Administrator Bridenstine spent time noting NASA’s commitment to advancing composites usage through public/private partnerships in order to identify and overcome challenges and streamline timing from development to certification. “How do we compress the timeline?” He posed during the discussion.
Bridenstine then turned to the Advanced Composites Project: a consortium of government entities, academia and private industry working together to invest, research and speed up turnaround times – with the partners working together and proving timelines can be reduced by as much as 20%. Other highlighted outcomes included the ability to better predict the lifespan of certain composites aeronautic structures via modeling and other tools, and inspection and characterization practices to identify flaws quickly.
Administrator Bridenstine concluded by noting that the composites and advanced materials industry is key to ensuring that the U.S. leads the way in aeronautic capabilities. “This is an important group,” Bridenstine said to the those attending the discussion.
With NASA on board to make sure research & development and collaboration between public and private organizations continue, it’s fair to say that opportunities for composites abound – even to the moon and back.
