show at: http://bit.ly/YXFAYv

A rendering of Google’s Bayview Campus by architecture firm NBBJ

BBC TV Visits NASA Research Park

A second BBC TV show on BBC Two interviewed Moon Express 

CEO Bob Richards as part of their BBC Horizon Special, "Tomorrow’s World," also airing this month. You can view this program 

on Youtube at: http://bit.ly/12XuLcO

Moon Express CEO Bob Richards and Dr. Peter Diamandis are 

interviewed about the Google Lunar X Prize during the first 

segment on Space. 
2 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

CONTENTS

Google Starting Construction on 

New Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

BBC TV Visits NRP . . . . . . . 1

New Partners . . . . . . . . . . . 2

New Company in NRP Brings 

Back Former NASA Employee . . 2

BBC World News Launches 

New Series of Horizons . . . . . . 3

Space Portal Delivers . . . . . . . 3

NASA Invites Media to Showcase 

of Solutions Finalists . . . . . . . 6

May 23 Showcase of Solutions 

for Planetary Sustainability . . . 7

What if You Could Mine 

the Moon? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 

Wattminder, Inc. Building 

Stem Education Resources . . . 9

STC’s Education Outreach . . . 10 

Tibion’s Bionic Leg . . . . . . . . . 11

NASA Ames and Swedish National 

Space Board Join Forces to 

Integrate and Test AAC Microtec 

6U Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . 12

PepBlast eCards App Approved 

by Apple iTunes App Store . . . 12

First ICES Workshop Held Among 

USGS, NASA and CMU-SV . . . 13

Newly Renovated Carnegie 

Mellon Innovations Laboratory 

Unveiled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

M2Mi Celebrates 7 Years 

with NRP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Kentucky Space Announces 

Space Tango . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

NASA Pod Transports Are Close 

to Reality—in Tel Aviv . . . . . . . 15

Intrinsyx Technologies Corp. 

Empowers Biological Research 

on the ISS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Chandah Collaborations 

Underway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

University Associates Silicon 

Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chandah Space Technologies

Building 19, Room 1070J 

Commencement: 4/16/13

Chandah Space Technologies’ mission focuses on small satellites design, development 

and operations. An SAA is in progress between Chandah and the Chief Scientist Office, 

to design iterations on the constellation architecture and capabilities. Chandah plans 

to develop data services for commercial and industrial markets.

The collaboration with Chandah Space Technologies will provide Ames an opportunity 

to keep pace in the ever rising global commercial activities so that the advances developed can be used for NASA’s own missions and to evaluate its capabilities in designs and 

development of small satellites. 

Wattminder Inc. 

Building 19, Room 2007 

Commencement: 4/1/13

Wattminder’s current focus is to create a web platform to enable hands-on STEM learning for all, using a cloud-based lesson delivery system to solve real-world environmental problems, 

based on Wattminder’s proprietary “Pi-powered Portable Educator’s Platform” technology 

and suite of monitoring and diagnostics resources.

NRPWelcomes

Mission Critical Technologies, Inc.’s new 

Northern California office is located in Building 19. CEO Beata Stylianos chose NASA 

Research Park because of its location near 

NASA and her interest in expanding the 

company’s commercial work. “NASA Research Park is a perfect place to encourage 

collaboration with other Aerospace entrepreneurial companies”.

She chose Annette Rodrigues as her Manager of the office. Ms. Stylianos was looking for someone who could help her small 

business grow at NASA and in Silicon Valley. 

Annette was her choice because of Annette’s 

corporate knowledge of Ames Research 

Center, her understanding of the corporate 

culture at the center and her contacts in the 

industry in Silicon Valley. You see, Annette is 

not new to NASA or NASA Research Park. 

Ms. Rodrigues had a successful NASA career, 

and continued to move into other careers 

New Company in NRP Brings Back Former NASA Employee

adjacent to 

aerospace, always coming 

back to her 

roots at Ames 

Research Center. 

Annette was 18 

years old when 

she held her first 

job at Ames. 

She worked on 

the Biosatellite Program as it was winding down. She went to college at night, 

worked at Ames during the day, and 

graduated from San Jose State with a 

Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a minor in Biology—never 

thinking she would be able to pursue 

work in the science area she loved. 

Little did she know, that eventually she 

would become the first Crew Trainer at 

Annette cont’d on page 17

Annette Rodrigues
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 3

Space Portal Delivers

“We are standing at the divide between two remarkable space 

epochs. In the 20th Century, NASA made the United States a 

space-faring nation. In the 21st Century, with the rise of commercial space, we will become a nation of space-farers.” 

– Space Portal, 2005

The Space Portal of the NASA Research Park was established 

in 2005 to provide a “friendly front door” for the commercial 

development of space for public benefit. The team pursuing 

this new role was composed of Dr. Dan Rasky, Lynn Harper, 

Mark Newfield, Bruce Pittman, and advocated and supported 

by Michael Marlaire, Director of the NASA Research Park. 

This experimental group of award-winning senior space 

scientists, engineers, managers, technologists and educators 

began as a volunteer brainstorming group—a group that 

came together to explore ways of accelerating the exploration 

and development of space in a manner that amplified the 

benefits of space for the average American. 

Despite its modest funding and informal organizational style, 

the Space Portal has been instrumental in the development of 

some of NASA’s most highly successful recent space endeavors. 

Space Portal cont’d on page 4

BBC World News Launches New Series of Horizons Looking at Space Innovation

BBC World News

2/04/13

Now in its third year, a new series of Horizons starts Saturday, 

April 6 on BBC World News.

London, 18 March 2012. The third series of Horizons will continue the search for the ideas and people tackling some of the 

big challenges facing our planet. This season, award-winning 

business journalist Adam Shaw and his team will report from a 

wide range of countries, including India, China, Japan, South 

America, the United States and Europe.

The first episode takes a look at how scientific innovations in 

outer space are helping to improve health, fitness and wellbeing here on Earth as Adam visits NASA’s Ames Research 

Centre in Silicon Valley, California, where he talks to Professor 

Mason Peck, NASA’s Chief Technology Officer.

Professor Peck is NASA’s principal advisor on technology, 

charged with ensuring that the knowledge and skills developed from public funding of space mission science are also 

benefitting the day-to-day lives of ordinary people on Earth 

by building innovative partnerships with industry and academia.

“We have affected the world in ways we can’t even imagine,” 

says Professor Peck, “but the fact is NASA has a role in offering 

a benefit to all from what it’s investing in. Taxpayers expect us 

to return that investment so the return in their investment in 

our technologies is spin-offs into the public. We have a role 

here in creating the future, enabling the future.”

In this programme, Adam and Professor Peck discuss NASA’s 

role in technology transfer, sharing new discoveries with the 

private sector and commercialising technologies that spin 

off into our everyday lives. At the NASA Research Park, Adam 

visits two companies collaborating with NASA on projects 

they believe could not only improve the health of people 

here on Earth but also extend the boundaries of manned 

space exploration.

Firstly Adam tries out an exercise technology designed by 

Vasper Systems to increase the production of natural human 

growth hormones and help the body rejuvenate, a goal that 

NASA hopes could help prevent the effects of bone and muscle damage on astronauts in zero gravity. Adam also meets the 

team behind the Scanadu Scout, an innovative home medical 

diagnostic tool that creates a personalised, real-time health 

feed by collecting the body’s vital signs to help people better 

understand how their bodies function and provide more information to doctors.

In part two, Adam and Professor Peck discuss how NASA research in astrophysics and Earth sciences are helping scientists 

not only better understand our own planet, but could also 

lead to the discovery of new planets capable of supporting human life in the next two decades.

Finally, at SkyTran Adam finds out how computer software 

designed to operate robots in space could play a pivotal role 

in a revolutionary new approach to mass urban transportation—a lightweight, high-speed urban personal rapid transit 

concept designed around a network of elevated guide ways 

and magnetically levitated, driverless pods. 

