{"id":7870,"date":"2023-06-27T14:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T21:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/?p=7870"},"modified":"2024-02-23T13:36:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T20:36:03","slug":"lighting-spacecraft-launchpads-hangars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/lighting-news\/lighting-spacecraft-launchpads-hangars\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighting Spacecraft Launchpads and Hangars\u2014an interview with a Space Coast Lighting Professional"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Alcon Lighting, which works with America\u2019s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and commercial space companies, presents this Lighting for Space series to examine the unique requirements that come with lighting for space exploration. Topics addressed here and in upcoming articles focus on general issues without disclosing details to protect non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with private and government space efforts. <\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nothing travels faster than light. Consider the measure of a light year\u2014the distance that light travels through interstellar space in the span of one year. According to NASA<\/a>, that\u2019s around 186,000 miles per second, totaling 5.88 trillion miles per year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Lighting is essential to NASA\u2019s endeavors\u2014everything from launchpads to spacecraft and space stations, not to mention its many earthbound centers and facilities spread across the country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Brandon\r\n
Brandon Demeter, Alcon Lighting Sales Consultant<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Brandon Demeter, a former active-duty U.S. Marine and current lighting sales and specifications agent for Alcon Lighting, is well-versed in the challenges that come with lighting design for outer space. Demeter studied military intelligence, which led to a career in technology working on high-tech lighting projects for SpaceX, Lockheed Martin\u2019s Orion capsule and Boeing\u2019s Starliner spacecraft, among others. Demeter, who lives on Florida\u2019s Space Coast near Cape Canaveral, shares his experiences with lighting aerospace and aeronautics facilities and how this affects his work in commercial lighting.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Were you a bit, pardon the pun, starstruck while working on these high-tech space projects?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m the third generation of my family to have done work at Kennedy Space Center, so there\u2019s a normalcy to it. But then there is still the awe when you walk through a building and see on display a spacesuit that\u2019s been to the moon. Lighting these projects is hard work and they are complicated, but it\u2019s also easy because it\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about. I mean, it\u2019s space. I got to touch the aluminum core of a capsule being sent into space.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Engineers\r\n
The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, seen here undergoing launch preparations inside the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What makes lighting for space facilities so complex?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Like any other lighting project, you have to determine the right fixtures, placement and beam angles. But when you\u2019re dealing with such a tight specification, you really learn the science of lighting. In many commercial lighting applications, you can go higher on your lumens and install a dimmer if you need to bring the levels down. But, for space applications, you\u2019re running very specific photometrics and calculations. There are areas where you have to have fixtures that are rated for explosions and are pressure and vibration-proof because of the potentially volatile work they are doing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n