Constance Adams

Adams presenting at TEDxHouston in June 2011

Constance Adams is an architect who now works in the space program.

Personal life

Adams studied sociology at Harvard University, then went on to Yale University, where she completed a master's degree in architecture. After a two-year apprenticeship with Kenzo Tange Associates in Tokyo, followed by four years working in Berlin on commercial and master planning projects. In the late 1990s she was employed by Lockheed Martin Space Operations, to support the NASA’s Mars exploration research efforts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where she now lives with her family.[1] She is a Registered Architect.[2]

Career

Among other projects, Adams was involved in developing the Lockheed-Martin design of an inflatable module for the International Space Station.[3] The module, known as TransHab ("transit habitat"), was designed to provide living quarters for astronauts aboard the space station, including a common room, gymnasium, shower, etc. Budget considerations and delays, as well as politics, meant that the module failed to develop beyond the design stage.[4]

Subsequent to the TransHab project, Adams worked on crew cabin architecture and systems design for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle,[5] Orbital SpacePlane and International Space Station [ISS].

In 2003 and 2004, Adams collaborated with UNDP Senior Water Policy Advisor Ingvar Andersson to organize the "Water for Two Worlds" summit at Columbia University and the UN, bringing representatives of NASA, the European Space Agency, the Columbia Earth Institute and other clean water advocacy groups to design an approach for transferring water cleansing techniques developed for spaceflight to applications that meet the Millennium Development Goals.[6]

In 2005, Adams was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic.[7] From 2004 to 2010, Adams worked with the International Space Station Program Office and the Japanese Space Agency to integrate the H-II Transfer Vehicle to the ISS. Partnered with Synthesis International, URS and Foster+Partners, Adams worked on the design of the world's first commercial spaceport terminal, the Spaceport America Terminal Facility, for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and tenant Virgin Galactic.[8] She is considered one of the first experts in spaceport planning,[9] and has lectured widely in design as well as science topics.[10]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2007/20070328_parsons_taste.html
  2. ↑ NMBEA 3138
  3. ↑ Adams, Constance, Kriss J. Kennedy. “ISS TransHab: A Space Inflatable Habitation Module” Proceedings of Space 2000: The Seventh International Conference and Exposition on Engineering, Construction, Operations and Business in Space (2000); American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston VA
  4. ↑ 106th Congress (24 January 2000). "National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2000". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-05-26.
  5. ↑ http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/CDReadyMSPACE08_1872/PV2008_7834.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.earth.columbia.edu/news/2004/images/water_lenton.pdf
  7. ↑ nationalgeographic retrieved 24th April 2010
  8. ↑ http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/spaceport-america/
  9. ↑ Adams, Constance, and Georgi Petrov. “Spaceport Master Planning: Principles and Precedents” AIAA-2006-7325, 2nd AIAA International Space Architecture Symposium, San Jose, CA, USA, September 2006.
  10. ↑ http://www.jason.org/live/live.aspx?eid=6 and http://www.jason.org/public/WhatIs/CurrOIPMeet.aspx;

External links

1. "Water for Two Worlds: Designing Terrestrial Applications for Exploration-class Sanitation Systems ", 2004, NASA Technical Reports Server

2. "Reallusory Viewing: A Study of the Application of Virtual Windows in Hermetic Environments", 1999, NASA Technical Reports Server

3. "Space Architecture: Building The Future", 1999, NASA Technical Reports Server

4. "The Role of Habitability Studies in Space Facility and Vehicle Design", 1999, NASA Technical Reports Server

5. "Habitability as a Tier One Criterion in Exploration Mission and Vehicle Design",1999, NASA Technical Reports Server

6. "Item Description: ISS TransHab Restraint Sample and Photo Documentation", 2000, NASA Technical Reports Server

7. "Water for Two Worlds: Designing Terrestrial Applications for Exploration-class Sanitation Systems", 2004, NASA Technical Reports Server

8. "An Interview with Constance Adams" — from HobbySpace (retrieved 9 February 2006)

9. Quotation from BrainyQuote http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/constance_adams.html

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