Subject-matter experts at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida have provided technical support to SeaDek Marine Products and GeNO as part of the agency’s Regional Economic Development program that seeks to increase partnership between the center and local businesses.NASA said Tuesday KSC’s Cryogenics Test Laboratory provided test equipment as well as test and evaluation procedures to help SeaDek address material limitation for the closed-cell EVA foam that is used for the company’s padded deck protectors.
Biopharmaceutical company GeNO worked with NASA’s mechanical engineers through the RED Program to correct a malfunctioning reaction vessel, NASA added.
“This effort is about connecting our regional industry with NASA’s technology, capabilities and resources, with the goal of solving technology challenges together and driving economic successes for the region,” said Elizabeth Huy, senior manager of business development at the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast.
“The subject-matter experts assisted us in a search for an answer that would have taken us an additional two years to find on our own,” said Ryan Denton, an engineer at GeNO.
KSC and EDC jointly launched a regional economic development pilot program dubbed Technology Docking in January 2015 to facilitate collaborations between the center and companies in the region.
The RED program works to match small companies with subject-matter experts at Kennedy to provide advice, address problems and introduce money-saving methods.
Robert Ashley, project lead for Kennedy Space Center’s RED Program, said NASA seeks to establish an umbrella Space Act Agreement with EDC to further support small companies.
Sixty-nine companies have engaged in initial discussions with NASA experts under the RED program over the past two years and 14 of those companies received additional assistance from the agency through the Technology Docking program.
