Joel Wells KSC Release No. The lowest temperatures of the year are expected to hit KSC in November 1999. By then, a new cryogenics testbed will be busy increasing the spaceport's research and development base and could draw considerable outside attention. Cryogenic science deals with the production of very low temperatures and how materials behave when exposed to those temperatures. Each time a Shuttle is fueled for launch, it requires more than a half-million gallons of super cold propellant.
Potential customers exist in a wide range of scientific disciplines and commercial industries.
Biological and medical researchers use liquid nitrogen for preservation and storage of human and animal cells and to destroy cancer tissue using cryosurgery. TRDA was created by the Florida legislature in 1987 to promote economic development and education. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., of Tampa, and the University of Florida round out the partnership. Air Products' involvement focuses on private industry applications, while the university focuses on analyzing results. This is another example of how KSC is able to use specialized expertise to develop new technologies with outside partners for application in space and here on Earth.