We had the pleasure of meeting with Lee Grant Irons and his daughter, Morgan Irons, during Season 5 of the Space 3D podcast. We’ve invited Lee Grant back this season to continue our discussion. This is part 1 of our latest interview.Lee Grant Irons is a scientist and engineer, with experience in the fields and industries of space plasma and computational physics, nuclear power design and operations, radioactive and hazardous waste management, environmental remediation, and large-scale engineering and construction projects.In this episode, cohosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers get an update on Morgan Irons’ continued work on soil aggregates and their effects on soil organic carbon sequestration under Earth gravity and microgravity. Then, we transition to a discussion of Lee’s role as Executive Director of the non-profit Norfolk Institute (Research in Human Resiliency | Norfolk Institute) where he helping to foster funding for various projects focused on the existential challenges of human sustainability on Earth and in space. We will also preview Lee’s latest publication on Pancosmorio Theory, which we’ll explore in detail in part 2 of this interview.

We recently had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!

In the conclusion of our series on the Johnsville Centrifuge, we’ll discuss researcher gratitude for volunteers willing to endure some not-so-pleasant things while riding in the centrifuge. We’ll also discuss ensuring volunteer safety during acceleration exposures on the centrifuge, and we’ll round robin with funny stories recalled from working on the centrifuge research projects. Finally, we’ll briefly recall an interesting experiment on near-death experiences that made our interviewees TV stars in several documentaries.

We recently had the opportunity to interview individuals who conducted research, operated, or who served as research volunteers on the old Johnsville Centrifuge—aka the Dynamic Flight Simulator—which was located on the now closed Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

Why, you may ask, is Space 3D talking centrifuges? Well, there is a space connection! NASA used the Johnsville Centrifuge for training X-15, Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Apollo astronauts-- and a handful of Space Shuttle pilots!

In Part 3 of our interview, we’ll continue our discussion on the Johnsville Centrifuge by delving into the work done with female test subjects to evaluate their G tolerance. Much of this work was done as a prerequisite to female jet pilots entering active duty. We’ll also discuss some other programs, including important work on validating instrumentation exposed to high G, verifying the feasibility of night vision goggle removal from pilots’ helmets prior to aircraft ejection, and creating and validating contingencies for pilots and copilots who entered into a flat-spin in the F-14 Tomcat. Then we’ll delve into how centrifuge test subjects were monitored (mostly non-invasively!), whether anyone got sick riding the centrifuge—and whether any deaths have occurred during centrifuge research through the years.