2000 ELECTION WRAP-UP

• Greetings from the new Executive Council
• Jim Chase - President
• Srimal Wangu - Vice President of Operations
• Mindy Delaney - Vice President of Finance
• Final Voting Statistics 2000

• What Happened to the Mars Polar Missions?  by Laura Sachi, GSFC 1995
• The Role of Social & Political Activism in the Exploration of Space  by Matt Lowry, GSFC 1993

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1997 Goddard Academy

EDITOR'S CORNER - THOUGHTS ON PLANETFEST AND Y2K

NEXT ISSUE

• Space Interest Poll

2000 ELECTION WRAP-UP
 
 

Greetings NAAA!  The last few months have been extremely exciting.  With little prior thought, I found myself (& Stephanie Thomas) in the midst of organizing the annual event for October.  Then, less than a month later, I surfaced at center stage of an intense election campaign.  And now, quite unbelievably, I appear to be the NAAA President.  Wow!  OK, initially, the most important item is that this job comes with many responsibilities and tasks.  The first of these is to thank all of those who played a role in the elections; since without them, I would never have progressed this far.  Thus, THANK YOU to:
    John Sims (the election chair)
    Shawn Kuehl (election committee)
    Erin Robinson (the newsletter editor)
    Ian Ruiz (my presidential mentor)
    Robin Smith (who unknowingly initiated my campaign race)
    Srimal & Mindy (the new VPO &  VPF)
    The members who have personally congratulated me & wished me well
    All those who voted in the elections (regardless of their vote)
As for those who decided not to vote, I mildly appreciate your confidence in me:).

The second task of this office will be to develop a coherent plan for the coming year.  To this effect, Srimal, Mindy, and I will be meeting in early January to develop an agenda.  Since the three of us are relatively inexperienced, I would like to form a committee of "voices" (that is, NAAA members that are interested in reviewing and commenting on action-plans).  For this committee, I will be individually contacting a number of obvious candidates (past officers, some staff members, and a few others).  However, I am also interested in "your" voice.  So if you wish to join this "low-work/profile" committee, please send me an email.  Otherwise, the executive committee will send out an update in January regarding our work.    Finally, I would like to thank you all again, and I appreciate you taking the time to read this and future emails.  I hope that we will meet (& exceed) the trust that has been placed in us.

Sincerely,
Jim Chase
President of the NASA Academy Alumni Association
 
 

Thank you to everyone for your support! I am looking forward to an exciting and productive year for the NAAA. I hope everyone will share their bright and innovative ideas on where they want the NAAA to go in the future with the Executive Council. I also hope each one of you will take a little time out of your year to help make these ideas a reality. If you have any questions or concerns or ideas, please feel free to contact me at any time, either by phone or email.

Sincerely,
Ms. Srimal Wangu
NASA Academy Alumni Association Vice President of Operations
 
 

Happy Holidays, NAAA!  =)  I just wanted to reiterate Jim's warm thanks to all who supported the new EC - those behind the scenes and the voters!  We've got big and exciting plans for the NAAA in the new millenium! (Had to throw that in there) =)  For all of you out there with better ideas than us, please don't hesitate to share them via email.  Also, for any of you wishing to give the NAAA a Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year donation - you can now send any donations to me, the VPF at the address below:

Mindy Delaney
60 Wadsworth Street Apt. 6C
Cambridge, MA  02142
 
 

Overall Statistics
******************
  87/192 eligible voters (current members) = 45% turnout
  87/270 total possible voters = 32% turnout
  78/270 members have not renewed = 29% lapsed

Top Three Academies by Turnout
******************************
   1)  GSFC 1999 -- 65%
   2)  DFRC 1997, -- 60%
   3)  GSFC 1998 -- 48%

Worst Three Academies by Turnout
********************************
   1)  MSFC 1994 -- 0.0%
   2)  MSFC 1995 -- 13%
   3)  DRFC 1999 -- 14%

First Voter Award
*****************
  Gene Fujii, GSFC 1994  (Could you expect less from an engineer who kicks the radio in a rental car to fix it?)

