WALLOPSISLAND, Va. - Officials with NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Monday evening held an information session to update the public on a few upcoming projects.
While the Goddard study that is currently evaluating the Wallops facility was not mentioned at the session, three other projects were. Of those, Chief of Communications for Wallops Jeremy Eggers says are mid-term and long-term solutions for Chincoteague Island's well water. After over a year of testing for harmful chemical compounds in the drinking water, tests have been consistently coming back clear.
"So kind of mid term we're looking at putting a water filtration system on the town's wells which are on our property. And then longer term we're working with the town to put their wells on an area south of our property. So that's what we're here to talk about tonight," Eggers said.
Another point of discussion for the night was the upcoming U.S. Navy Field Carrier Landing Practice. Ten to 20 pilots are put through training for 10 days at the Wallops facility for daytime and nighttime practices. Commander Ryan Overholtzer says while it can be noisy at times, he thinks the community has gotten fairly used to the training that is in its fifth year in Accomack County.
"I think there's a degree of consistency and a rhythm and a pattern that comes to it. We try to be here once a quarter and I think sort of over time people have gotten used to the drill and what we're here to do," Overholtzer said.
The third update from the Wallops facility was its participation in the upcoming sounding rocket Grand Challenge Initiative that will take place in Norway.