(Above:) Horizons host Adam 

Shaw with Professor Mason Peck, 

and (right) Vasper Director of 

Performance & Training Sebastian 

Wasowski
4 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Space Portal cont’d from page 3

“We live in Silicon Valley and have witnessed the astonishing 

speed and impact of the biotech, infotech, nanotech revolutions on the American landscape. When the original members 

of the Space Portal first got together, we looked at how these 

game-changing new capabilities could be used to develop 

space. An explosion of ideas resulted. Hours and days went 

by and new opportunities, great ideas, ones that could serve 

the country well, kept emerging on all fronts: science, exploration, space technology for planetary sustainability, STEM 

education, and commercial spinoffs. It was a heady experience,” 

Dr. Rasky remembers.  

“But when we costed the implementation of these ideas using 

traditional NASA approaches, the price tag was much too high.  

That’s when we came to the realization that all the high tech 

fields we knew produced considerably better products today 

for considerably less money than they did 30 years ago; except 

for space. After poking at this for a while, it became clear that 

if NASA could leverage commercial best practices in space development, the prohibitive costs of space exploration could be 

significantly reduced to the point that these ambitious space 

goals could be affordable while concurrently increasing the 

use of space-derived technology on earth”.  

Space Portal cont’d on page 5

From the beginning, the Space Portal took an outcomefocused approach, placing a priority on finding opportunities 

for NASA and public benefits through the development of 

space. For example, the Space Portal members played a key 

role in the initiation and program foundation of the now very 

successful Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) 

Program. This program has played a key role in supporting 

the development of the SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket and Dragon 

capsule capability which has now traveled four times to the 

International Space Station and returned successfully to Earth 

– the first commercial company to ever accomplish such a feat. 

The second COTS partner, Orbital Space Sciences, plans the 

first launch of their Antares rocket in April 2013. They hope to 

be launching payloads to the ISS later this year.  

During the COTS program initiation, Space Portal members recruited venture capitalist Alan Marty and blended his insights 

and expertise with NASA procurement enablers and constraints. They advocated the use of public/private partnerships 

as a way to develop economical transportation to the ISS that 

would benefit both NASA and the public. This involved changing some long-standing government ways of doing business, 

such as using a funded Space Act Agreement, with industry 

proposed milestone-based payments that NASA would approve, in place of standard cost-plus contracting. 

The Space Portal members were also early and vocal advocates for the development and use of the International Space 

Station as a premier microgravity laboratory. In 2005, they 

organized a workshop called “An Entrepreneurial Paradigm for 

the International Space Station (ISS).”  The Space Portal organized an unusual venue for what would be a historic meeting.  

For the first time, potential users of the ISS, potential suppliers 

of ISS services, and potential funders of ISS activities, such as 

venture capitalists and NASA program science offices, came 

together to exchange ideas, needs, restrictions, solutions, and 

opportunities. It was an eye opening experience for all.  

The Space Portal also organized the ISS National Laboratory 

Workshop in 2007, chaired by medical giant and Nobel Prize 

winner Dr. Baruch Blumberg and featuring Human Genome 

Project pioneer Craig Venter as the keynote speaker. The workshop roster read like a Who’s Who in the high tech community and included presentations by NASA’s top executive for human space flight William Gerstenmaier, astronauts Don Petit 

and Marco Runco, Josh Zimmerberg, Director of NIH’s Center 

for 3-D Tissue Culture, high-tech startup guru Tom Stedding, 

and a special recorded greeting by Texas Senator Kay Bailey 

Hutchinson. The Masters of Ceremony were Matthew Gardner, 

President of BayBio, Russell Hancock, CEO of Silicon Valley 

Joint Ventures, Adrienne Bousian, Deputy State Director of the 

Office of Senator Barbara Boxer, and Cathy Gordon, Director of 

Google’s New Business Development. 

Lynn Harper (left) and the late Dr. Baruch Blumberg (right)

That realization ultimately led to the Space Portal team committing to promote the development and use of commercial 

space on projects that would benefit NASA and the public.  

At the time, 2004-05, commercial space was a very low priority 

activity in NASA. Even though Scaled Composites had just won 

the $10 million Ansari X-Prize, almost all of the aerospace community considered space entrepreneurs to be, at best, a flash in 

the pan. Most thought that these space entrepreneurs did not 

understand how hard space was and that their business cases 

wouldn’t close. “We investigated further and were surprised to 

discover that several of these companies did seem to have a 

credible case to make and many attractive opportunities could 

emerge for NASA if commercial capabilities could be used to 

help accomplish its missions,” noted Lynn Harper. Led by the 

Space Portal, NASA Ames signed an agreement to work with 

Virgin Galactic in 2006. 
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 5

NRP Post

Space Portal cont’d from page 4

Through the Space Portal’s workshops, some of the world’s 

greatest technical and entrepreneurial thought leaders came 

together to help develop the potential of commercial and 

other private space endeavors. Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin 

was a frequent visitor, along with Tetris billionaire Henk Rodgers, venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, legendary Apollo flight 

control inventor Ken Cox and representatives from the new 

entrepreneurial space “turks” like SpaceX, Bigelow Aerospace, 

XCOR, Moon Express and Centennial Challenges Lunar Lander 

winner Masten Space Systems. 

These continuing leadership relationships and conferences led 

to a NASA agreement with the State of Hawaii in 2011 to work 

together on a concept for a terrestrial test site in Hawaii for 

potential missions to the Moon and Mars. (For more information about the Hawaii/NASA conference, watch “This Week at 

NASA” at http://1.usa.gov/17zQOoY) Hawaii is currently funding 

over $2 million a year on this endeavor and has hosted major 

conferences brain storming on a potential international lunar 

research park concept, modeled after the NASA Research Park. 

The NASA-Hawaii agreement was extended for another year in 

April 2013. 

The Space Portal is a small operation involving only a handful 

of people. How was this small group able to attract so many 

top-notch, busy people to plan and dream of space?  

“I think these people wanted to participate directly in the 

development of space,” said Bruce Pittman. “We had all seen 

2001: A Space Odyssey and that was the space program that 

most of us dreamed of; we did not want to watch other people 

do it; we wanted to do it ourselves.” The Portal was able to take 

advantage of previous commercial efforts going all the way 

back to the 1970s. One of the key paradigm shifts of the 21st 

Century space program is the willingness of key individuals 

(L-R): Terry Pagaduan, NASA Ames; Michael Marlaire, NASA Ames; 

Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie; Dr. Rebecca Spyke Keiser, NASA 

HQ Associate Deputy Administrator for Strategy and Policy; Dr. Dan 

Rasky, NASA Ames; and Lt. Governor (now U.S. Senator) Brian Schatz 

in a 2011 photo of signing ceremony.

Space Portal cont’d on page 6

to put their own hard-earned wealth at risk to create this new 

space reality, and they are willing to help the rest of us get there 

as well. 

Space Portal members had exceptionally diverse backgrounds, 

but each had done something extremely difficult in the government, overcoming not only technical challenges but also 

bureaucratic obstacles. The other thing they had in common 

was a willingness to learn from others and a belief that the 

system could be made to work. “Most civil servants should 

never use the term ‘business case’ and think they know what 

it means,” said Dan Rasky. “On the other hand, NASA serves 

the taxpayers and our role is not only to promote business 

successes, but also to ensure that the investments made in the 

national space program serve the public well, which is something that entrepreneurs don’t always understand. A lot of 

what we do is to listen hard and exchange ideas in a nurturing 

manner. New ideas are fragile and often the voice of reason 

is soft.” 

The NASA 2007 Inventor of the Year, Dan Rasky, who would be 

voted by the Space Portal membership as the Director, had developed PICA, an advanced thermal protection material which 

enabled the NASA Stardust Mission that eventually brought 

back to Earth the first pristine samples of a comet. PICA also 

enabled the recent Curiosity rover mission to Mars; it was also 

selected by SpaceX for use on their Dragon capsule, the first 

private company in history to return a spacecraft safely from 

orbit. The Stardust PICA heatshield is currently on display as 

part of “The Milestones of Flight Exhibit” in the Smithsonian 

National Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C.  

