Kennedy’s Swamp Works Celebrates a Decade of Discoveries
As NASA prepares to return to the Moon – this time with an eye toward Mars – developing new technologies…
Read the Story![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ksc-20230213-ph-ilw01_0002_large.jpg?w=985)
Focus Areas and Capabilities
Kennedy and its related laboratories and research facilities play a critical role in developing technology that will enable human deep space exploration, as well as improve life here on Earth.
![Tom Moss, software team lead in the Applied Physics Laboratory, demonstrates the Schlieren effect with a lighter on Dec. 12, 2018. Schlieren systems are used to display changes in the air not visible to the naked eye. Here, hot air rises off the flame, and the image is reflected by the mirror below and displayed on the screen above.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Applied-Physics-Lab.jpg?w=985)
Applied Physics Laboratory
This lab at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida tackles complex, interdisciplinary technical issues involving fluids, heat transfer, material properties, optics, mechanics, and other areas.
![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Electrostatics-Lab.jpg?w=985)
Electrostatics and Physics Laboratory
This research facility at Kennedy conducts scientific investigations to protect flight hardware and launch equipment from electrostatic discharges.
![NASA's Matt Romeyn works in the Crop Food Production Research Area of the Space Station Processing Facility at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Matt-Romeyn.jpg?w=985)
Growing Plants in Space
NASA is looking at ways to provide astronauts with nutrients in a long-lasting, easily absorbed form—freshly grown fresh fruits and vegetables. The challenge is doing that without sunlight or gravity.
![The ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx) breadboard unit, also known as RASSOR, digs in the regolith bin during testing inside Swamp Works at Kennedy Space Center.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/RASSOR.jpg?w=1024)
Space Mining
The reduced gravity on the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids poses a major challenge for digging and traction during mining operations, but Kennedy is developing technologies that will push the boundaries of space mining and resource utilization.
![Dr. Carlos Calle is the lead scientist in the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/carlos_calle_2.jpg?w=683)
Dust Mitigation
Kennedy is actively working to develop technology that will address the pesky problem of dust on the Moon and Mars, as this can cause hardware failures, obstruct camera lenses and solar panels, and pose a hazard to human health.
![Austin Langton, a researcher at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, creates a fine spray of the regolith simulant BP-1, to perform testing with a Millimeter Wave Doppler Radar at the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/swamp_works_big_bin.jpg?w=1024)
Swamp Works
Kennedy's Swamp Works establishes rapid, innovative, and cost-effective exploration mission solutions through a highly collaborative approach, leveraging partnerships across NASA, industry, and academia.
Research and Technology on Flickr
Browse through imagery showcasing all of the research and technology efforts at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Look Now![With the lights out, the ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx) breadboard unit, also known as RASSOR, digs in the regolith bin during testing inside Swamp Works at Kennedy Space Center.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/isru-pilot-excavator-1.jpg?w=1024)
Additional Resources
Media Contact
Stephanie Plucinsky
Kennedy Space Center
(321) 867-2468