we’re you evolved in any NASA projects?

John Chinner answered on 2 Nov 2020: last edited 2 Nov 2020 12:43 pm

I haven’t been directly involved, but Airbus Space built the Columbus Module on the International Space Station (where you might have seen Tim Peake doing science) and we are now building the European Service Module as part of the NASA Orion spacecraft which will take humans back to the moon.

Craig Leff answered on 2 Nov 2020: last edited 3 Nov 2020 10:57 am

I’ve been involved in several NASA projects: I helped build a global radar map of Venus for the Magellan Mission; i worked on ASTER, an Earth-observing satellite as part of the Terra mission, which in turn is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System; i worked on development and mission operations for the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, and on development of one of the instruments on Curiosity. I am currently working on the ExoMars Rover, which is primarily an ESA mission, but with some NASA involvement. Lots of rovers — I’ve been very lucky!

anon answered on 2 Nov 2020:

Not directly but working in government is quite unique because you have a lot of international collaboration with space agencies all across the world (not just NASA). For example we attend quite a few international fora such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) or Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC). These are basically platforms that allow governments/space agencies around the world to get together and discuss approaches to tackling issues surrounding space e.g. space debris mitigation.

The European Space Agency also does quite a lot of collaboration with NASA and I got to experience some of this first hand working in real-time satellite operations. For example we would sometimes get to use the NASA Deep Space Network ground stations to assist with satellite communications etc. This would involve communicating with the operators at the NASA ground station antennas in real-time to facilitate telemetry and telecommand handovers from ESA ground stations.

Roy HAWORTH answered on 2 Nov 2020:

Yes we are often involved in joint NASA and European Space Agency Missions, we are currently involved in the European Service Module that will be used as part of the Return to the Moon Mission, other teams have also been involved in James Webb Space Telescope#. We are also involved with other space agencies like JAXA (Japan) for Bepi Colombo mission to Mercury, CSA (Canada) for the Radarsat 2 Earth observation Radar mission and ROSCOMOS (Russia) for the GLONASS navigation Constellation. Space is very international and multicultural.

Tris Warren answered on 2 Nov 2020: last edited 2 Nov 2020 3:51 pm

Yes – I was involved in the InSight Project: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/overview/

I helped build a seismometer that detected the first Earthquake on Mars! – https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-insight-lander-captures-audio-of-first-likely-quake-on-mars

We are also working on the OSIRIS Rex mission – which you might have seen in the news recently – It just collected a sample of asteroid Bennu and has sent it back to Earth.

NASA tends to be the first space agency when people think of space but there are many others: ESA (the European Space Agency), JAXA (the Japanese space agency), ROSCOSMOS (Russian) and the UK space agency – UKSA – they fund this “I’m an engineer get me out of here” project! The reason I mention this is …. if you interested in working on space missions – you don’t have to work for NASA. At the moment I think JAXA is my favourite space agency because their Hayabusa 2 mission literally just blew up a bomb on an asteroid – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZPE0deSGbM

Marina Ruiz Sanchez-Oro answered on 2 Nov 2020:

I’m not involved in any NASA projects, but I do use information that NASA collects with their satellites. For example, I use rain data they have collected and also images from space to look at what goes on the Earth’s surface, such as landslides or floods!

Calum McInnes answered on 2 Nov 2020:

I haven’t been involved on any NASA projects although I do use data produced by NASA engineers in my work. I use design guidelines that NASA wrote in the 1960’s to help me. It’s amazing that these guidelines have been around for so long! Maybe one day I will get the opportunity to work with NASA. Being a researcher at a university opens avenues for working with international partners.

I have worked on European Space Agency (ESA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA) projects in the past during my internships. It’s quite strange putting your name on these types of documents.

raam shanker answered on 2 Nov 2020:

No but I was involved in three ESA projects.

Steve Williams answered on 3 Nov 2020:

Yes. I worked on a project called Remove Debris which was an experimental mission to see it was possible to capture old, no longer functioning spacecraft orbiting Earth – sometimes referred to as “space junk”. This mission was launched from the international space station and involved NASA as they were responsible for launching it from the space station.

John Davies answered on 3 Nov 2020:

My first astronomy job was at the ground station for the IRAS satellite, a joint NASA/Netherlands/UK project. I also flew (once) on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. This is a big military jet (a C-141) with a telescope which looks out of the side.

Stu Robertson answered on 4 Nov 2020:

No, No NASA projects, but that is hardly surprising as I would naturally work for ESA! I’ve been on a single project with them: EarthCARE. I worked as a contract system engineer for Surrey Satellites – a great company in Guildford, full of clever space engineers. A good place to work if you are into Space.

Abbie Hutty answered on 23 Nov 2020:

In the space industry a lot of missions will be led by one Agency, for example the European Space Agency, but have instruments or components supplied by another space agency. So I’ve worked on a lot of different missions that have had participation from other space agencies, including NASA.

I worked on Bepi Colombo, a mission which is on its way to mercury, that had a whole module led by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), along with the European parts, then ExoMars, the first Mars rover mission I worked on, contained a special instrument called the MOMA (Mars Organic Molecule Analyser) which was provided by NASA.

Now I’m working on a bid for a new project which is partnered with NASA – the Mars Sample Return mission. This is a huge mission with lots of different spacecraft, all working together to bring a sample from Mars back to Earth. ESA is providing the “Mars Return Orbiter” which is the spacecraft which will collect the Mars sample once it has been launched back in to space and bring it back to Earth orbit, and I am in the team working on the Sample Fetch Rover – which will actually be retrieving the soil samples from on the surface of Mars. This is due to have wheels provided by NASA, and reach the surface on a spacecraft provided by NASA, so we will be working very closely with NASA all the way through.

Question: we're you evolved in any NASA projects?

Comments