In 1999, the Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) lost its primary mission thirty-six hours after launch. Those who worked on WIRE, which was the fifth of the Explorer Program’s Small Explorer-class missions, thought they had done what they needed to achieve success.
By Maureen Madden I love to learn about all the cool things we work on here at NASA, but I don’t have time to read all the press releases or go to all the workshops and conferences.
By Karl Saad Along with a half dozen NASA centers, the European Space Agency (ESA), and a variety of academic and industry partners, the Canadian Space Agency has been working on its contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope.
By Jan Chodas Dr. Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, and the Juno team had been working toward this milestone for several years. A mission of this length and complexity required careful planning and testing to increase its chances of success.
By Holly R. Gilbert We inhabitants of Earth have an intimate and complex relationship with the sun. As we learn more about the underlying physics driving the magnetic ball of plasma that is essential for our very existence, the complexity of that relationship becomes increasingly apparent.
By Haley Stephenson The Bloodhound Supersonic Car aims to set a new land-speed record and a new standard for openness in projects.
By Roger Forsgren Like most people, project managers and engineers may have an interest in history without realizing that understanding the past can help them better understand and manage the present. Studying the past can be an opportunity to see how leaders overcame daunting obstacles to achieve their goals.
By Matthew Kohut Bryan O’Connor retired as chief of Safety and Mission Assurance on August 31, 2011, after serving nearly a decade as NASA’s top safety and mission assurance official.
By Paul Hertz NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) provides opportunities for scientists outside the agency to determine what science NASA should pursue in future missions. Several different programs, such as Discovery and Explorer, publish announcements of opportunity so ideas can be proposed, vetted, selected, and flown in the pursuit of groundbreaking scientific discovery.
