I’ve never gone through this official channel to obtain such assistance, but that might be because I live so close to NASA Langley Research Center. Through my college, which operates (or at least did, until recently) the NASA Langley Full Scale Tunnel (LFST), there’s always a professor or two with enough connections at NASA to get most questions answered in a relatively timely fashion. The wealth of knowledge is ridiculous, if you know how to access it.
I find that quite a few government programs provide a little too much window dressing and a not quite enough substance with this sort of community outreach program. A little knowledge of social engineering goes a long way. Don’t forget the “invisible people”. I can’t tell you the number of times I wound up meeting the right person as a result of befriending a security guard, janitor, or maintenance worker. These folks have nearly 100% unrestricted access to the facilities and personnel that you’d want access to, but go virtually unnoticed by the average passers-by. You might also be astounded at the eagerness to assist someone with a small project – many of the higher-ups in organizations like NASA, DOD, and their various and sundry contractors wound up leaving project development behind years prior in their careers and haven’t had the chance to sink their teeth into a “real” problem in a long time. The reaction is usually a mixture of “Oooh, neat!” and “Hey, you really got something there!”
Unless you’re just a total crackpot, in which case you may very well get a cup of coffee and a reasonable 15-minute conversation before getting shooed out the door. ;-)