Bruce Pittman, who earned NASA’s Exceptional Public Service 

Medal in 2011, was instrumental in the development of the

first commercial venture in manned space flight—the development of SpaceHab, which flew 17 missions on the Space Shuttle. It enabled thousands of investigations to be conducted in 

space that would have been grounded because of insufficient 

flight capabilities and opened the door to some of the most 

important advances in space biosciences and materials sciences.

Mark Newfield was the Ames Project Manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Thermal Protection System hardware (SIRCA) 

that allowed soft landing of two rovers on Mars in 2004.  

He was Project Manager for Honeywell’s Integrated Vehicle 

Health Management system for the NASA 2nd Gen program 

to obtain aircraft-like ground operational efficiency from space 

vehicle systems and developed the project structure leading 

to the delivery of the Ames TPS system for X-37.

Lynn Harper was the initiating founder of the science of Astrobiology, an achievement that earned her NASA’s Outstanding 

Leadership Medal, had led or played key roles in the successful 

development of five Congressional new initiatives, and had 
6 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Space Portal cont’d from page 5

been instrumental in the successful development and implementation of more than fifteen space flight investigations.  

She brought with her the creative genius and wisdom of 

Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg to the Space Portal. 

So what’s next for the Space Portal? Planetary Sustainability...

In addition to continuing leadership in commercial space, including holding a weekly NASA-wide telecon on commercial 

space, the Space Portal began a new focused endeavor in 2012. 

“From our successes with the benefits of public-private partnerships, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs from our commercial space endeavors, our location with the NRP partners, and 

our Ames expertise in earth sciences and environmental control and life support systems, we believe the Space Portal can, 

once again serve as a catalyst, this time for solutions to planetary sustainability,” said Dan Rasky. 

Recognizing that potential, NASA Ames and Sustainable 

by Ruth Marlaire, NASA Ames PAO

2/13/2013

Last fall, NASA and Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) invited 

researchers, inventors and companies to submit their creative solutions for competitive review by a panel of experts 

from academia, research, business and venture communities. 

After evaluating more than 100 entries that addressed water 

management, energy use, and transportation, judges will 

announce the most compelling entries from 6-8:30 p.m. PST 

Thursday March 7, 2013 at Microsoft Research Silicon Valley, 

building 4, Mountain View, Calif. 

Speakers include Hon. Chuck Reed, mayor, San Jose, Calif.; 

Daniel Rasky, director and co-founder, Space Portal at NASA 

Ames; Nancy E. Pfund, managing partner, Double Bottom 

Line (DBL) Venture Capital Investors, San Francisco, Calif., and 

Josh Henretig, director, Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash. Reporters interested in attending 

the finalist announcement must send requests for media credentials to Kenneth Heiman, kheiman@sustainablesv.org or 

call 408-230-2304. Reporters also can register at this website: 

http://showcasefinalists.eventbrite.com/# 

“NASA’s work in creating and maintaining sustainable human 

habitats in space pays off for the American taxpayer when 

the results of this space research and development are applied to create solutions on our home planet,” said Steven 

Zornetzer, associate director for technology at NASA Ames. 

“This is technology transfer at its best for it may lead to gamechanging solutions here on Earth.”

NASA Invites Media to Showcase 

of Solutions Finalists Announcement

Dr. Dan Rasky spoke at the NASA/SSV solutions showcase on 

March 7, 2013.

Finalists were judged on creativity, approach and gamechanging goals. These goals include developing and implementing multiple elements as part of the solution; mitigation, adaptation or scalable strategies; reasonable risk; and a 

combination of elements that reinforce one another to create 

an ecosystem of solutions that generate a positive environmental and economic impact. 

The winning solutions and their inventors and technologists 

will be presented at the May 23, 2013 Showcase of Solutions. 

Attendees can network with others who share their passion 

and entrepreneurial spirit for global sustainability. Angel investors and venture capitalists also are expected to attend the 

event. For more information, read the NASA press release at: 

http://1.usa.gov/WEab9J

Silicon Valley, SSV, (http://www.sustainablesv.org/) signed an 

agreement in July 2012 “to provide a forum for NASA ARC and 

Silicon Valley leaders from many sectors (business, finance, 

venture capitalists, government, academia/research and civic) 

to explore large scale, advanced, technology solutions to 

sustainability at a planetary scale, many of which are inspired 

by NASA’s human exploration of space. NASA ARC and SSV 

will also collaborate on the development of the Planetary 

Sustainability Institute concept to pursue future collaborations bringing together advanced solutions and resources on 

an on-going basis.”

“By developing a nation of space farers, leveraging resources 

talent and facilities with commercial space businesses, universities, government organizations, and nonprofits, we will 

be able to increase space scientific discoveries and accelerate 

their utilization on earth for all to benefit.”

—Space Portal 2013
NRP Post

What if you could mine the Moon?

by Regan Morris, BBC News, Los Angeles

4/7/13

Space exploration has long been about reaching far off destinations, but now there’s a race to exploit new frontiers by 

mining their minerals.

When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the Moon in 1969, it 

was part of a “flags and footprints” strategy to beat the Soviets, 

a triumph of imagination and innovation, not an attempt to 

extract precious metals.

NASA Ames Research Center’s Space Portal and Sustainable 

Silicon Valley (SSV) are partnering to showcase game-changing 

solutions to regional and global sustainability. The Showcase of 

Solutions for Planetary Sustainability, to be held May 23, Bldg. 

152, at NASA Ames, will feature winners in a “Call for Solutions” 

competition and expert multidisciplinary panels. For more information go to: http://www.sustainablesv.org/home

An Annex to the partnership agreement between Sustainable 

Silicon Valley and NASA Ames Research Center was added to 

co-host a meeting, “Call for Solutions for Planetary Sustainability” 

in that “the Parties will bring together NASA researchers and 

Silicon Valley inventors, entrepreneurs, investors, academia, and 

other leaders to create innovative ideas, realistic approaches, 

and scalable, feasible technology solutions contributing to improved health and sustenance of local, regional, and global environments. The Parties will work together to select and recognize 

the most meritorious ideas and concepts presented at the event. 

The Parties recognize the potential for technology advancement 

and technology transfer to advance research surrounding planetary sustainability.”

“To speed us towards innovative, feasible solutions that we can 

implement at real scale, we need to encourage and tap our most 

creative thinkers and inventors to address our planet’s unprecedented challenges,” said Marianna Grossman, director of Sustainable Silicon Valley. 

“NASA has been interested in sustainable human habitats for 

some time,” said Ames Associate Director Steve Zornetzer. 

“The International Space Station is a closed environmental 

system that must conserve all resources, and relies largely on 

solar power. Ames Sustainability Base is an example of bringing 

NASA’s aerospace technologies back to Earth.” (http://www.nasa.

gov/sustainability-base ) 

The “Call for Solutions” attracted more than 100 entries. Solutions 

feature innovations in transportation and commutes, alternative 

May 23 Showcase of Solutions for Planetary Sustainability 

Moon cont’d on pg 8

No one knew there was water on that dusty, celestial body. 

What a difference a generation makes.

Mysterious and beautiful, the Moon has been a source of awe 

and inspiration to mankind for millennia. Now it is the [center] 

of a space race to mine rare minerals to fuel our future—smart 

phones, space-age solar panels and possibly even a future 

colony of Earthlings.

The Science 

Leading scientists lay out the global challenges we 

face and what it will take to change the underlying 

driving systems.

Our petroleum-fueled economy and our consumption-based society have damaged the life support 

systems of the planet. Changing our habits, rebuilding our infrastructure and accommodating billions 

of people moving into the middle class in the developing world, are 

challenges that will 

require revolutionary 

change to accomplish.

