Thursday, community leaders gathered at the INFINITY Science Center in Hancock County to hear center updates from NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center Director Rick Gilbrech.
For the past 15 years, the center had has a continuous presence in space, Gilbrech said.
“It’s been a great precursor for us to go beyond our low Earth atmosphere,” he said. “Congress has agreed to extend funding until 2044.”
Gilbrech also added that NASA’s aim is to send humans to Mars in the year 2030.
He mentioned the movie “The Martian” and how well science facts were documented.
“We are working on habitats in deep space and working on growing food on another planet, which was another key part to the story,” he said. “We’ve been developing rovers that can take you long distances on a foreign body.”
This year, the center hosted 31 events with 81 speakers and reached more than 70,000 people, Gilbrech said. For the last four years, Stennis has been voted one of the best places to work in the government. Seventy percent of the workforce is from Pearl River, Hancock and Harrison counties.
The 2017 fiscal year budget is $156 million, he said.
This year, Stennis will celebrate 50 years of rocket testing and the Navy has had a presence at the center for 40 years. Rolls Royce moved to the center about 10 years ago, Gilbrech said.
Deputy Commander and Technical Director of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command Bill Burnett discussed the future of the Navy’s unmanned systems.
“In 20 years, half of the Navy systems are going to be unmanned,” Burnett said.
He also said they plan to triple the underwater service vehicles made at the center.
Mark Glorioso, executive director of the NASA Shared Services Center, said one of the things they are trying to do is grow the NSSC.
“We have procurement plans, manage human resources,” he said. “There are several agencies in the facility. It means consolidation and a big boost to the local economy. NASA has seen the real value of NSSC can provide for our mission. What I want to do is build a shared service center for those guys that want to take us beyond. All of our clients, engineers and scientists don’t have to deal with this minutiae and what we do, it’s not rocket science, it’s everything else.”
INFINITY Science Center Executive Director John Wilson spoke about the new developments at the center, which seeks to inspire curiosity in children, he said.
The parking lot was recently paved, which includes 392 spots for vehicles and 23 spots for buses, he said.
Improvements will be made to the Possum Walk Trail, which includes the addition of electronic driven vehicle tours through the trail. That feature will open in April.
The front of the center will feature an Integrated Natural Resources Area, which will be home to three different habitats, Wilson said. A 3D domed theater and classrooms will also be built onto the center.
“We are also constructing a hurricane prediction lab,” Smith said. “We want to help people make the best decisions on what we know. We will also be moving the booster to the front, which is the last piece of the Apollo hardware.”