NASA’s Glenn Research Center was born in secrecy.

With war raging in Europe and the Pacific — and America’s entry a matter of time — the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics broke ground in January 1941 for a hush-hush airplane engine research lab on the edge of what’s now called Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. By the time engineers and scientists reported for work on May 8, 1942, America was at war, and the researchers quickly adopted a culture of relentless technological innovation — and monastic silence.

Throughout World War II, the Cold War and the space race (NACA was absorbed into the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958), researchers here labored in their cone of silence. Members of Congress or aviation industry executives were occasionally allowed inside the fence, but there was little effort to give the public a peek — or even to engage in the intramural competitions for dollars and programming that became increasingly important after Apollo ended and NASA began its seemingly endless quest for a mission that might again capture the world’s imagination.

Glenn’s attitude, for 69 years, has been that good work should speak for itself. That’s fine in theory, and it nicely mirrors the small-town Ohio values of the former astronaut and senator whose name has been attached to the center since 1999. But in the real world, it puts Glenn at a disadvantage next to show horses such as NASA Marshall in Huntsville, Ala., where they figured out long ago that corporate and political allies are invaluable when Washington starts to divvy up resources.

That history helps explain why last Thursday’s gathering of auto industry executives and engineers was so unusual — and potentially so important to the future of Glenn and this region.

Inside the giant hangar familiar to anyone who uses Hopkins, Glenn engineers and scientists — as well as a few guests from NASA outposts in California and Virginia — showed off their latest gadgets and discoveries with an eye to the needs of automakers and their suppliers. Magnet CEO Dan Berry, who helped organize the event, likened it to “a very high-powered science fair.”

Instead of baking soda volcanoes, there were exhibits of super-lightweight, super-strong composite building materials; shape-changing alloys; and no-lubricant engines. Software and nanotechnologies. Fuel cells and flywheels. Highly durable rocket engine nozzles that could be adapted to assembly-line welding. Collision avoidance technology developed for jet fighters.

“This is pretty exciting stuff,” said Berry, whose organization helps manufacturers in Northeast Ohio improve their products and processes. “But it needs people who are out in the marketplace to see if they have an application for it. What we’re trying to do is help Glenn build the bridges to make that happen.”

From Administrator Charles Bolden on down, NASA suddenly seems eager to have those bridges to the private sector. With space exploration a diminished priority, the agency needs to show it has relevance on Earth. That means opening up its talent and technologies to potential partners in and out of government. Executives at Glenn have been talking to the Defense and Energy departments, as well as to car makers. Next month, they’ll partner with other regional economic development groups to showcase more technologies for use or license.

They understand that the payoffs may not come immediately. NASA will work for years to refine a single component for a single mission. Even the aviation firms that long have had strong ties to Glenn may build only a few hundred or a few thousand planes a year. Ford or Honda makes thousands of cars and trucks daily. So yes, they would love to find materials that are lighter and thus more fuel-efficient — but not at prices beyond what consumers will pay.

Senior aerospace engineer Paul Bartolotta, Glenn’s chief organizer of last week’s workshop, will be satisfied for now if even a handful of the technologies on display make it to market. But he also wants local firms to realize there’s a rich lode of talent sitting next door to Hopkins — and it’s open for business.

“At NASA, we do systems engineering,” he said. “We’re here to help you do better.”

Article source: http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/11/post_72.html