Climate, oceans, earth 

systems and social 

change experts will explain where we stand 

and what scope of 

change is required for 

a habitable planet. 

May 23 showcase speakers include: former NASA 

scientists James Hansen and Waleed Abdalati; Japan 

Prize winner and author Dennis Meadows; Anthony 

Barnosky (UC Berkeley and Stanford); Banny Bannerjee 

(Stanford); Wes Jackson, The Land Institute; Wallace 

J Nicholls, Oceans, California Academy of Sciences; 

Kristiina Vogt, Forest Resources, U. Washington; Dan 

Rasky, John Hogan, and Forrest Melton, NASA.

View of the Earth as seen by the 

Apollo 17 crew

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 7

work place, water management, urban irrigation from 

satellite imagery, green chemistry for fuels, sanitation and 

power supply for urban slums, and battery storage among others. 
NRP Post

Moon cont’d on pg 18

“We know that there’s water on the Moon, which is a gamechanger for the solar system. Water is rocket fuel. It also can 

support life and agriculture. So exploring the Moon commercially is a first step towards making the Moon part of our world, 

what humanity considers our world,” says Bob Richards, CEO 

of Silicon Valley-based Moon Express, one of 25 companies 

racing to win the $30 million in Google Lunar X Prizes. It is 

considered to be among the top-three teams in the running 

for the prize. The other two are Pittsburgh-based Astrobiotic 

and Barcelona Moon Team.

Google’s $20 million first prize will be awarded to the first 

privately funded company to land a robot on the Moon that 

successfully explores the surface by moving at least 500m and 

sends high-definition video back to Earth. A second place team 

stands to win $5 million for completing the same mission, with 

bonus prizes for teams that travel more than 5km or find water. 

The deadline is 2015.

But $30 million is a relatively small amount of money when it 

comes to funding a Moon mission. The companies competing 

have business models far beyond the Google prize, with the 

real prize being the potential treasure trove of valuable minerals.

“The most important thing about the Moon is probably the 

stuff we haven’t even discovered,” says Mr. Richards. “But what 

we do know is that there could be more platinum-group metals on the surface of the Moon than all of the reserves of Earth. 

The race is on.”

But can anyone own the Moon, and what happens if multiple 

companies and countries succeed in getting there?

According to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty no nation can own 

the Moon, and most people believe that extends to individuals 

and companies. But would-be Moon miners can have something like property rights. And there is an advantage to getting 

there first and staking claims.

“Appropriation and ownership is not allowed under the treaty, 

but free access exploitation is encouraged,” says space lawyer 

James Dunstan. “You can’t own it, but you can go there and 

use it, so how do we balance those two?”

China has plans to land a probe on the Moon later this year 

and astronauts by 2020. Because China’s lunar plans are more 

ambitious than most, some fear they may get too much control of the moon. 

Dunstan does not think China would flout international laws 

to gain an upper hand in space, but it will be difficult to police.

“Trade sanctions would be very harsh if there were a rogue 

country or rogue corporation driving around ripping up other 

people’s stuff.”

If Moon Express and others are right, it’s conceivable that in 

the future the lunar surface could host a colony of mining robots and astronauts who could use the Moon as a base to explore further into the solar system. Richards believes humans 

will discover ways to live on the Moon permanently.

“We’re becoming a multi-world species. That will happen. 

The first footprints on Mars by human beings will happen 

in our lifetime in the next 10 to 20 years,” he says. “People, 

themselves, will be transformed. They’ll be merging with their 

technologies. And that which we call human will become 

redefined as we find how to reprogramme our bodies to live 

longer, how we find machines that are able to symbiotically 

work with us to cure disease. So that which we consider human today will continue to evolve.”

Moon Express, which has its offices at the NASA Research Park, 

is funded by entrepreneur Naveen Jain. Jain says that location 

is key because he believes Silicon Valley will become the home 

to space pioneers.

“We are those crazy people who think that every idea is a crazy 

idea until we make it happen and then people say, ‘Of course’,” 

he says.

So, if we’re going to live on the Moon one day, shouldn’t we 

worry about polluting it? Won’t armies of digging robots mess 

up our future real estate?

NASA planetary scientist Margarita Marinova thinks we won’t 

make the same mistakes in space that we’ve made on Earth 

and that man can’t afford to explore space without tapping 

the local resources to survive.

“For me, it’s a little hard because I do see these planets as very 

beautiful and very pristine in a way we don’t really have on 

Earth anymore, and so the idea of mining is a little difficult,” 

she says.

Moon cont’d from page 7

NRP Post

Bob Richards, CEO of Moon Express with their lunar lander.

8 www.nasa.gov
NRP Post

Wattminder, Inc. relocated their Sunnyvale headquarters to 

NRP for closer collaboration with NASA and other NRP partners. 

Our current focus is to create a web-platform to amplify and 

enable, at anytime and anywhere, the access to hands-on 

STEM learning for all. Established as a California corporation 

in 2010, with 5 to 7 employee-partners, we’ve developed 

web-based fault detection and diagnostics, power quality, and 

energy consumption monitoring and diagnostics resources. 

Our web services are aimed to help assure optimal photovoltaic generation for solar power plant owners and operators, 

with free innovative analytics. This effort has been supported 

by three SBIR grants, totaling over $1 million, with CMU-SV as 

our collaborator. Much of our basket of IP is being re-factored 

into a cloud-based lesson delivery system.

Wattminder evolved from an energy and electrical engineering consultation business by founder Stephen Yang, P.E. We 

originally focused on fault detection and diagnostics, power 

quality, and energy consumption monitoring with limited load 

management features.This later expanded to include low-cost, 

intelligent monitoring of gas and water consumption, and PV 

generation. Further evolution focused on the photovoltaic 

industry with web infrastructure, complex databases and the 

algorithmic framework to diagnose problems in buildings 

and solar power plants. Our experienced team members are 

experts in analog electronics, digital signal processing, high 

performance computing elements (FPGA), physics, web applications and systems engineering. 

Recently we have realized that ultra-low cost computing, combined with the “Internet of Things” has resulted in a potential 

transformation in education. We feel the rich repertoire of sciences and technologies developed over NASA’s seven decade 

history can and should be tapped as a resource for promoting 

STEM education.

Reflecting on enabling trends in open and online education, 

with the backdrop of declining interest among students in 

K-16, we realize our large basket of IP, mostly web-based 

sensors and instrumentation electronics, signal conditioning, 

and algorithms, has become a rich hot-bed of innovation to 

unleash the power of low-cost platform and internet, into a deWattminder, Inc. Building Resources to Boost STEM Education 

by Steve Yang, CEO, Wattminder, Inc.

livery vehicle for STEM education. Our current product family 

includes RasDas-1 & RasDas-3, Audio & Optical Explorer, Signal 

Conditioner, Distributed PowerSupply, all linked and powered by the Raspberry Pi, the $35 nano-computer on a board. 

RasDas-3 now sports software defined radio capabilities. Out 

of the box, one can now carry out dozens of experiments 

such as measuring speed of sound, sonar, and speed of light. 

We seek to deepen our collaboration with CMUSV, as well as 

other neighbors at NRP, to help us build the ecosystem that 

will transform the education system, starting with a hands-on, 

experiential lesson delivery for STEM topics.

Wattminder had built a web-portal framework to enable and 

assist operators of revenue-cricital solar power plants to maintain optimal performance by alerting about under-performance, and diagnosing for cause of under-performance with 

actionable message to promptly restore optimal performance. 

Wattminder has offered its innovative second-generation 

photovoltaic analytic service free to the world’s solar power 

owners and operators at www.pvwizard.com. 

Starting with our Personal Electronic Bench, we are now building a cloud-based eLearning portal that will transform the 

delivery of STEM education.

Wattminder hopes to grow and prosper, along with our new 

neighbors at NRP. 

March 12, 2013—United States Geological Survey (USGS) 

executives visited Ames and NRP to discuss partnership 

opportunities with Ames and to assess the viability of 

locating on site.

Prototype “Pi-powered Portable Educator’s Platform,” in a webconnected learning system

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 9
10 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

Since the early 1990s, former professor 

at both European and American universities, and program manager of the Science 

and Technology International Education Program (www.STIEP.org), Dr. Amar 

Choudry has provided opportunities to 

motivate graduate students in Europe to 

conduct internship research on diverse 

aerospace topics at different U.S. research 

facilities. These topics range from wake 

vortex studies to orbital debris management. Working through Science and 

Technology Corporation (STC), STIEP has 

provided over 120 research internships, 

with approximately 4-6 interns per year. 

The program’s philosophy aims to rectify 

the reality that talented people can be 

found anywhere in the world, but opportunities to advance and motivate those talented few are not as available or accessible. 

As reported in the NASA Research Park 

Post (Spring 2012), STIEP facilitated 

research internship opportunities for 

students from Universities in Mexico, 

Singapore, Spain, France, and the Netherlands. This spring, 2013, eight more 

students graduated from the program. 

The STIEP program was especially proud 

of three students who were selected by 

their mentors to continue their research 

and were provided positions at NASA 

through the EAP program. In addition to 

their research, STIEP encourages the 

students become active in their local 

community where they intern by volunteering at local events or education 

outreach; for example, the students 

helped provide organizational support 

for local events held in the Bay Area, 

such as the Silicon Valley Space Business Roundtable and the LunarCubes 

workshop in Palo Alto, CA. In 2012, the 

students participated in local education 

outreach in San Jose high schools and 

middle schools, along with other NASA 

Ames volunteers. 

Sponsored through STC’s STIEP initiative, 

STC’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Mark Schoeberl, 

and the University of Maryland’s (UMBC) 

Professor Vanderlei Martins, developed 

Science and Technology Corporation’s (STC) Education Outreach

a pico-satellite named QubScout. 

QubScout is a prototype mission to 

test functionality and design of a new 

instrument that has been proposed for 

use on a larger satellite. Designed and 

assembled by the UMBC students (US 

citizens), the QubScout was delivered to 

Morehead State University (MSU), Kentucky (Professor Bob Twiggs, advisor for 

the QubScout), in under three months 

and less than $100,000. Program Manager for STC’s Fabrication Division, Jeff 

Manning, supported the UMBC students 

by CNC machining the QubScout satellite bus in one day. Unfortunately, due 

to launch delays, the QubScout was sent 

back to UMBC for almost two years. This 

summer, the QubScout will be returned 

to Kentucky for integration in MSU’s 

launcher and is scheduled for launch 

STC Chief Scientist Dr. Mark Schoeberl UMBC summer 2013. 

PhD Student Steve Buczkowski

NASA Ames Research Center: Deputy Director Lewis Braxton, Chief Scientist Dr. Jacob Cohen, 

Aeromechanics Branch Chief (and Mentor) Dr. William Warmbrodt, Dean of Students David Morse, 

Chief Scientist Staff Craig Burkhard; Technical University of Delft, Netherlands: Chetan Angadi, Paul 

Bucksch, Rik Langeweg, Saish Sridharan; École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace, 

France: Thomas Lambot; International Space University, United States: Iman Datta

The United Kingdom Trade Mission visited Ames on 

February 25, 2013. Eight space companies from the UK 

and representatives from the UK Space Agency, Satellite 

Applications Catapult, and ADS, visited Ames as part of a 

trade mission to California. Michael Marlaire, Director of 

NRP, provided an overview of the NRP partnerships.
Bionic Leg in action.

Wolf Creek Care Center has taken delivery of one of medicine’s 

latest robotic miracles—a Tibion Bionic Leg, which enables its 

staff to help stroke patients and others escape life in a wheelchair by recovering their ability to walk.

The Bionic Leg acquired by Wolf Creek is the 100th such device 

delivered by Tibion Corporation, a Silicon Valley startup based 

in Sunnyvale, CA.

Each year, almost half of the more than 700,000 Americans who 

survive a stroke are left with weakness in the leg on their affected side, which impairs their ability to walk. About 3 million 

chronic stroke survivors struggle with walkers and canes that 

put them at risk of a dangerous fall. Until recently, medicine 

believed that whatever disability remained a year after stroke 

was essentially irreversible.

The Tibion Bionic Leg is a novel wearable robotic device that 

enables stroke survivors to regain strength and control in their 

impaired leg. Through repetitive sit-to-stand transfers, stepping and stairclimbing with the Bionic Leg, patients appear to 

encourage the brain to “reprogram” around stroke-damaged 

nerve pathways, so that they regain the ability to put full weight 

on their affected legs - even 10 or more years post-stroke.

Kelorie Westlund, facility rehab director at Wolf Creek, reports both 

staff and patients are delighted with their new rehabilitation tool:

“It’s just fantastic,” Ms. Westlund says. “We use it on new admissions and on our long-term residents. It’s broadening our therapists’ horizons regarding what we can do for patients who’ve 

frustrated us in the past, because conventional therapy just 

couldn’t get them to the state of independence they wanted - 

and we wanted for them.”

Ms. Westlund reports that the staff now looks at each debilitated patient in their 60-bed facility and considers whether they 

might be a candidate for Bionic Leg therapy.

“One patient we’re successfully rehabilitating with the Bionic Leg 

is a recent admission from Sierra Nevada Hospital, across the 

street. One of the reasons we earned the referral is because 

we have a Bionic Leg. In just a few weeks of therapy, we see him 

making gains we could not expect to see even after months of 

traditional gait therapy. 

“We also put our new Bionic Leg on one of our long-term patients who had a stroke many, many years ago,” Ms. Westlund 

adds. “Like most stroke patients, he had developed what we 

call a ‘compensated’ gait, putting as little weight as possible on 

Wolf Creek Care Center Helps Stroke Patients Recover Ability to Walk 

with Tibion’s 100th Bionic Leg

Business Wire

3/13/13

his affected leg as he struggled with 

a walker. That’s exhausting, and put 

him at risk of a fall, which could break 

a hip. Despite the years that passed 

since this resident’s stroke, we’re seeing him reacquire his strength and 

more appropriate weight shifting —at 

least twice as fast as we could have 

expected.”

Peter Stack, director of admissions at 

Wolf Creek, believes their new Bionic 

Leg will prove a magnet for referrals 

from Sierra Nevada and other hospitals in the area.

“We can now provide superior rehabilitation for patients with a wide range of 

disabilities following surgery or trauma 

as well as stroke,” Mr. Stack says.

The success of rehabilitating their long-term resident who had 

a stroke in the distant past encourages the Wolf Creek rehab 

team to believe they can help a wide range of impaired patients 

with their new technology.

“For example, total hip and knee patients can be excellent candidates for Bionic Leg therapy at Wolf Creek,” Mr. Stack explains.

“By the time many total joint patients get their surgery, they’ve 

usually put up with years of pain, and they’ve developed a risky 

gait, and abnormal techniques of climbing stairs. The post-op 

pain of their new hip or knee doesn’t encourage them to break 

those bad habits. But with the Bionic Leg, we can take the 

weight off their painful limb and help them gradually reacquire 

a safer, normal way of walking and climbing the steps in 

their homes.”

Families of prospective rehab patients should contact the 

Wolf Creek admissions office at (530) 273-4447. For additional 

information on the Tibion Bionic Leg, visit www.tibion.com and 

www.onstroke.org. 

Kern Bhugra was the CEO and Founder of Tibion, which started in 

the NRP in 2003. Tibion resided here for over 8 years. His company 

grew from one office to over 6,000 square feet in NRP Building 19. 

