RFID Lowdown: Will RFID Conquer Outer Space?

February 12, 2007

Will RFID Conquer Outer Space?

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Are RFID tags robust enough to survive the extreme conditions in outer space? That’s what NASA is attempting to find out when Endeavour takes off to the International Space Station in July later this year. The space shuttle will carry a variety of paper and plastic Gen 2 passive tags from Intermec; they will be attached in a case to the outside of the station for a year during which they will be subject to harsh heat and cold, ultraviolet radiation, and vacuum conditions as it orbits Earth.

If the tags pass the litmus test, they will then be tested on a pre-Moon launch rocket test that is scheduled in another 27 months. According to Fred Schramm, administrator for the internal research and development program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the agency is hoping to use RFID:

[via Network World]

to monitor and manage inventory on spacecrafts, and to track internal and external environmental conditions both on the mission to the moon and future manned flights to Mars.

Readers placed in strategic positions would allow data to be transmitted either to a local network on the spacecraft or directly back to Earth. NASA is counting on RFID to efficiently manage the complex vehicles and systems used in space exploration, said Schramm.

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February 12, 2007 | Permalink