NASA Testing RFID Chips for Trip to Mars

Computerworld - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration this summer plans to begin testing whether radio frequency identification technology can survive in outer space.

Agency officials said the test is the first step in an effort to determine whether RFID chips could be used in a manned mission to Mars.

Fred Schramm, administrator for the internal research and development program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., said a variety of paper and plastic RFID tags will be on board the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour, which is slated to launch in July on a voyage to the International Space Station.

The Gen 2 passive RFID chips will be stored in a case attached to the outside of the station and left there for about a year to determine how they are affected by atmospheric conditions, Schramm said. In the test, the chips will be exposed to the extreme heat and cold, ultraviolet radiation and near-vacuum that exist in low orbit, he said.

After the test, NASA will determine whether the weight of RFID chips used in the experiment could cause problems in a space mission; whether the atmospheric conditions will degrade tags so they can’t be used; and which materials, such as silicon or copper, work best in space, he said.

To the Moon and Beyond

If those tests are successful, Schramm said the technology will be further evaluated on a rocket that is scheduled to take off in 27 months to conduct tests for a future planned moon launch. “Most things that will work with the moon will work with Mars, and we’re working with the moon in mind,” he noted.

Schramm said the agency hopes RFID technology can be used to monitor and manage inventory on a spacecraft and to track internal and external environmental conditions both on missions to the moon and on future manned flights to Mars.

“If you think of the moon, that’s not very far — it’s only a few days away. But Mars is 34 million miles away,” Schramm said. “If you think of going to Mars, you carry a lot of stuff with you.”

He also noted that astronauts can’t immediately input data into systems when working outside a spacecraft, which could lead to mistakes. RFID technology could help solve that problem, he noted.

“If they’re inside,” he added, “we’d rather have them doing other things. We want automatic inventory registration.” For instance, if a food package is passed from one cabin to another for an astronaut to eat, the RFID-enabled system would register that the package is in fact gone and no longer available.