NASA Ames Hosts South Korean Mayor Visit
by Darryl Waller
Amir Deylami, associate center director at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, welcomed Jang Woo Lee, mayor of Daejeon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea, during a visit to the center on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.
The mayor is touring the U.S. with a group of South Korean business and academic leaders to learn best practices for starting a space industry cluster in his city, which is home to the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and KAIST, the leading technical university in South Korea. The Republic of Korea is planning a lunar landing mission in 2032 and a mission to Mars in 2045, and Daejeon hopes to play a major role in those plans.
“Ames has enjoyed a strong relationship with South Korea, including KARI and KAIST,” said Deylami, “and many of our researchers are from South Korea, or have family ties there. This visit further strengthens that strong relationship, and we are looking forward to continuing our work together, particularly through Advanced Air Mobility and other space endeavors.”
The visit also reaffirms South Korea’s participation in the Artemis Accords and the recent agreement between NASA and KARI in support of South Korea’s first lunar mission. The mission involved the launch of their lunar orbiter, Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter in August of last year.
Mayor Lee’s entourage toured the Airspace Operations Laboratory at Ames to hear about NASA’s research in Advanced Air Mobility.
NASA recently signed a collaborative arrangement with KARI to conduct research in Advanced Air Mobility, which envisions the use of electric and autonomously flown air taxis in urban environments to relieve traffic congestion, reduce pollution, and deliver cargo to various locations with radically new types of aircraft. Ames is testing the air traffic management system that will be needed for these vehicles to fly safely.
KAIST alumnus and Ames senior robotics systems engineer Dr. In Won Park also provided the mayor and the delegation a tour of the Astrobee laboratories, where they learned about small satellite research and their real-world applications.
Acting Associate Center Director for Research and Technology – Jay Bookbinder
by Rachel Hoover
Dr. Jay Bookbinder is the acting associate center director for Research and Technology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, where he leads research, technology, and engineering developments that support NASA’s missions in aeronautics, science, exploration, and technology.
Bookbinder most recently led Ames’ Science Directorate, which consists of hundreds of scientists, engineers, and staff who perform cutting-edge research in diverse fields, ranging from biology to Earth science to astrophysics. After joining NASA in 2015 to serve as the director of Projects and Programs at Ames, he managed major spaceflight projects including Kepler and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). His portfolio also included the Small Spacecraft Technology program office, the Flight Opportunities program, Ames’ New Opportunities Center, and more than 40 projects across multiple directorates. He also co-led the strategic effort to establish the Small Spacecraft Virtual Institute, now based at Ames. Over his NASA tenure, Bookbinder has served as a committee member of the Science Mission Directorate to review its program offices; chaired the interim review of astrophysics mission concepts, and chaired the assessment team for probe mission concepts; the latter two review the mission concepts that are being prepared for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey.
Prior to joining NASA, Bookbinder worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for more than 30 years. He was the senior program manager in the High Energy Division at SAO and provided strategic leadership for new mission concepts. As program manager, his portfolio included the Division’s solar physics missions, including the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE); Hinode X-Ray Telescope; Solar Dynamics Observatory’s Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument, Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph; and the Parker Solar Probe’s Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons investigation. He was principal investigator for the TRACE Mission Operations and Data Analysis efforts at SAO. Bookbinder was the mission scientist for the International X-ray Observatory, a member of the International X-ray Observatory Coordination Group, and subsequently the principal investigator at SAO and co-chair of the Advanced X-ray Spectroscopic Imaging Observatory Science and Technology Definition Team.
Bookbinder has more than 30 years’ experience in instrument and mission design and development, satellite integration and testing, and space mission operations for both astrophysics and heliophysics missions. He has led or overseen technology development efforts across a broad range of subjects, including ultra-precise and stable optics, high-resolution X-ray mirror fabrication, contamination control, and a solar simulator to replicate the conditions the Parker Solar Probe would experience at its closest approach to the Sun.
He served on the Independent Review Board for the Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigations, and on the Standing Review Board the Hitomi mission’s Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument as well as several instruments on the New Horizons mission. He chaired the Visiting Committee for Arecibo Observatory for two years, and served on the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope User’s Committees. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Physics of the Cosmos Program Analysis Group, and chair of the X-ray Science Interest Group.
Bookbinder earned his bachelor’s from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, and his master’s and doctorate in Astrophysics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His hobbies include sailing, sporting clays, billiards, mineral collecting, African art, cooking, archery, travel, theatre, and jewelry design.
Ames' Parimal Kopardekar and Huy Tran Recognized at 2023 CES Convention
The 2023 CES convention was held in Las Vegas Jan. 5 – 8 and focused on “How Technology Innovation is Addressing Global Challenges.” More than 100,000 from the technology industry attended event, which featured roughly 2,200 exhibits and hundreds of panels centered around artificial intelligence, vehicle technology, digital health and more.
Statistical Summary of Activities of the Protective Service Division’s Security/Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Services Units for Period Ending December 2022
