i'm pete lillehei, my background is in materialsand structures, specifically nano-materials. i am a new pi for the advanced materials,structures and manufacturing portion of the gcd. my background in nano-technology has primarilybeen in scanning probe and electronic microscopy. i've also had the opportunity to take apartand examine materials for many different applications.
pratt and whitney 3d printing, these can be from materials for primary structures,lightweight vehicles to batteries and even fuel cells. gcd's vision is really to develop game changingtechnologies that will enable tremendous improvements in a way we launch and do space and explorationmissions. it is a completely different way
of doing business. the programs that we areworking on are very high-risk, high-payoff, --and they are very rapid. we have a very short timeframein between when we start and when we finish a project. and it's this unique aspect ofhow we do business of moving the technologies from 3 to 4 trl up to 5 or 6 that is reallyenabling the tech demonstration missions that will follow. one of the most exciting things that we'reworking on right now is the composite cryotank. that project is a very ambitious project,it is not only just to make cryogenic tanks 25% cheaper and 30% lighter, but it's alsoto innovate the way in which we make these. we've taken the conventional means of manufacturingand brought the manufacturing processes out
of the autoclave. and when you talk to theresearchers involved in this project, you can see that they're just enthused to do thework. the work they'll say is tremendously difficult, it's very hard, but they're sayingit with a smile and you'll see that they're just so excited about being able tackle theseproblems and move on and tackle the next biggest challenge. i think my biggest challenge as a gcd principalinvestigator really is to break down some of the boundaries that we've imposed uponourselves. these maybe aeronautics, or space, or exploration, all these different boxesthat we've placed around the research don't enable that cross-pollination that we really need.there may be a solution that we found in aero,
that is applicable to launch vehicles.
nasa has really made innovation and technological breakthroughs almost seem routine. what i hope to accomplish with this is to takeit even further to be able to enable the impossible, really. and what i'm looking for is to havea challenge that is almost inconceivable today. and give the team the resources to be ableto achieve those impossible dreams.
