Vice President Mike Pence visits the Arc Jet Complex at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley on Nov. 14, 2019. He observed a test run of the Arc Jet – a high-energy wind tunnel that simulates the intense heating experienced by spacecraft entering an atmosphere – with Arc Jet Complex facility manager Peter Race (left) and Ames’ Thermophysics Facilities Branch chief Scott Eddlemon (right).
Pence also learned about NASA’s thermal protection materials there. These are designed to constitute the “heat shield” that protects a spacecraft during atmospheric entry and many, like the one SpaceX uses for its capsules, were invented at Ames. Speaking to employees, the Vice President reaffirmed commitment to NASA and to utilizing private American space companies.
During his visit to Ames, the vice president took a tour of the center that featured highlights of facilities and projects critical to the Artemis program. These included the Vertical Motion Simulator, the world’s largest flight simulator, which could also help prepare the next astronauts to land on the Moon; the VIPER mission – short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – that will send a prospecting rover to the Moon to map out the location and concentration of water ice at the lunar south pole; and the Arc Jet Complex.