Votes by Center
***************
  ARC  -- 20%
  DFRC -- 33%
  GSFC -- 38%
  MSFC -- 19%

Votes by Year
*************
  93  9/19 = 47%
  94  7/38 = 18%
  95  11/38 = 29%
  96  9/38 = 27%
  97  14/50 = 28%
  98  17/44 = 39%
  99  18/43 = 42%
 
 
 
 

FEATURE ARTICLES
 
 

Author's note:  After much deliberation, I have decided not to include any names in the following article in part to protect the innocent, but mostly because you would have no clue who I was talking about.

It was only this last Friday.  I was sitting at my desk in Longmont, 67.8 miles away from the control center and my old desk, thousands of miles away from the current location of the Mars Polar Lander.  I had to watch a live broadcast from CNN over the net, where the people moved in a jerky fashion a half-step behind the sound.  The image was of the JPL control room, a dead place compared to what the Lockheed Martin control room must have been as the engineers were busy getting ready to perform health checks on the Lander the minute telemetry was obtained, the ACE busy talking with the DSN stations to prepare for lockup on the first possible chance.  You would think that all of this Mars hullabaloo would seem so far away to me now that I had left that life behind.  But the minute I heard the ACE over the comm system, I felt myself sitting at the Attitude Control console, watching everyone's intense faces and getting distracted and annoyed by all the higher-ups crowding around the screen that I had to monitor.  Ten minutes before contact.  My hands were sweaty.  People were crowding around my computer to watch.  Ten minutes after contact.  Nothing.  Twenty.  Thirty.  Forty.  No contact.  I felt numb, just like I had when I came in to work that fateful morning in September and heard the Orbiter was lost.  It seemed almost as if I expected failure, and all that anticipation and worry was merely an act to defy the inevitable that I now had to come to terms with.  I knew the Lander would never be heard from again after the first contact, but I kept the CNN broadcast going all through the night, a parent's vigil of slim hopes and constant prayers for a child who has been missing for days.  And on Tuesday, they admitted defeat.  Another failure for the "faster, better, cheaper" mindset.

I have been spending the last day or two thinking about what these failures mean to me, having spent many agonizing hours trying to make these spacecraft work and subsequently agonizing over why I had put myself through such torture.  If I were to be honest with myself, I cannot claim complete disappointment at the failure of the missions.  Such a blow to NASA is undeserved, but some eyes needed to be opened.  Not at the management level, but at the ground floor, with those who had direct influence over the design and operation of the spacecraft.

When you think of "faster, better, cheaper", what do you think of?  The size of the spacecraft, the rate of output of missions?  What I think of now when I hear this overused mantra is people.  The right people that were missing for the right job.  What I discovered while working at Lockheed was that there were three types of engineers:  the old school, the new school, and the ones who wanted to do whatever it took to make things work, and work properly -- with all risks considered.  Now, the old engineers weren't always necessarily old, there were just the type that had done this job before and insisted on doing it exactly the same way it was done before, regardless of whether or not it fit with the current program, budget, scope, etc.  These were the kind that would typically do all the shouting and accusing in team meetings to stress a point or force an issue that usually had no solid foundation.  The new engineers are the kind I see developing as a result of the need for faster and cheaper programs -- people fresh out of college that are doing senior-level design work.  I am not inherently against this, but many of the new engineers simply do what they are told, and never look beyond their little task to understand what they are doing.  This is an all-too-easy mode to slip into when the pressures of deadlines loom overhead almost every single day.  I needn't say any more about the other ones, those who try to make things work.  Lockheed was fortunate to have quite a few of those around.

So what Laura?  So what if there are a bunch of different types of people working on the Mars Surveyor Program?  Simple.  These types, when forced to work together in a high-pressure environment, just don't get along.  And make deadly mistakes.  NASA's "faster, better, cheaper" is intrinsically built on the notion that a small, tight-knit group can accomplish as much as the older projects did, with improvements on design, speed and cost by knocking out much of the beauracracy and paperwork built into the bigger missions.  When you are in a group where half the people dread talking to the other half, the team breaks down, and each person is fending for themself, and not working to make sure the mission as a whole works.  I will shamefacedly admit that there were a few points during the design that I didn't care what happened to any of the spacecraft, just as long as my control designs weren't to blame for a failure.