NRP Post

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 11
12 www.nasa.gov

NASA Ames and Swedish National Space Board (SNSB) Join Forces to Integrate and Test 

AAC Microtec 6U Satellite

Beginning April 15 and lasting for approximately two months, 

NASA Ames Research Center, AAC Microtec and COSMIAC will 

participate in the assembly, integration, and testing of a 6U 

satellite that will launch in late 2013 as part of a DOD mission. 

The satellite is based on technology developed by several key 

suppliers based on the SPA (Space Plug and Play Architecture) 

compatible architecture standards developed by AFRL and the 

Rapid Integration ArchitectureTM family of products developed 

by AAC Microtec, uniquely positioned to provide fault tolerant 

high reliability satellites and components. This 6U satellite is 

expected to demonstrate that small satellites that support 

complex missions can be constructed in rapid time using a 

Virtual System Integration approach provided by AAC Microtec 

and SPA compatible plug-and-play components and payloads. 

6U satellite illustration

PepBlast eCards App Approved by Apple 

iTunes App Store

Photozig, Inc., an NRP Partner, announced that its PepBlast 

eCards App is available in the Apple iTunes App Store for iOS devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. This App allows 

users to send personalized greeting messages to friends and 

family. There are over 200 animated eCards containing short fun 

video clips with music:

* 200+ eCards designs

* Over 40 eCard collections

* Animated video eCards with cool songs

* Personalized message

* Browse and Preview

* Send eCard by email or Facebook

* View eCards on PCs, Smartphones, Tablets, etc.

Photozig has created eCards for nearly all occasions, including 

Birthdays, Holidays, Love, Congratulations, Christmas, Friends, 

Family, Work, Graduation, and many more.

PepBlast eCards App for iOS can be found at the Apple iTunes 

App Store: http://bit.ly/ZU4Z5P

PepBlast eCards is also available for Android devices at Google 

Play: http://bit.ly/11To8Vw

For more information about PepBlast eCards, please go to: 

http://ecards.pepblast.com

Screen captures of PepBlast eCards app

Chrysler Executives visited Ames on March 

20, 2013 to discuss and tour the Hyperwall and 

Supercomputer, Virtual Motion Simulator (VMS), 

Software and System Capabilities, and the NRP. 

Bimal Aponso (second from left), Head of the 

VMS, hosted Senior Chysler VP Mark Chernoby 

(middle) to a flight experience. 

NRP Hosts Chrysler Senior Executives
Newly Renovated Carnegie Mellon Innovations Laboratory Unveiled

by Jessie Hao, Marketing Coordinator, Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley

First ICES Workshop Held Among USGS, NASA and CMU-SV

by Jessie Hao, Marketing Coordinator, Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recently held its 

2013 workshop of the Innovation Center for Earth Sciences 

(ICES) in Menlo Park, Calif. The meeting brought together scientists and researchers from USGS, NASA Ames Research Center, 

Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley (CMU-SV) and UC 

Santa Cruz for keynote discussions and poster sessions focused 

on applying new technologies to solve scientific problems.

CMU-SV professors Drs. Ole Mengshoel, Bob Iannucci and Pei 

Zhang, and Ph.D. student, Corey Ippolito, participated in and 

presented at the ICES Workshop. The workshop was based 

upon a recent history of successful collaborations between 

USGS and its NASA and CMU-SV partners. Some core national 

USGS scientific needs were identified, with the hope of creating 

new projects to address them.

“We have already had several follow-up conversations with our 

counterparts at USGS, and many ideas for joint projects are currently in development,” says Dr. Ole Mengshoel, Director of the 

Intelligent and High Performing Lab. Project presentations included “SensorFly: Minimalistic Flying Sensors” by Dr. Pei Zhang, 

Assistant Research Professor, and “Rethinking Networking for 

the Internet of Thing,” by Dr. Bob Iannucci, Director of the CyLab 

Mobility Research Center at the Silicon Valley campus.

There is a scheduled follow-up meeting on March 28, where approximately ten project ideas with potential for collaboration 

will be discussed. The 2013 workshop is the first of a planned 

bi-annual series of workshops to foster collaboration between 

USGS and its Silicon Valley partners.

To learn more about the ICES and see presentations and posters 

from the 2013 ICES Workshop, visit the USGS collaboration site at 

http://bit.ly/Y0clUO.

A packed house for the first ICES meeting at USGS Menlo Park.

Photo by Jonathan Stock

Carnegie Mellon University’s Silicon Valley campus recently 

unveiled the newly renovated Carnegie Mellon Innovations 

Laboratory (CMIL). The campus’ main lab space held an Open 

House to introduce the myriad of “making” possibilities open 

to students, faculty, staff and researchers, including opportunities to hack gadgets and fabricate prototypes.

“The updated CMIL is meant to foster creativity and innovation in our students and faculty by providing a rich lab “maker” 

environment,” said Dr. Jason Lohn, Director of CMIL. “We hope 

that this will allow students to go from ideas and inspiration to 

a constructed object easily and rapidly.”

Distinguished Service Professor Dr. Ted Selker added that 

he hopes the new opportunities the CMIL lab provide will 

“create an environment that motivates and empowers people 

to develop their technical abilities and to try out their ideas 

without boundaries.”

Among the new equipment available are a laser cutter and 

3-D printer, which were both demoed at the Open House with 

training courses to be offered. In addition to the new machines, 

CMU-SV Research Scientist Art Botterell demos the campus’ 3-D printer in the newly renovated Carnegie Mellon Innovations Laboratory.

the lab includes an RF/Wireless lab, electronics bench, maker 

shop and vertical milling machine drilling machine.

Students wasted no time getting their hands on the machines 

at the Open House, from receiving an introduction to the laser 

CMIL cont’d on page 14

www.nasa.gov/researchpark 13
NRP Post

14 www.nasa.gov

Distinguished Research Professor Ted Selker works with 

students on the laser cutter at the Carnegie Mellon Innovations Laboratory.

cutter by creating CMU-SV trinkets, to attaching surface 

mount components to a circuit board using reflow soldering in the RF Lab.

“The new equipment allows students to interface their 

programs to the physical world, create professional level 

electronics and embedded systems, and to have the full 

product development experience,” said Dr. Selker.

The lab also strives to supplement the academic programs by creating opportunities for the hands-on learning style emphasized at CMU-SV. For example, students 

in the new connected embedded systems courses can 

use the laser cutter and 3-D printer to make enclosures 

for embedded systems and the solder paste machine 

to rework systems. In addition, the radio lab tools allow 

students to view and work with the new worlds of RF 

identification and high frequency cell communications.

By providing a space for the CMU-SV community to 

“make” things, the renovated CMIL is situated to become 

an indispensable resource in the research and educational programs at the Silicon Valley campus. “CMIL gives our 

students an edge by experiencing that creating in the 

electronics and physical world is possible, accessible and 

relevant,” said Dr. Selker.

CMIL cont’d from page 13

Machine-To-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) Corporation 

celebrates its seventh year with NASA Research Park.

“NASA NRP has a track record of being an ideal partner 

for M2Mi, encouraging M2Mi to demonstrate both 

business and technology innovation. Over the last seven 

years M2Mi has become a solid company, gaining the 

trust of some very large customers,” said Geoff Brown, 

Founder and CEO of M2Mi.

Gartner Group announced Machine-To-Machine aka the 

“The Internet of Things” as one of the top three emerging 

enterprise trends for 2013.

M2Mi is an enterprise software company that provides 

high technology solutions under the M2M Intelligence® 

brand that provides secure connectivity and automation between mobility, sensor networks, M2M telecommunications and corporate cloud data centers. M2Mi 

demonstrates exceptional innovation in the area of making large-scale global computer systems more robust, 

simpler, resilent while enabling customers to achieve 

significant increased revenues via secure services and 

comprehensive automation. M2Mi’s product portfolio 

also includes patented ‘cyber’ security innovation and 

cutting edge ‘quantum computing’ cryptography – 

essential technologies for M2M and Cloud computing.

