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A new San Antonio Museum of Science and Technology exhibit in Port San Antonio offers visitors a virtual ride on an electric-powered airplane, a tour of 3-D printed lunar habitats and a chance to learn what a self-driving vehicle can do.
It sounds like fun, but museum founder and CEO David Monroe says the exhibit has a serious goal: to introduce STEM-based education to kids and adults in San Antonio to increase interest in careers in cybersecurity, aerospace, lunar architecture, robotics and bioscience.
“We’re trying to get kids interested in science and technology at an early age,” he said during a sneak peek of the 20,000-square-foot exhibit this week. “There are a lot of open tech jobs these days, so kids and adults have a lot of opportunities to make high-paying jobs and make significant contributions if they develop an interest in those areas.”
The free exhibit, called Area 21, opens to the public Monday at the Techport Center + Arena. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
On Thursday afternoon, Monroe stopped by to see a mini-city made of Lego elements as crews put the finishing touches on the space.
The display, created by SAMSAT interns, includes mock-ups of buildings, houses, streets – even an airport. The interns are from Port-based CACI International Inc., which provides cybersecurity services to defense agencies to integrate systems that control power grids and water and sewage plants in cities across the US. cooperated with
“This is a cyber city,” Monroe said. “This is a teaching tool to teach children how infrastructure works and how these controls are maintained.” He paused to contemplate the city and other displays and added, “This room is not just a museum. It’s a workplace. It is a place of learning.”
The power of drawing
For the past five years, the port has invited San Antonians who are fascinated by the old computers, camera phones and cybersecurity hardware to visit the main museum in the former Kelly Air Force Base Chapel.
It is also an effort to generate interest in STEM programs and develop the next generation of talent for companies at the port. That modest institution in 2011 Since it opened in 2017, an average of 20,000 students from San Antonio have visited each year to participate in hands-on learning experiences.
In that time, companies on Port’s campus have created more than 5,000 jobs “in fields that are featured on SaMSAT and are creating some amazing learning experiences,” Jim Perschbach, Port’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “As our innovations are being used around the world, there are some significant opportunities to grow these major industries here in San Antonio.”
“The key to this success and future growth,” he said, lies in part in raising awareness of innovation in society and providing tools to help young people learn technology and science skills.
Port officials say the new location will attract more than 100,000 K-12 students each year. You’ll see rotating exhibits and participate in STEM programs coordinated with local school districts, as well as summer camps and internship and volunteer opportunities.
Port San Antonio’s sprawling 1,900-acre campus is home to about 80 companies that employ about 16,000 people, mostly in technology. The Air Force Medical Operations Agency and the Air Force Civil Engineering Center and the 16th Air Force, known as Air Force Cyber, are located adjacent to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
Technology port
In April, the port opened a $70 million tech port. Since then, Austin-based Accelerator, which works to connect local startups with Defense Department contracts, has announced the launch of an e-sports gaming center and Capital Factory office.
The SAMSAT exhibition is the last major part of the opening at the new centre.
Monroe said the port has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to SAMSAT and program development over the years, including the addition of the first cybersecurity simulator and a large training center, including K-12 and workforce training.
Now, Area 21 space is offered to SAMSAT at no cost.
The port’s board of directors directs profits from Techport, including net proceeds from concerts, conferences and industry events, to the Kelly Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization established to support STEM and workforce development programs.
On Thursday, Monroe passed cables and workers using forklifts to move materials around the site, including the Motoman EA 1400, a welding robot — one of the first industrial robots deployed in San Antonio.
Sam Ximenes, founder and CEO of space architecture firm Exploration Architecture, or XArc, also saluted the space construction company Astroport. The San Antonio native is the founder and board chair of the WEX Foundation, which focuses on space education for middle and high school students.
Ximenes, working with researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio, received funding from NASA to study how to melt lunar rock to help build manned lunar landing stations. One idea involves melting lunar dust or regolith to create bricks.
On Thursday, he completed preparations for the exhibit, which includes a prototype of 3-D printing technology that he hopes will one day make bricks on the moon. There, lunar dust will be the raw material. Here, the printer uses basalt from the Kinippa Quarry on Texas 90 between Sabinal and Uvalde to show visitors what habitats on the moon might look like. They believe that it will motivate students to enter the field of space engineering.
“We’re trying to make San Antonio known as a space community, especially with a strong presence in space construction.” “When the kids come here, they see this happening in San Antonio. They may be part of a space program. They don’t have to go anywhere else.”
Also in the exhibit is one of the Southwest Research Institute’s autonomous vehicle prototypes.
In the year In 2006, a local non-profit research and development organization launched the Mobile Automotive Robotics Technology Initiative to build combat military ground vehicles, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, industrial tractors and mobile robots. Two years later, SwRI unveiled the first autonomous vehicle known as MARTI in New York City as part of the ITS World Congress, an international event focused on transportation technologies.
SwRI recently donated MARTI to Area 21.
“When we get San Antonio history, we love it,” Monroe said. “San Antonio has a rich legacy of technological innovation, but it’s a well-kept secret. We want to change that and help San Antonio get its place on the map.
eric.killelea@express-news.net
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