Such a selfishly-careless attitude wasn't bred into me -- it was beaten into me.  The attitude control group in no way fostered teamwork.  In fact, they encouraged competition, especially between the other members of the group.  This was mostly done through blatant acts of favoritism when it came to assigning tasks to the engineers in the group.  Even before I was hired on, one of the younger engineers already bore the sobriquet of "Golden Boy".  I am sure he prescribed to the philosophy of competition, since I usually had to give him the third degree just to get any information from his lips.  There was another person in our group who was sure one of the other engineers was purposely trying to undermine him.  Now, on top of this dysfunctional group, let's hover some herculean deadlines.  Issues get dropped because no one is willing to give up information.  Incomplete analysis is considered acceptable, now that the deadline is here.  Some problems are ignored because no one wants to take the blame for impacting schedule.

When I still clung to the notion of truly believing in designing spacecraft that would work, I took on one of these problems that was "conveniently" getting ignored.  A member of our group had just quit recently, and left the initial attitude design for first acquisition unfinished.  By sheer chance I discovered the attitude was no longer power safe due to some recent design changes.  When I brought this up to my lead, he didn't believe me, and refused to change the database since it would be locked down within a few days.  I spent almost 40 hours in the next two days to prepare a presentation to the change board to allow this change.  After I had successfully presented my case, I was threatened with a permanent mark on my employment record for insubordination and disrespect.  Those of you that know me are quite aware of my feistiness, but disrespect is something I have yet to attain.

It was at this point that I decided a change in groups was appropriate, and moved down to Mission Operations.  There were a lot of fantastic engineers in Mission Operations, and I was glad to know them.  The Orbiter and Lander would've never gotten as far through their mission if it wasn't for many of those people (mostly trying to rectify engineering mistakes).  They truly were a team in their own sense, if it wasn't for one person.  Unfortunately, an entire team can be destroyed by one person, and for the Orbiter, this was the case.  NASA has officially taken blame for the units conversion error, but the discovery of this error was hampered by a single person, at least from the Lockheed side.  You know how I mentioned that there were three types of engineers?  Well, for attitude control mission operations, there was one new engineer, two "true" engineers, and an old engineer leading the group who wanted us all to act like new engineers and solely take direction from him.  I kid you not when I mention that he literally withheld work from each one of us as we happened to fall out of favor with him at any given time.  Our new engineer felt so abused by this attitude that some days he literally wouldn't do anything unless physically told to by our lead.  Unfortunately, the new engineer, who was still pretty new to the whole attitude control business, was in charge of formatting the small forces files that were sent to JPL containing the conversion error.  JPL, when they finally received the data in the proper format, did notice the error and asked us to look into it.  There were meetings almost every week between the JPL NAV guys and our group, which mostly consisted of smoothing feathers and providing JPL with empty promises.  The new engineer in our group attended these meetings and usually just sat there, for fear of getting the lead mad at him again.  And then the meeting would end, and nothing would get accomplished.  If our new engineer hadn't gone comatose from the constant oppression, I am sure he would have found the error within a day -- as long as it took them to find the error after the Orbiter crashed.

It was around July that I left Lockheed Martin (God is truly alive!).  I had reached my tolerance limit when my promotion at Lockheed was threatened because I didn't want to rehash a scuffle with my lead that happened more than two weeks previous.  It was time to find a company that understood how "faster, better, cheaper" works.

I have found that at EarthWatch, the company where I currently work.  They truly believe in the foundation of teamwork, and actually screen candidates based on whether or not they would work well within the group, regardless of ability.  With over 20 people in our group right now, we're a pretty close-knit team that I know will do great things and will not sacrifice a mission due to personality problems (although we have our spats once in a while).  When EarthWatch becomes the gem of the imaging industry, I would like to hold my head up to NASA and say, "When you look for contractors to build your spacecraft, maybe you should be looking not at what price and engineering the company can offer you, but what kind of people they can offer you."

P.S.  If you don't believe a word of what I have just written, I am sure I can help you see for yourself.
 
