What makes your job at NASA exciting or unique?
Gateway is the next step in human spaceflight. The U.S-led Gateway will establish an orbital outpost concept in the vicinity of the Moon with U.S. industry and the International Space Station partners. I have been leading the development of the communication system concepts for the first element of the Gateway, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), for about one year. The PPE development is being led at Glenn Research Center. Working with the communication system space station teams at Johnson Space Center and the space station partners from around the world has been very enlightening, both from a technical and programmatic perspective. The people are all very capable technically, but also encouraging and excited to work on such a prominent project. I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be a part of this. How does your position contribute to NASA’s mission of exploration?
I contribute to NASA’s mission of exploration by being part of the teams that assure that the communication systems for Gateway and for the SCaN networks are capable of supporting the exploration initiatives for the next 25+ years. Supporting humans in space requires unique capabilities beyond non-human capable missions. Data rates to the spacecraft must be much higher to support uplink video for video conferences with mission control and family and friends and the reliability and availability needs are also greater to keep the humans safe and healthy. End to end networking, available most places on the Earth, are very limited in space. The upgrades to the SCaN architectures will support Gateway and other advanced missions by providing higher bandwidth and autonomous and networked operation to increase capability and flexibility and reduce operational costs. This will allow for more advanced scientific discoveries.What is your favorite thing about working for NASA?My favorite days are when I am working with people to solve technical problems. Often it feels like we are putting together a puzzle (one of my favorite activities) and it is very exciting when the puzzle comes together and a solution is achieved.› We Are NASA SCaN Image Gallery