Electronics tech at Missouri University Rolla helps team perfect space welding experiment

If you're both a sci-fi and welding buff, this is a neat story...

George Green, an electronics technician at the University of Missouri-Rolla, has been helping the UMR Miners in Space team perfect its welding experiment that will be tested aboard NASA's C-9 "Weightless Wonder."

Green describes himself as a mentor for the designing and building portion of the project. "My experience in electronics allows me to help the team when it runs into problems with the experiment," he said. "I can also help them plan for future [electrical] problems and possible solutions."

In addition to working full-time at UMR, Green spends most of his free time helping the UMR Miners in Space team work on its welding experiment. "This is a very worthwhile project," he said. "Sooner rather than later there is going to be a real need for welding in space, but more research needs to be done before that is possible."

That's where the UMR Miners in Space come in. For their experiment the students will test and compare the strength of welds performed in zero gravity to those performed on the ground.