 

Imagine this... your children are piloting a manned habitat that will land humans on Mars, or maybe they're on the ground working with Mission Control, or they could possibly be the engineer who developed that critical structural element for the vehicle's descent to the Martian surface.  Better yet, imagine THIS... your grandchildren are among the first people in the human race to have the opportunity to actually colonize Mars.  I think that I could be fairly safe in saying that I would die a happy man if I could see these dreams fulfilled in my lifetime.  After all, how many people can say that they lived to witness humanity's next step up the evolutionary ladder? Even better yet, wouldn't it be awesome to actually have been involved in helping humanity get hold of that elusive next rung?

Now I know that I'm preaching to the choir.  We at the NAAA are probably some of the geekiest Space Cadets you could hope to find in the world.  In fact, many of us are those engineers who'll help build stuff or plot the orbital trajectories on future space missions.  And as you can already tell from the flavor of the introduction, this article will deal primarily with the human exploration of the Red Planet, as this subject is (to me, at least) at the very core of space exploration.  However, this article is NOT primarily a message for those of us in the NAAA; rather, I hope that it would serve as a vehicle for sending a message to the Joe & Jane Six-Packs of the world, if you will.

For example, I'm a high school physics teacher by trade, but I don't limit myself to teaching 16 and 17 year-old kids about the wonders of physics.  I am also heavily involved in my school's astronomy club as a co-sponsor and the telescope maintenance man, and my wife Carmen helps set up the telescopes when the club goes stargazing.  In addition, there is some community involvement beginning to develop concerning my school's astronomy club; and you'd better believe that I'm going to tap into this interest!  I have also written (with some success) local and state politicians & Congress-critters concerning the future of our Space Program.  In the near future, I plan to pool the resources at my immediate disposal to garner more community support and interest in the exploration of space, specifically a humans-to-Mars mission in the near future (more on this later).

So what's the point, you say?  The point is two-fold, my fellow alumni.  First, I must say that I applaud the efforts of those who do the rigorous work of the aero-astronautical engineer, who fight in the halls of the United States Congress for funding, who attend the national conferences, who assist the future NASA Academies in their endeavors, etc.  Such work is difficult and worthy of high praise, but there is MORE to be done, and it is this... if we are to keep the Dream alive, we must not convince ourselves (we're already convinced), but we must convince those who have not yet learned to dream the Dream.  We must get involved in our local communities (where ever they may be) in whatever way we can to get the word out about the potential & necessity of the New Frontier.  We must get involved in local astronomy clubs, science fairs, church groups, rotary clubs, etc. to bring the Dream to the people in our communities.  Involvement can take numerous forms: making a brief presentation (try using the first paragraph as an opener...) to the group you're visiting; organizing a star-gazing party on your block or at your apartment complex; helping out with space science & astronomy related activities at your local school or church; developing local political action committees to talk with your representatives... just to name a few.  The more interest that you can help to gather at the local level, where you live with the people you know, the more political muster that can be brought to bear in times of crisis (these past months with the threat to NASA's budget) or in times of inspiration (the Apollo Moon missions or possible Mars missions).  However, what is to serve as the inspiration for these Joe & Jane Six-Packs of your local community?  In a word... children.

At my school, I've used the promise & wonder of humans-to-Mars missions to fire the imagination and interest of many students.  There IS interest there, but if left untapped, that interest will wane and be lost.  For instance, the evening of Friday, October 22nd,  I took a group of 13 high school students to see Dr. Robert Zubrin speak on his Mars Direct plan at Adler Planetarium in Chicago.  Each kid paid $15 to go see this man on a Friday evening - the day before many of them took their ACTs!  Yes, there IS interest there, immense interest, and it isn't limited to the younger generation.  However, if we fail to act, and act soon, that interest on the part of the youngsters will wither and die as the generational gap between the Apollo era and the would-be Mars era gets ever wider in extent.  Human expansion into space will run the risk of becoming a pipe dream in the minds of senile old farts who think too much of the "good ol' days".

My second point is that I believe the major impetus for a renewed vigor in the exploration of space is to personalize the journey.  It is a fact that people get more interested and fired up about humans doing the exploring, especially if the exploring is ever more dramatic... just ask your parents (the old farts now) about the Apollo missions.  In my view, the best way of personalizing this journey is to collectively support a manned mission to Mars.  To quote Dr. Robert Zubrin: "Mars has got what it takes."  Yes indeed, I believe that Mars does have what it takes to get the youth of our nation (and possibly others) whipped up into a frenzy about hope for their futures, and the future of their own children.  How many little kids want to be an astronaut when they're 5 years old, only to have that dream fizzle out by the time they're 15 because they don't see the opportunity available to them?  Mars gives them that opportunity, IF we carry the message to them.

