THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050550
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Mel Sanford isn't an astronaut. And he doesn't expect that he'll ever fly much higher than in an airplane. But the future of his hard contact-lens-making business may unfold in orbit, hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface.
Sanford, owner and president of Conforma Contact Lenses on 47th Street and Colley Avenue, appeared on videotape Thursday during a two-hour nationwide videoconference produced by public broadcasting station WHRO. The subject: NASA's proposed international space station, slated for construction beginning in November 1997.
Project proponents assert that a raft of practical benefits will start to float earthward once the station is continuously occupied, by the turn of the next century.
From space, say station boosters, will come vastly improved drugs, superalloys and other unique materials, and much greater understanding of human and plant biology that could vastly improve health and nutrition.
That's not to mention a whole new class of plastics that intrigue Sanford and other makers of hard contact lenses, all of whom struggle to maintain market share against soft-contacts manufacturers.
``We're hoping the space station will allow us to produce even thinner, gas-permeable materials,'' Sanford said. ``The thinner lenses get and the more gas permeable they become, the more comfortable they are to wear. The possibility for a dramatic improvement is there. That will be of benefit to me the manufacturer and of benefit to the consumer.''
Breakthroughs are possible because materials that otherwise couldn't be mixed under gravity's influence will combine in conditions of near weightlessness. It would be as if oil and water could somehow merge: The resultant substance would have properties unlike either parent material.
Billy T. Upchurch, a senior research scientist from NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton and a panelist during the videoconference, is a specialist in the chemistry of plastics. A space station ``gives us something new in materials,''he said.
Space plastics wouldn't be limited to contact lens manufacturers, Upchurch points out. The materials could also be used in a new generation of biomedical devices and industrial machinery.
The videoconference was transmitted to more than 600 university, laboratory and business sites. Videotaped segments were interspersed with panel discussions of the practical value of the station's scientific research.
Not every advance can be predicted, the scientists said. But chances of unexpected discovery will increase once researchers begin daily investigations while in orbit.
``We're not saying we need a space station to find a cure for cancer,'' said Lawrence J. DeLucas, the station's designated lead scientist. ``But serendipity will occur. Along the way, (research) in this unique environment will lead to spinoffs.''
Panelists said that one of the station's greatest contributions would be a greater understanding of living systems, the innermost workings of which remain poorly understood. Researchers will be able to compare and contrast the development and growth of animal and plant cells in microgravity with control groups on Earth.
``All organisms respond to the force of gravity,'' said Joan Vernikos, director of NASA's Life and Biomedical Sciences Division. ``We want to understand how. Space station will allow us to conduct more probing experiments for longer periods of time.''
An American space station has long been on the minds of visionaries and planners. As early as the 1950s, plans were afoot for a space shuttle, space station and moon base.
Recently, federal budget cuts have forced several station redesigns and talk of outright cancellation. Now, the space station has gone international: Some 13 countries, including Russia, Japan, Canada and those representing the European Space Agency will participate in its construction and assembly.
Paragon Vision Sciences is counting on station construction. The 34-person Phoenix firm - one of Norfolk lens maker Conforma's biggest suppliers - hopes to be producing 1 million contact lens ``blanks'' around the year 2000.
``We can't make these materials here on Earth,'' said Krist Jani, Paragon vice president of marketing and sales. ``Ultimately, if we want to commercialize them, space station is the only way to make it happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Mel Sandford, president of Conforma Contact Lenses in Norfolk,
hopes researchers will be able to make better lenses in space.
Photo
NASA
Thirteen countries will participate in assembly of the station.
by CNB