AUDIO: How space infrastructure research could reshape roads on Earth

The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) has formed a research partnership with the newly established Texas A&M University Space Institute, aiming to apply infrastructure technology developed for lunar and Martian environments to real-world challenges back on Earth.

In this clip from a special episode of the TTI’s Thinking Transportation podcast, Dr Nancy Currie-Gregg, director of the Texas A&M University Space Institute and a former NASA astronaut with more than 1,000 hours in space, talks with TTI’s agency director Greg Winfree.

The conversation frames the partnership in terms of NASA’s longstanding commitment to spin-off technology – innovations developed for human spaceflight that find wider application in everyday life. Questions that have to be solved include, how do you build durable infrastructure in environments with no air, no water, and extreme temperature swings? And what might those solutions teach engineers about making construction materials here on Earth less resource-intensive and less environmentally damaging?

Listen to the full episode of Thinking Transportation, Houston, We Have an Opportunity, at the Thinking Transportation homepage, or wherever you get your podcasts

Guest info:

Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and Master Army Aviator. Prior to joining Texas A&M University in 2017, she spent the vast portion of her career supporting NASA’s human spaceflight programs and projects. Selected as an astronaut in 1990, she accrued 1,000 hours in space as a mission specialist on four space shuttle missions. Nancy is currently director of the Texas A&M University Space Institute, where she is responsible for leading, servicing and support of an evolving space economy, providing Texas with strategic planning and research accomplishments, workforce development and training, and a holistic approach to broadening statewide engagement and promoting growth in all sectors related to the Texas space economy.

Greg Winfree became TTI’s agency director in 2016 after working at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). He began his USDOT service as chief counsel in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and was later sworn in as assistant secretary. He also served as deputy administrator and administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Prior to those appointments, Greg served as corporate counsel for a number of Fortune 500 corporations, and also worked as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice.