Giovanni Cristofoli, SVP of bp Solutions, and Vanessa Wyche, Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, sign a Space Act Agreement. (Source: bp)
bp America has signed an agreement with NASA to support common goals in space exploration and energy production.
The Space Act Agreement will drive collaboration on a variety of technologies, such as digital models and simulations that allow engineers and scientists to visualize equipment in remote locations more than 7,000 feet underwater or millions of miles away on another planet.
The initial phase of the agreement will focus on developing standards and expanding the capabilities of visualization and simulation models. Later phases could include the exchange of remote operating practices, including safety, communications, process control and monitoring, integrity management, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence.
bp hopes this Space Act Agreement with NASA will help advance energy production on Earth, as well as human exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond.
The agreement could lay the foundation for future collaborations between bp and NASA on hydrogen, regenerative fuel cells, high-capacity batteries, solar power systems, small fission systems and innovative power management and distribution.
bp and NASA have a long history. bp offshore workers have performed Helicopter Underwater Escape Training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, the astronaut training pool near Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA also has used bp’s Castrol lubricants for over 60 years, including many of the Apollo missions and in the Curiosity and Perseverance Rovers on Mars.