There is an organization specifically dedicated to this cause - The Mars Society.  It was founded by Dr. Zubrin and others in August of 1998 in the hopes that interested individuals would found local chapters where they live & work to further the Dream.  As yet, the Society is still relatively small, but it is growing.  I strongly encourage my fellow alumni to look at the Mars Society's webpage - http://www.marssociety.org - and possibly consider joining up with your local chapter or starting your own local chapter.

In our society, where power & funding are guided by political entities that often shift with the ebb and tide of the times, there are not many leaders who would voluntarily lead a strong charge for humanity's next evolutionary step into the New Frontier.  However, leaders can be made because if there is enough of a grass-roots movement, political leaders will champion the cause.  If we, the engineers, teachers, and Joe & Jane Six-Packs of the world, speak up for our future and the future of our children, our leaders will listen to us and our voices will be heard.  However, the task is ours, and whether or not the Dream grows and blossoms or fades into bittersweet memory depends on our efforts.

Dare to dream, and pass the Dream on to others.  Ad Astra!
 
 
 
 

PLANETFEST 1999
 
 

“A New Millenium of Exploration” was the theme of the 1999 Planetfest, held in Pasadena, California on December 3-5.  Planetfest ’99 was presented by the Planetary Society, with Masters of Ceremonies Buzz Aldrin and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Numerous events took place during the three day conference.  The Main Auditorium was home to a number of keynote speakers, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Louis Friedman, founder and director of the Planetary Society.  Two exhibit halls housed several booths, with everything from aerospace companies to space societies to space art sellers to a huge display of vehicles used in the Mission to Mars movie coming out this summer.

The bulk of speakers gave their presentaions in smaller meeting rooms.  Highlights included an update on the Mars meteorite from David McKay and Everett Gibson, a possible approach for human exploration and colonization from Robert Zubrin, and a presentation of Earth photos, taken from space, by astronaut Story Musgrave.

Several NASA Academy Alumni showed up for the festivities, many of whom are currently working at JPL or in the LA area and some who came in from out of town.  On Friday night, the Alumni gathered for dinner in Old Town Pasadena.  Eight different academies were represented.  In attendance were Mike Baine, Andrew Gray, John Sims, Holly Ridings, Chris Lewicki, Elisa Quintana, Ian Ruiz, Emily Eelkema, Jennifer Heldman, Erin Robinson, Loretta Hidalgo, and David Lamb.

Alumni also got together Saturday for lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.  The event was mostly an Ames reunion, with the exception of Susan Welsh (GSFC 95) and Emily Eelkema (DFRC 98).  Ames Alumni included Doug and Christy O’Handley, Garrett Kramer, Jeff Wills, Bridget Smith, David Lamb, Jennifer Heldman, Erin Robinson, and Loretta Hidalgo.

This was the biggest and most exciting Alumni gathering since the Annual Conference in October 1999.
 
 
 
 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - The 1997 Goddard Academy
 

Name: Jeff Baltrush
Email: baltrush.jeff@orbital.com
Current contact info: 45660 Waterloo Station Sq, Sterling, VA 20166
Work company or school: Orbital Sciences Corp.
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Associate Systems Engineer
Major work/school project(s): Systems Engineering for the Pegasus Rocket
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
    After the Academy, I moved to Colorado to begin my studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  I was fortunate enough to earn a position as the Lead Systems Engineer on a student satellite project at CU's Colorado Space Grant College.  The satellite is named Citizen Explorer and is currently slated for launch as a secondary payload on a Delta II this spring.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at CU, both in the classroom and otherwise!  After graduating this past May, I moved to Virginia.  Shortly after dumping my stuff at my new place (a room in Jim Brice's new townhouse actually!) I took off for a short stint in Europe.  I flew into Paris,  then traveled to Normandy, Barcelona, Nice, Cinque Terra, Florence, Venice, Prague, Krakow, and Munich all in a short three weeks.  It was quite a haul but it was a rewarding trip.  I'd say the toughest part was switching languages every 3-4 days!  In July I returned to Virginia in time for the Academy celebration on the 4th.  I started work on the 6th and am having a ball.  My first launch is coming up soon, so I am pretty excited.  Besides that, I keep myself busy with soccer, Uechi-Ryu karate, ballroom/salsa dancing and a myriad of other things in DC.  Well, keep in touch!
 

