Dr. David McComas, IMAP PI
Spring is an inspiring time for the work on our spacecraft at APL and at each instrument home institution. Engineers have been in high productivity as they continue to build and test each component and prepare for their CDRs. More opportunity to work together in person also joyfully continues to increase, adding to the GO IMAP spirit that connects us together as a team. We are all looking forward to having as many of us as possible together at the APL in June for a Full Science Team Meeting.
In November, I shared information with you about IMAP-Ultra and its part in the The bubble-like region surrounding the solar system inflated by the solar wind, shielding the solar system from interstellar radiation. mapping that IMAP will accomplish. This month I’d like to turn attention to the High-energy Ion Telescope, or The High-energy Ion Telescope (HIT) collects, measures, and maps very energetic particles coming through the heliosphere, as well as those flowing from the Sun. Near real-time energetic particle data collected by HIT will be used to better predict and warn scientists about Earth-bound solar storm activity., which addresses ion acceleration goals and is being built at Goddard Space Flight Center.
HIT consists of a sensor head equipped with several silicon solid-state detectors (SSDs), each set oriented toward a different The area or region that can be observed or captured by a particular instrument or sensor.. The multiple look-angles will allow for full sky coverage in detecting the elemental The specific components or “ingredients” that make up a substance or type of matter., energy spectra, angle distributions, and arrival times of multiple species of high-energy ions. This will enable a high resolution of ion measurements, such as observing shock-accelerated ions, determining the origin of the Energetic charged particles generated in solar flares and CMEs. Solar cosmic rays are typically lower energy than galactic cosmic rays. Also called Solar Cosmic Rays. (SEPs) spectra, and resolving particle transport in the heliosphere. As ions enter the instrument from multiple angles, HIT will sort the energetic ions, which range from hydrogen (H) to nickel (Ni), by intensity, species, A measure of an object's resistance to change in its motion (inertial mass); a measure of the strength of gravitational force an object can produce (gravitational mass)., and direction of origin.
HIT’s two high-energy A negatively charged elementary particle that normally resides outside (but is bound to) the nucleus of an atom. detectors will also contribute data to another unprecedented aspect of the IMAP investigation, the IMAP Active Link for Real Time, or The IMAP Active Link for Reat-Time (I-ALiRT) system provides a high-cadence stream of near-real time space weather data from the HIT, CoDICE, SWAPI, SWE, and MAG instruments to scientists on Earth via a network of antenna partners located around the globe, including the DSN. This enhanced data stream will assist in improving overall reliability and timing of Earthbound space weather predictions, providing data to forecasters in time for users to take protective action. system. The I-ALiRT data stream will consist of in-situ solar Usually refers to electromagnetic waves, such as light, radio, infrared, X-rays, ultraviolet; also sometimes used to refer to atomic particles of high energy, such as electrons (beta-radiation), helium nuclei (alpha-radiation), and so on. metrics headed towards the Earth from HIT and other IMAP instruments. This will be used to inform operators on the ground, testing the use of these metrics in forecasting possible The conditions and activity observed in interplanetary space caused by the Sun’s activity, such as solar flares, solar storms, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Severe space weather conditions directed towards Earth can impact infrastructure and technology on Earth, as well as satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts in its trajectory. impacts for Earth later in the solar and energetic particle events.
HIT’s engineering model and board testing the last few months has been achieving milestones to celebrate, such as completing the closeout of the final assembly work of the anode board and preparing for FlatSat testing. It also reveals new challenges of operating at a point distant from planetary influences. It’s the challenges that uncover the most exciting possibilities for our instrument teams to be truly innovative in ensuring the best possible performance at the highest capacities of what we are investigating.
I have said before that the collaborative talent and experience found on the IMAP team is what makes spacecraft and instrument performance and capacity possibilities a reality. Kyle Gregory is one of those leading the way as the Lead Electrical Engineer for HIT at Goddard Space Flight Center.
IMAP Team Spotlight Feature: Kyle Gregory
Photo Credit: Kyle Gregory
Having one parent as an engineer and the other a science teacher had some influence on Kyle Gregory’s interest in electronics and engineering. As a student, he spent time tinkering with computers and electronics and building stereos for his cars in high school. That opened him up to the different engineering fields to explore. It wasn’t until college, however, that Kyle settled on electrical as his path. During his last years at Penn State, he discovered Mars Society, an engineering group funded by NASA Space Grant focused on designing rovers for Mars that demonstrated capabilities of how an astronaut might use a rover as an assistant explorer. Kyle’s participation in this club would spark an even deeper interest in his chosen field, as well as help open doors to his future career possibilities.
