Pathfinder Alternative School
Seattle Washington
Dear Jim, Today my students brainstormed questions for you. You can pick and choose whichever seem most appropriate or fit together the best. Some obviously don't apply to your expertise - some of my kids are pretty young. One thing I'm trying to get them to see is the diversity of specialists and jobs on something like a Mars mission, how independent and yet interdependent you all are. Their questions in general categories: How did you become a professional astronomer? I am an atmospheric scientist, not an astronomer, whose specialty is the lower atmosphere, commonly called the Planetary Boundary Layer. It's from a few meters deep at night and up to a few kilometers during the day, depending on wind speed, and the planet! I was involved in audio-visual technology during high school, electronics in the Navy, and entered MIT to study Electrical Engineering. Why did you become a professional astronomer? I took an introductory course in meteorology as an undergraduate, went to work for the Weather Radar Project at MIT, and switched to meteorology due to its' challenges. It required electronics, physics and statistics, satisfying my curiosity and desire to advance and pioneer the development of new technology, things and techniques. How long have you studied space? Roughly 32 years since I worked on the first "Mars weather station for the Voyager program which, in 1965 was to go to Mars." How many years have you worked for NASA? I work at the University of Washington but get all of my funds from NASA or the National Science Foundation. What qualities does it take to get into NASA? It depends on what you want to do. If it's engineering or science, it requires a strong background in mathematics, science and the ability to express your ideas clearly and concisely Were there grades on your work (for NASA)? Our closest equivalent to "grades" is whether your program, proposal, and research is funded and succeeds. There are many competing proposals for a small set of funds such as, Mars versus Venus, Pluto, asteroids, etc. Scientific advisory groups try to recommend balanced programs to NASA. However, the funding, and even program decisions, are strongly influenced by political considerations, administrative goals and competence. Were there levels of work for beginners, intermediate, etc (for NASA)? Not in my personal work, where I am often trying to advance the state of the technology to meet increasing demands for smaller, lower power, lighter and even cheaper. However, there is room, given funds which are scarce, for capable individuals with less experience. One of my best workers was a student who worked for me one summer and had just graduated from Lakeside high school. Bill Gates and Paul Allen also graduated from Lakeside. Do you work well with your partners? Depends on the attitude and capability of my partners. If its to work hard, try to understand your work, ask questions and get information from others who have already accomplished similar tasks, and communicate well, I think the answer is yes. If they are stubborn, secretive, don't admit what they may not know, don't seek out information and "DON'T LISTEN", then I have problems. I like to discuss ideas in a free and healthy way, trying to consider the most important factors. What's your favorite planet? Earth, and my second is Mars. Mars is the only other planet in our solar system where we can land a spacecraft and study the interaction of the wind, temperature, humidity, and sun with the surface for long times. My group and I played a key role in keeping Viking Lander 1 alive for an extra 1,200 days on the surface of Mars. Do you want to go into space? Yes, but as a payload I'm too old and heavy. I want you to go and do a better job than I could! Is there life on planets? On Earth, I think so. In some solar system, somewhere I think the answer is YES. Is there life on other planets and moons in our solar system, I don't know but we should try to find out by studying Mars meteorites, Mars, and other likely places. Can humans live on planets? Yes, on Mars. They need pressurized suits and buildings and protection from the low temperatures and ultra-violet radiation. Is there water on Mars? Yes. There is lots of water in the form of vapor in the atmosphere, water-ice clouds and snow, ice and perma-frost in the polar regions and under the ground. What is the Viking made of? Aluminum, and lots of wires! How did you help design the Viking? I didn't design Viking. Martin-Marietta designed the lander and TRW designed the Biology and Meteorology experiments. I was a science Team member on the Viking Meteorology Science Team and helped decide which proposal to accept, and some modifications to make in the instrument TRW developed. What did you add to the Viking? I initiated needed testing of the instrument in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, a 16 foot tunnel which is closed and can go down to Mars pressures. It cost $ 4,000 per hour to operate in 1975 and we received 2 weeks exclusive use of the tunnel. My group and I designed a computer system to control the meteorology instrument and some of the software to run it and analyze the test results. I made several meteorological discoveries such as The winds at Lander 1 in the summer were controlled by cooling of sloping terrain Fronts were more similar to Earth fronts than expected Global atmospheric resonances, sort of like the ringing of a glass or a guitar string at a "natural" frequency That planet wide, dust storms did not occur each year A possible mechanism for triggering great dust storms How long did it take to design your part on the Viking? I didn't design anything except the computer system and interface for testing and data reduction. This took about a year with great cooperation from industry. Other analyses and publications have taken from 1976 to now. Currently, much more could be obtained by studying Viking Meteorology data but there are no funds. What did your draft look like? (My students always do a rough draft for their writing, so they imagined you do too.) Yes, I do rough drafts and they often are not very satisfying!! How does the Viking see? It has two "camera's" with color filters, and photo sensors. It makes a picture by moving a single light sensor, in small steps, up, then over and up again, with a mirror for the up and down and by rotating the camera. Does the Viking have computers? Yes, two, which never had an error, except possibly at the end for Lander 1 What was the most helpful thing on the Viking? What gave the most information? A difficult question, since biology was the dominant investigation and its' generally lack of finding "life" with one claimed exception. I like to think that the cameras followed by meteorology, were the most important. Was it hard to design the Viking? Why or why not? Yes, since many new technologies had to be drastically reduced in size and use of resources. The three biology laboratories had to fit in a box lass than 2 feet on a side and the whole spacecraft used the power of a 50 watt light bulb. Was it hard to work on the Viking with suits on? (They have seen pictures of technicians working on the Pathfinder probe with white sanitary suits on.) I didn't do it but I don't think it was too difficult. Did you help with the Pathfinder Rover? No, just the Pathfinder Meteorology How long did it take to build the Pathfinder Mission? About 3 years Are you working on another mission? Not now, although I have given advice on the next mission which is landing in the south polar region. Do you believe in Martians? Not until you get there! You are the future of Mars exploration. -BryanJ. Tillman