M2Mi has impressive enterprise customers and partners 

including, Oracle, IBM, Intel, Vodafone M2M, Juniper 

and Ericsson.

M2Mi currently has over eight million reference production enterprise users and triple digit percentage revenue growth. M2Mi employees are present in the USA, 

Canada and Europe.

Machine-to-Machine Intelligence Corporation

M2M

M2Mi Celebrates Seven Years with NRP

Direct Shuttle from SF to NRP

RidePal currently offers direct service to Mountain View from San Francisco, 

San Ramon/Pleasanton and San Jose. The service is supported by Rider fares 

and corporate subscriptions. 

The Rider fares are:

Monthly Pass: $200

10-RidePak: $85

DayPass: $19

Riders can use the current routes, purchase fares and ride right away. Companies can sponsor new stops, subsidy fares, use pre-tax funds, get ridership 

reports, guarantee seat availability and a number of other options to make 

the employees’ commute as easy and productive as possible.

RidePal has temporarily provided a stop from one of our San Francisco 

routes to your offices in order to better serve riders. However, this stop may 

be moved unless there is corporate sponsorship, increased ridership or both.

Currently, Singularity University is the only company taking advantage of 

the shuttle from SF, but we would love to see more commuters stop driving 

and get to work with RidePal instead! 
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 15

NRP Post

NRP Partner Kentucky Space LLC today announced the creation 

of Space Tango, one of the nation’s first business accelerators 

specifically for space enterprises and entrepreneurs. Space 

Tango is an early-stage venture fund, business accelerator and 

community of entrepreneurs for space-driven startups, with the 

goal of assisting businesses in developing innovations, novel applications and diverse markets.   

The global space marketplace is now poised for significant 

growth and opportunity. Unprecedented access to space 

coupled with the rapid advancement of micro technologies 

and other innovations are combining to create a dynamic space 

industry. The 2013 report from the Space Foundation noted that 

“The global space economy grew by nearly 7% in 2012 reaching 

a new record of $304.31 billion. As in previous years, the vast 

majority of this growth was in the commercial sector, which now 

constitutes nearly three-quarters of the space economy, with 

government making up the rest”.

Opportunities (including adjacent applications) lie in developing 

entrepreneurial ideas, companies and products that enable the 

further exploitation of space. Possibilities involve small highvalue satellites and space platforms, the International Space 

Station (ISS) and opportunities in biotechnology, exomedicine, 

novel materials, energy, education, and game design and development...as well as areas and applications not yet imagined.  

“The successful development of a commercial and sustainable 

space marketplace is largely dependent upon disruptive thinking and novel experimentation outside of the traditional boundaries” said Kris Kimel, President of Kentucky Space. 

In the initial round, Space Tango will invest in up-to six companies from across the U.S. These enterprises will participate in an 

intensive twelve week 

on-site program, centered in Lexington, 

Kentucky, that will 

provide a complete constellation of services, advisors and networks necessary to successfully start and grow a space-driven 

business. Companies will be selected primarily on the basis 

of their idea, science, technology, market fit, customer understanding, management team, and readiness level.

Selected companies will have access to a full team of advisors 

(scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, sales and marketing professionals, investors, etc.) and facilities. These other assets 

include the Exomedicine Institute, technical and ground 

operations centers at  Morehead State University Space Science Center (21 meter tracking station) and the University of 

Kentucky Space Systems Lab and offices at the Kennedy Space 

Center in Florida and NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon 

Valley (Mountain View, California).

“The Office of Commercialization and Innovation is excited

 about playing a role in the further development of a global space marketplace...as well as a dynamic entrepreneurial 

space industry cluster in the region” said Gene Fuqua, 

Executive Director, Kentucky Office of Commercialization 

and Innovation.

The marketing and due diligence process to select the initial 

companies will begin immediately. Further details and contact 

information can be found at www.spacetango.com.  

Kentucky Space LLC is an ambitious enterprise focused on R&D, 

talent development, commercial and entrepreneurial space 

solutions.  (www.kentuckyspace.com)

Kentucky Space Announces Space Tango

NASA Pod Transports Are Close to Reality—in Tel Aviv

by Peter Coy, Bloomberg Businessweek

SkyTran cont’d on page 16

Transport pods that look like silvery fish could soon be whizzing above the streets of Tel Aviv. The Israeli city is looking to 

become the world’s first to get a mass-transit system co-developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron 

Huldai said during a Monday visit to Bloomberg News.

The SkyTran system, which Huldai said could help relieve the 

traffic congestion that plagues his Mediterranean city, consists 

of two-person vehicles that hang from rails above street level. 

The pods are nearly silent because their overhead connectors 

are levitated by magnetism. Pods pull over on side tracks to 

pick up and discharge passengers so they don’t slow those behind them. They can travel at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, 

but in practice would go considerably slower.

A SkyTran pod
16 www.nasa.gov

NRP Post

NRP Partner Intrinsyx Technologies Corporation Empowers Biological Research 

on the International Space Station (ISS).

Intrinsyx Technologies Corporation is 

proud of the work Dr. John Freeman, 

Science Test Lead and Plant Scientist, 

has recently completed while on a team 

of scientists and engineers supporting 

Seedling Growth 1(SG). This team operates under the flight systems implementation branch (Code SCF) in NASA’s 

Space Biosciences Division. 

The Seedling Growth flight experiments 

utilize the European Modular Cultivation 

System, in conjunction with Experiment Unique Equipment, which is flight 

hardware developed by NASA Ames 

Research Center (ARC). This experiment 

is now onboard the International Space 

Station and the experiment run operations are scheduled to start in late 

March 2013. Four SG experiments are 

scheduled to be completed over the 

next few years supported by NASA-ARC 

in cooperation with the European Space 

Agency (ESA). The major project goals 

are to determine how gravity and light 

influence plant growth and to obtain 

a better understanding of the cellular 

signaling mechanisms involved in 

plant tropisms.

Plants rely on sophisticated mechanisms 

to interpret incoming environmental 

signals so they can adjust their growth 

accordingly. NASA Primary Investigators are interested in the cellular and 

molecular mechanisms of gravitropism 

and phototropism (directed growth in 

response to gravity and light, respectively). The gravitropism projects have 

studied how statoliths (root granules 

that function in perception of gravity) interact with the cytoskeleton for Dr. John Freeman at work in the Lab.

gravitropic signal transduction. In terms 

of phototropism, NASA Primary Investigators have been examining the role of the 

photosensitive pigment phytochrome 

in the regulation of directing growth of 

both roots and stems. NASA has supported spaceflight experiments on the 

International Space Station which use 

microgravity as a tool to understand the 

mechanisms of plant growth responses to 

light and gravity. Currently, for Seedling 

Growth 1, Dr. Freeman helped to prepare 

and sterilize seeds that were placed inside 

of mini seed cassette containers that he 

also helped to sterilize and assemble 

during the flight build of this new experiment. Thanks to the successful launch 

of Space X-2, this experiment is now 

onboard the International Space Station. 

The overarching long term goal of these 

projects is to understand how plants integrate sensory inputs from their multiple 

light and gravity perception systems in 

order to help overcome the many challenges currently associated with growing 

food crops in spaceships, in future human 

colonies on the moon or Mars.

Intrinsyx has supported Ames’ Space 

Biosciences Division since 2000 and is currently providing science and engineering 

support to all ISS biological experiments.

 

SkyTran cont’d from page 15

Pods can’t substitute for heavy duty rail 

lines. The maglev rails offer far less carrying capacity than, say, a New York subway 

line. But they’re designed to reduce the 

need for cars and taxis by connecting 

areas that don’t justify the investment in 

a conventional train line.

The system was co-developed by engineers from NASA and SkyTran, a privately 

held company based at NASA Ames 

Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. 

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 

Jerry Sanders of SkyTran says he’s in talks 

to raise the roughly $50 million required 

to build a line to run a little over four 

miles. That would connect high-tech 

Atidim Park with an existing train station 

at Tel Aviv University and a shopping and 

restaurant district at the city’s north end. 