“Most engineers that come to NASA start as an internship. I did not do that. I got hired right out of college, so I was very fortunate and very lucky in that regard.” Kyle attributes his involvement with the Mars Society as something that helped him stand out. He cut his NASA engineer teeth on the Aquarius spacecraft, an Earth science mission that measured ocean salinity as a determinate of weather patterns and climate variability. Kyle went on to work in different branches of engineering at Goddard and several different NASA spacecraft, including the soil analyzing instrument SAM on the Mars Curiosity rover. He also was able to take advantage of NASA’s Academic Investments for Mission Success (AIMS) program that allowed him to complete his master’s degree in engineering while continuing to work full time, which has been valuable in helping him to deepen his engineering skillset.
Photo Credit: Kyle Gregory
Goddard also offers engineers a unique opportunity to work in different branches, with different teams of people. “I gained a lot of perspective by joining different groups. The group I started in and the group I'm in now is called the Instrumental Electronics Development branch. I also joined the Components and Hardware Systems branch, which focuses more on hardware for the spacecraft side, [such as] altitude control systems, controllers for star trackers, reaction wheels. That branch was organized a little differently. We had a larger number of Mechanical Engineers in that branch, so that was an interesting experience.” Each group works with different approaches, varying phases of a mission, and some combine fields of engineering. Working in these groups offers opportunity to expand capacities and gain broader perspective in how to approach designing for solutions. Kyle was also able to have opportunity to work as an Associate Branch Head in the An instrument which is used to discover that something is present somewhere, or to measure how much of something there is. Systems Branch, a role that focuses on developing employees and facilities as well as strategic planning for the organization.
“Being a branch head gives you a different perspective compared to being an engineer. You tend to think about questions of what kind of work should we be doing? Where should we be developing the team? What kind of engineer should we be hiring? What is NASA's role and what do we need to be good at, or what kinds of things can we let private industry do that we just buy from them? These were questions I didn't think about as an engineer. As an engineer, I always thought we can do everything, we should do everything, you know, and that's just not how it works. Just being able to work in different capacities and having those different perspectives, then it's also about people so much more than it's about the product.”
When asked what his academy-award winning moment would be, Kyle answered immediately. “I think first light is a big one. When you see that first picture or that first An instrument that spreads light or other electromagnetic radiation into its component wavelengths (spectrum), recording the results photographically or electronically., that's a really exciting moment for anybody. That's sort of the moment. A lot of us watched the [Mars] rover landing. When that Rover lands on the ground and you see the first picture on the surface of Mars, that's sort of what it's like when [instrument teams] see our first pictograph. A spectrograph is less glamorous for the public just because you look at it, it's like: ‘oh it's a bunch of lines.’ But for us, it's really exciting to see that the instrument works, it's in its place, it's ready to discover new things.”
Photo Credit: Kyle Gregory
Outside of the HIT lab, Kyle has recently returned to a love he discovered in college: snow sports. An avid snowboarder and instructor of the sport in college, he recently had the chance to get his young family on the slopes for the first time since he became a dad. Delightedly, he shares: “My whole family is now on skis. I'm looking forward to doing that a lot more. It's definitely a fun family activity, skiing.”
What does Kyle wish others knew about his work and the IMAP mission?
“It's exciting to be a part of. I'm playing my small role of kind of advancing our understanding of the The totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be.. And then, just trying to overcome all the challenges that we run into along the way, because it is a difficult business.”
He adds, “It's clear that a lot of people feel that there's value in exploring space, expanding their presence in space, in colonizing different planets. Part of doing that is understanding the Sun because one thing we know about the Sun is it's very active. It does a lot of things. You know like when you're a kid you think it's just like a light in the sky, but it's actually a very complicated system and what that means for space exploration is you know it's always emitting particles. Sometimes it's a lot of particles, sometimes it's not as much and that affects anybody that's in space. We're trying to better understand how it affects astronauts, how we can better deal with it. Can we predict when it's going to be worse, or maybe not as bad? It's important to be able to forecast space weather just as it is to be able to forecast weather on the Earth. I think that's one key role of IMAP. And then, just understanding the Sun could have many applications. A lot of scientists will tell you that we don't have to know why we were learning something to want to learn it…You can look throughout history, whenever people are learning new things, that's when technology moves and it often impacts humankind at large in ways that you wouldn't have predicted.”