Name: Chetan M. Kumar
Email: cmkumar75@yahoo.com
Current contact info: 6202 Westlake Circle, Belleville, MI 48111, 734.699.8048
Work company: Ford Motor Company - Environmental Vehicle Center
Work title: Product Development Engineer
Major work: I am working on the development of future Fuel Cell vehicles.
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
  Here's a glimpse of my life since I graduated from the Academy in 1997:  I finished my Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue in May of this year.  Then I took a three month vacation before I started into the real world.  I went to India for 2 months and Europe for 1 month.  Now, I have joined corporate America and I am now working for Ford Motor Company in the Environmental Vehicle Center.  It's a pretty cool job.  I am working on development of Fuel Cell vehicles, which will most probably be the future of the automobile.  The job is pretty interesting and it is quite high-tech in many ways.  Detroit is actually a pretty nice place also.  Anyway, that is a quick summary of what I have been up to.
 

Name:  Julia Plummer
Email: plummerj@umich.edu
Current contact info: 2581 International Dr #1213, Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Work company or school: University of Michigan
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Astronomy, PhD
Work/school contact info: plummerj@umich.edu
Major work/school project(s): dwarf galaxies in the M81 group
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
    Hi all!  I can't believe we're already at the 1997 Goddard Academy updates.  :)  I've finished my Masters in Astronomy this spring (yipee) but am some how still taking classes *sigh*.  I haven't really gotten very far into my research for my PhD, though my advisor and I have time on HST relating to my thesis, supposedly in January, though I suppose this depends on the servicing mission, eh?  I'm in my third semester of teaching an undergraduate class called "Naked-Eye Astronomy" - a very popular class due to three things: 1) people like astronomy, 2) it's only 1 credit, and 3) it has the word "naked" in the title :)
    I am writing a planetarium show for the local planetarium called "Collisions".  As you may guess it is about things that colliding in the universe, from asteroids colliding with the Earth to galaxies colliding with other galaxies.  It should be running here at UMichigan next spring/summer.
    I am also spending more time on my artwork.  A friend of mine and I are selling prints of our artwork through his new company at vectorsandpixels.com which promises to be an interesting venture.  I am planning on doing some artwork that is more astronomy/science related in the near future.
 

Name: Elisa V. Quintana
Email: equintan@umich.edu or equintan@estrellas.arc.nasa.gov
Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~equintan
Current contact info: 550 Tyndall St. #6, Los Altos, CA 94022, (650) 917-8551
Work company or school: NASA Ames Research Center and University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Work title and/or major and degree sought:  graduate student (Ph.D. Physics, May 2002)
Work/school contact info:
    (work) NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035
    (school) University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Department of Physics, 2061 Randall Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Major work/school project(s):
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
    Hi, my name is Elisa Quintana, I am a third year graduate student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  I am working with Dr. Jack Lissauer in code SST on 'Searching for Extra-Solar Planets Using Differential Photometry'.  My research interests include planet formation, planetary system dynamics, and the detection and characterization of extra-solar planets.  I am currently working on Project Vulcan, a camera at  Lick Observatory designed to detect large extra-solar planets.  This is a precursor to project Kepler, a proposed space mission that will search for terrestrial-sized extra-solar planets.  I am also involved in modeling the diversity, and studying the orbital stability, of planetary systems.  My plans?  Well I will be here at Ames for the next three years (GSRP), and after that I will continue research in planetary science.
 

