Instrument science bridges the fields of science and engineering and it’s where I’ve found myself since graduating from Michigan nearly two decades ago. The art is translating the discoveries scientists want to make into the instruments engineers can build (and launch into space). This talk will reminisce on my nearly two decades of research and instrument development of passive microwave radiometer systems at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Getting from the tiniest nugget of an idea to a full-fledged science mission in space requires persistence, agile thinking and a bit of luck. Space-based missions generally follow a familiar pattern; the initial honeymoon period where anything is possible, building hardware where nothing seems possible and finally science operations where no one expected what was possible. Each of these phases is unique, immensely interesting and the instrument scientist is one of only a few project jobs that spans all three. I’ll share a mix of stories and science from inside the development of the NASA Juno mission and the US Space Force Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) mission. Both of these missions had unique challenges. COWVR was a 2-year instrument development that took 10-years to get into space, finally landing on the International Space Station in 2022. Juno had to be designed to survive the harsh Jovian environment. But once they reached their destination in space, they have been changing our understanding of Jupiter and its moons and demonstrating revolutionary technology back here on Earth. Getting there is never easy nor follows a linear predictable path, but that is what makes it so interesting.
Co-sponsored by: Univ of Michigan, CLASP Dept.
Speaker(s): Dr. Shannon Brown,
Room: 2246, Bldg: CLASP Bldg, 2455 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States