After financing and approvals are granted, Sanders estimates that construction 

and testing will take about 18 months.

The system will be privately owned and 

will charge fares that are more expensive 

than a bus ride but cheaper than a taxi, 

Sanders says. If the first line is successful, he plans to add some that would 

intersect with it.

Other cities are interested in SkyTran 

systems. In Israel, Netanya is close 

behind Tel Aviv in the approval process, 

Sanders says, and he is in talks with 

Stavanger, Norway, as well as two cities 

in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

 Image credit: NASA, Eric James
www.nasa.gov/researchpark 17

NRP Post

Chandah Collaborations Underway

The NASA Research Park would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new tenant to the park, Chandah Space 

Technologies. Chandah will have an office in Building 19. 

A Space Act Agreement is in progress between Chandah 

and the Chief Scientist Office, to design iterations on 

Chandah’s constellation architecture and capabilities. 

“Collaborations with small aerospace startups like Chandah 

provide NASA the opportunity to learn from the ever-rising 

global commercial activities so that the advances developed can be used for NASA’s own missions. These collaborations also promote the development of a robust 

commercial space sector. Our collaboration with Chandah 

will lead to further optimization of design capabilities for a 

standardized spacecraft,” said Jacob Cohen, Chief Scientist 

at NASA Ames Research Center.

Chandah team comprises individuals with a strong background in commercial venture development, engineering, program- and risk-management, and regulatory 

compliance. The team’s goals are driven by a clear focus 

on market demand and the recognition built around the 

commercial potential of small satellite technologies developed by NASA. Chandah’s constellation is geared towards 

producing data and value-added services that will be of 

value to commercial and industrial companies wanting to 

leverage Chandah’s presence in space for enhancing and 

optimizing the value of their own terrestrial operations.

In addition to enhancing the capabilities already embedded within the common bus architecture being pioneered 

at Ames, Chandah intends to further extend the reach of 

these assets through proprietary research and development, including sensors and instruments that can be used 

to generate data that fill existing gaps in commercial markets. 

“Our vision is to bring the vision of commercial space and 

advances in small satellites and sensors to the market,” said 

Adil Jafry, President of Chandah Space Technologies. 

Chandah intends to be diligent through the use of proven 

technologies and patient capital that matches its programmatic development, and is very cognizant of time-to-market, service reliability, asset life, and value to its customers. 

Chandah also intends to partner with technology companies to pursue its broader goal of providing high quality, 

low cost service to its customers.

“We are privileged to have a robust small satellite technolgies 

ecosystem at Ames, and I am very pleased that Chandah 

Space Technologies will be based in NASA Research Park”, 

said Craig Burkhard, member of the Chief Scientist Office 

working on developing partnerships with private companies. 

Annette cont’d from page 2

Ames; training the astronauts for animal life sciences missions. 

It was the beginning of the Space Shuttle program and Spacelab 

missions that were the precursor to the International Space 

Station. “We were all learning then,” she says, “trying to figure 

out how we could do biological experiments in space”. Annette was working on her mission when the Challenger accident 

occurred. It slowed down what she was doing in Space Life 

Sciences, so Annette decided to go to graduate school. She then 

earned her Masters (MS) in Systems Management from the University of Southern California and continued to work on various 

NASA projects. 

She was the program manager for a renewed design of hardware 

used on space missions. When the Navy decided to close down 

Moffett Field and NASA took over the property, Annette was 

named Deputy Program Manager for the transition. She and her 

team were the first to know the details of what existed then and 

its condition. She later came back to assist, as a contractor, in the 

strategic planning for the property now known as NASA Research 

Park. If any of you were around for the NASA Open House Day 

in 1997, you should know Annette was one of the Program Managers on that activity which brought in over 225,000 people. 

The Open House activity was the impetus to the ideas for a 

research park.

 

In 1999 Annette’s husband, NASA Ames Dr. Chuck Smith, was 

transferred to Marshall Spaceflight Center, so the two of them 

up and left their friends in Silicon Valley and started yet another 

chapter. While there, Annette started her own business to support the aerospace industry, especially in outreach activities. 

For the four years she was in Alabama, her business kept her in 

touch with what NASA was doing and provided outreach to educators, the community and other agencies on the Space Program.

When she came back to California in 2003, NASA Research Park 

was beginning to take shape with the start of the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Annette was instrumental in 

helping the UARC set up their offices, and in particular, their 

subcontract management office. 

As a contractor at Ames, Annette worked as Program Manager for 

the business operations contract and the old ODIN contract. 

Annette also worked for Lockheed Martin Space (across 

the runway from us) as their Government Relations Manager. 

Even in that capacity, her business would sometimes require 

working for and with NASA projects.

Now, Annette is here to manage a small subcontract Mission 

Critical Technologies has at Ames Research Center. She also helps 

the company develop new partnerships, collaborations and 

new business. So if you see Annette, either on the ARC campus 

or at NASA Research Park, stop and chat with her. She has lots of 

stories to tell about the place and the aerospace industry.
NRP Post

Editor, Layout and Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carol Le

Phone: (650) 604-2NRP

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

Website: www.nasa.gov/researchpark

What’s Happening Here: University Associates Silicon Valley

An artist rendering of University Associates’ campus by Ken Kay 

& Associates

by Nathan Donato-Weinstein, Real Estate Reporter, Silicon 

Valley Business Journal

4/5/13

This week, The Business Journal launches a new occasional 

feature shedding light on a development project in the Valley 

that’s fallen below the radar. We’re starting with University Associates Silicon Valley—a major tech campus whose plans first 

surfaced in 2008. 

What was it?

University Associates-Silicon Valley LLC was a joint venture of 

UC Santa Cruz and the Foothill-De Anza Community College 

District. The JV planned a 77-acre, 3 million square foot campus of housing, office, classrooms and laboratories at NASA 

Research Park. With much fanfare, UA-SV signed a 95-year 

ground lease with NASA in Dec. 2008, and selected TMG Partners/The Related Cos. as master developer. Then—nothing.

What happened?

TMG/Related dropped out when the economy crashed, Gordon Ringold, US-SV’s CEO, said. Another development partner, 

whom Ringold declined to identify, joined up in November 

2011. But in late December 2012, that partner pulled out. Ringold declined to say why.

What’s next?

Now UA-SV is “in active discussions” with a new master developer, and hopes to have a signed agreement in the next few 

weeks, Ringold said. Ringold would not disclose the developer 

but said it has the ability to do “big, complex projects.”

What’s the challenge?

The site requires a significant amount of infrastructure development before new buildings can be built. Public/private 

partnerships can be very complex. But the resurgence of office 

values could make the project attractive. “We have very good 

understanding and clear objectives,” Ringold said. “Now it’s a 

matter of finding—as it has been from Day 1—a partner who 

has the financial wherewithal and the skill set to work on what 

will be a complex federal public-private partnership.”

The potential resources from the Moon are vast. M Darby Dyar, 

a professor of astronomy at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, says the reservoirs of water ice in the dark, polar 

regions of the Moon probably come from comets that hit the 

moon over the past four billion years, and that future moon 

miners could strike it rich with precious metals in ancient 

lunar rocks.

But even if no company makes the 2015 deadline to win the 

Google Prize, Dyar says the Google Lunar prize has already 

yielded returns on Earth.

“I lived through the excitement of the Apollo era, my father 

helped design thrusters on the lunar landing modules and 

those remembered feelings of patriotism and wonder about 

the universe are what brought me into lunar science in the 

first place.

Moon cont’d from page 8

“When I hand a child a meteorite and tell her that it’s four billion years old, her entire frame of reference changes, and that’s 

what science should do. Not everyone wants to be a scientist 

but everyone can get excited about and learn to respect and 

understand its breakthroughs.

“Competitions like this bring science to the public’s eyes. 

Where better than the Moon, which seems so close to us?”