Name: Ian Ruiz
Email: Ian.Ruiz@nasa-academy.org
Work company or school: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Work title and/or major and degree sought: Avionics Systems Engineer
Work/school contact info: 4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S: 198-138, Pasadena, CA 91101
Major work project: X2000 First Delivery (http://x2000.jpl.nasa.gov) - "The development of standardized space craft
    avionics" - Currently, X2000 is supporting the Europa Orbiter, which is intended to survey the surface of Europa with
    the intent of identifying a landing site for a submersible probe that will be sent on a later mission.
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
    Currently, I am the cognizant engineer for the development of the Power System Electronics (PSE) Command Interface for X2000's First Delivery Project (FDP), which is currently shaping up to be a couple of ASIC's and a handful of discrete parts.  The command interface allows the system's flight computer to control the distribution of power across the space craft.  As such, this CMD I/F will regulate the power bus, charge the batteries, and switch on/off the space craft loads such as heaters, valves/thrusters, and pyrotechnic devices.  However, I am also a member of the systems team, and as such participate in working groups aimed at facilitating communication, identifying "miss-fits", tracking interfaces, and resolving conflicts.  Currently, I am spending about 90% of my time with the PSE Command interface, but will transition to mostly performing systems tasks once this design is complete.
    As for my other endeavors, I am exploring the acquisition of an advanced degree from the University of Southern California (USC).  However, I am not yet decided which degree would serve me best given my future aspirations.  I am currently examining the Masters of Science in Systems Architecture and Engineering (MSSAE), as well as the joint Masters of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering (MSISE)/Masters of Business Administration (MBA) both of which are offered by USC's Industrial and Systems Engineering Schools.
 

Name: Amy Paige Snyder
Email: aps7@gwu.edu
Current contact info: 2100 F Street NW #904; Washington, DC 20037
Work company or school: George Washington University
Work title and/or major and degree sought: M.A. Science, Technology, and Space Policy
Work/school contact info: 202-994-7405
Major work/school project(s):
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
    I am currently in my second year of the M.A. in Science, Technology, and Space Policy at GWU. I will graduate in May 2000. I am currently working with my advisor, John Logsdon, who many of you have met, on the fifth volume of "Exploring the Unknown: Selected DOcuments in the History of the US Civil Space Program." The volume I am co-editing will contain dozens of documents that have been very influential on the direction NASA's space science program has taken.
    I am also working part-time at the RAND Corporation's DC office. I am working on a project to evaluate best practices associated with the development of spacecraft in the civil, military, commercial, and intelligence space sectors.
 
 

Marshall 1997 Academy… you're up next! Please send me your entry in a timely manner!

Name:
Email:
Homepage:
Current contact info:
Work company or school:
Work title and/or major and degree sought:
Work/school contact info:
Major work/school project(s):
Discussion (2-3 paragraphs, can be personal and/or work-related):
 
 
 
 

EDITOR'S CORNER
 
 

On December 3-5, I attended the celebration of Planetfest in Pasadena, California, in conjunction with the landing of the Mars Polar Lander.  Despite the disappointment of not hearing live news of MPL, Planetfest was one of the most incredible space-related events in which I have personally participated.  I absolutely loved the fact that essentially everyone and everything were centered on the excitement and wonder of space exploration.  Some of the speakers gave semi-technical presentations, but others, like astronauts Story Musgrave and Dan Barry, presented space exploration as a beautiful and joyful endeavour.  Story Musgrave spent over an hour just showing us photographs demonstrating the majesty of space exploration, from shuttle launches in eerie fog and through symmetric sunlit patterns on the water to views of the Earth from space showing twisting rivers, snow-peaked mountains, and fiery clouds.  Every picture stirred the heart and the imagination - which at least for me is where the true passion for space pulses and grows.  The technical side that I study in school is just to help us get there and help me get involved, but what I live for is the thrill of the beauty and wonder of space seen through the eyes of imagination and artistry.  Words certainly are inadequate to express either what I am trying to convey or what many of Story Musgrave's photos so vividly captured, and so I would recommend watching the site http://spacestory.com/ for further developments.

Space exploration also embodies joy and excitement in my mind because microgravity looks like so much fun.  This was much the point of Dan Barry's presentation.  With a video, a few slide photos, and incredible enthusiasm, he took his listeners to orbit with him and taught us the joy and exhilaration of flying in space.  He described some of the fun things you can do with fluids and the awe of looking out the window and in particular his experience this past summer of working at the International Space Station.  He explained how he would push off at from the Spacehab module in the orbiter and navigate into the station through tunnels and workspaces, flying easily with only an occaisional navigational push or pull.  It was the first time that I heard someone who'd been to space discuss the fun of being in microgravity.  It was magical, and I'll remember Dan Barry as the first one to really take me there as I've always imagined it.

There were many, many other awesome folks who participated in Planetfest, from the famous to the ordinary.  Somewhere in the middle of it all, there was a handful of NASA Academy Alumni. It was really cool to meet with so many Alumni from so many different years and different academies.

As a final note, I would just like to say welcome to the 21st century (unless you are waiting until next year to consider it so).  May your computers work faster, may your cars run better, may your airline travel be ontime and hassle-free, may your dreams come true, and may the engineers and scientists and our imaginations and enthusiasm take us to Mars and the stars and beyond!
 
 
 
 

NEXT ISSUE

• "Where Are They Now?" - Marshall Academy 1997!!   Please email your formatted response (see above) to      erobinson@mail.arc.nasa.gov as soon as possible! Thanks!
• Got an idea for an NAAA-wide opinion poll on space issues?  Read a good space-related book you'd recommend to any other space enthusiast?  Need an answer to tough riddle or trivia question?  I am actively seeking fun and entertaining stuff to include in the newsletter as well as NAAA business and news!!

• Please participate in the following Space Interest Poll by copying it into an email, providing your responses, and emailing it to erobinson@mail.arc.nasa.gov by January 28th!  Thanks!

How old were you when you became actively interested in space?
__0-4  __4-8  __8-12  __12-16  __16-20  __20-24  __24-28  __28-32  __32-36  __36-40 __40+
 

How did you become interested?  Who/what sparked your interest in space?
  __Read a book.  What book?
  __Classroom experience.  What class?
  __Teacher/mentor/hero inspired.  Who?
  __Saw a movie.  What movie?
  __Watched a launch on TV.  What launch?
  __Watched a launch in person.  What launch?
  __Space Camp experience.  Which program and where?
  __Visited a science museum or planetarium.  Which one?
  __Toured a NASA center.  Which one?
  __Don't remember.
  __Other.  Please specify in one sentence or less.
 

What aspect of space were you interested in first?
  __being an astronaut               __building manned spacecraft
  __astronomy                        __building unmanned spacecraft
  __planetary exploration            __Mission to Planet Earth
  __other - please specify briefly
 

Did your interest in space influence your scholastic persuits in:
  Elementary School?  __Yes   __No
  Junior High School?  __Yes   __No
  High School?  __Yes   __No
  College?  __Yes   __No
  Grad School?  __Yes   __No

If yes to any of the above, did it influence you to:
  __take more math?
  __take more science?
  __take extra electives that were space-related, such as astronomy?
  __select a major?  What major?
  __work harder to excel in school in general?
 

How have you participated in promoting space issues and endeavours?
  __volunteered/worked for a space education group (planetarium, museum, Space Camp, etc)
  __independently written letters to Congress on space issues
  __responded to letter campaigns directly requesting you to write letters to Congress
  __made presentations to schools/businesses/other organizations promoting space
  __joined space-related organizations or groups
  __circulated space-related petitions
  __excited friends/relatives/co-workers/acquaintances about space issues
  __other, please specify:
 

What is the most important space endeavour in your opinion?  Please rank the following
from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important.
  __Mission to Planet Earth, ie using space technology to monitor and help the environment
  __Unmanned missions to Mars
  __Planetary exploration
  __Manned return to the Moon
  __International Space Station
  __Astronomical activities, ie search for extrasolar planets, etc.
  __Updating manned spacecraft, ie replacing the Shuttle/Soyuz with current technology
  __Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and similar searches for life off Earth
  __Manned missions to Mars
  __Other, please specify:  _________________
 
 
 
 

CONTACT INFORMATION

Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

Newsletter Editor:     Erin Robinson  erobinson@mail.arc.nasa.gov

The Executive Committee:     ec@nasa-academy.org
        Jim Chase, President  president@nasa-academy.org
        Srimal Wangu, Vice-president of Operations     vp-ops@nasa.academy.org
        Mindy Delaney, Vice-president of Finance     vp-finance@nasa.academy.org