Crosslink Fall 2005 Contributors
A Successful Strategy for Satellite Development and Testing
William F. Tosney is Associate Principal Director in the Risk Assessment and Management Subdivision of the Systems Engineering Division. Responsibilities include the development of a life-cycle information management system to improve empirical modeling techniques, risk management strategies, and lessons learned. He recently supported NASA's Independent Review of Faster, Better, Cheaper and served on the Launch Vehicle Broad Area Review panel. He received The Institute of Environmental Science Otto Hamberg Award in 1997 for work evaluating orbital experience and ground test practices. He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the State University of New York, Buffalo (william.f.tosney@aero.org).
Steve Pavlica was Principal Engineer in the National Systems Group until his untimely death from cancer in May. He managed a variety of the NRO Director's special projects, including the joint NRO/SMC Mission Assurance Improvement Task Force, and served as colead for the NRO Testing Study. From 1996 to 2004, he served as Spacecraft Systems Director for Directorate H. He joined Aerospace in 1995 as a Project Engineer after a career in the U.S. Army. In addition to winning the Aerospace President's Award in 2004, he received an NRO Medal for Distinguished Service and several NRO Director Team Awards. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he received his M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia.
Environmental Testing for Launch and Space Vehicles
Erwin Perl, Director of the Environmental Test and Ordnance Department, Structural Mechanics Subdivision, is responsible for management and technical guidance in all aspects of testing environments for vibration, acoustics, and shock for satellite and launch vehicle systems, subsystems, and components, as well as explosive ordnance behavior and device actuations. He coordinated the development of MIL-STD-1540E and is its principal editor. He is also the cochair of the Aerospace Testing Seminar and sponsor of the Spacecraft and Launch Vehicles Environments Workshop. He joined Aerospace in 1977 to work in the Structural Dynamics Department and subsequently managed the Launch Vehicle Dynamics Section. He provided direct technical support to numerous launch vehicle and spacecraft programs. In 2003, he received the NRO Director's Team Award for contributions to a study on test practices on national programs before and after acquisition reform. He has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University (erwin.perl@aero.org).
Thinh T. Do is a manager in the Vehicle Environments Section in the Environmental Test and Ordnance Department, where he leads activities related to the prediction, verification, and validation of environmental criteria and testing requirements for launch, upper stage, and space vehicles. He has been involved in test and integration programs and defined dynamic environments for a number of launch and spacecraft programs and organizations. He has more than 25 years of experience in environmental design and testing and has been at Aerospace since 1987. He received his M.S. in mechanical engineering from California State University at Northridge (thinh.t.do@aero.org).
Alan Peterson is a Senior Engineering Specialist in the Environmental Test and Ordnance Department of the Vehicle Systems Division, where he provides environmental test expertise and guidance to the program offices. He participated in writing the MIL-STD-1540E update, System Handbook, and has provided environmental test systems engineering support for many SMC and national programs. He has published a number of papers on dynamic testing for satellite validation and verification and has been active in the Aerospace Testing Seminars. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1960 (alan.peterson@aero.org).
John Welch, Associate Director of the Spacecraft Thermal Department, provides thermal control expertise to spacecraft program offices. He wrote the thermal testing chapters in the Satellite Thermal Control Handbook and the Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook (both published by The Aerospace Press) and helped specify thermal testing requirements for MIL-STD-1540E. He has taught courses on thermal control subsystem requirements and thermal testing through the Aerospace Institute, AIAA, the Aerospace Testing Seminar, and UCLA. He joined Aerospace in 1987 after receiving an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington (john.w.welch@aero.org).
Nanoscale 3‑D Imaging
Neil A. Ives, Senior Scientist, Materials Technology Department, is responsible for image processing and development of novel visualization tools applied to research activities and program support in the area of nanoscale imaging of electronic devices and materials. He has recently developed Aerospace's capabilities for visualization pertaining to electron tomography. He joined the Aerospace Surface Science Department in 1983 and received a Corporate Achievement Award in 1987. He became Research Scientist in 1997 and Senior Scientist in 2005. He received his B.S. in chemistry from University of Redlands (neil.ives@aero.org).
Martin S. Leung, Manager, Electronic Materials and Devices Section, leads a section that has acquired and maintains a panel of world-class analytical capabilities. His group provides analytical support to root cause investigations of hardware anomalies for a number of national security space programs. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from UCLA (martin.s.leung@aero.org).
Gary Stupian, Senior Scientist in the Microelectronics Technology Department, came to Aerospace in September 1969 and has remained in Laboratory Operations ever since. His work in the area of reliability and root cause of reliability problems earned him the Aerospace President's Distinguished Achievement Award in 1994. He also supports the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center—West in the application of advanced analytic techniques to forensic investigations. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (gary.w.stupian@aero.org).
Steven C. Moss is Director of the Microelectronics Technology Department. He also studies radiation effects on microelectronic and optoelectronic devices and materials, investigates ultrafast phenomena, and develops lasers and optical systems. He received a Ph.D. in physics from North Texas State University. He was a National Research Council postdoctoral research associate at the Naval Research Laboratory and visiting assistant professor at North Texas State University prior to joining Aerospace in 1984 (steven.c.moss@aero.org).
Nathan Presser is a Senior Scientist in the Electronics and Photonics Laboratory in the Microelectronics Technology Department (nathan.presser@aero.org).
Terence Yeoh is a Member of the Technical Staff in the Microelectronics Technology Department. He joined Aerospace in 2003 and specializes in focused ion beam (FIB) microscopy and applications. His current concentrations include high-resolution FIB nanotomography and the three-dimensional modeling and visualization of nanostructures. He holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign (terence.s.yeoh@aero.org).
Thermal Cycling for Solar Panels
Robert W. Francis, Distinguished Engineer in the Electronics Engineering Subdivision, provides power sources and systems technology and evaluation support to many national security space programs. He has also supported a number of NASA and commercial programs and has provided systems engineering support for various solar array designs and power systems. He joined Aerospace in 1983 to work in the Power Sources and Technology Section of the Electronics and Optics Division. He received The Aerospace Corporation's President's Award in 2000 for discovering and fixing a serious failure mechanism in a new solar cell array design (robert.w.francis@aero.org).
Charles Sve, Senior Scientist, Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department, Space Materials Laboratory, joined Aerospace in 1968. He has been involved in the development of thermal cyclers for solar cells for 20 years in support of more than 20 programs and received The Aerospace Corporation's President's Award in 2000. He holds an M.S. in civil engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics from Northwestern University (charles.sve@aero.org).
Timothy S. Wall is an Associate Member of the Technical Staff in the Experimental Mechanics Section of the Space Materials Laboratory. Since joining Aerospace in 1982, he has been primarily engaged in developing fully automated facilities tailored to long-term life testing of flight hardware. As a coinventor of the ultrafast thermal cycler, he designed its electronics-control and data-acquisition systems, wrote the control code, and serves as the primary operator. He holds A.S. degrees in electrical engineering and math from El Camino College and is completing a B.S. in computer science at California State University, Long Beach (timothy.s.wall@aero.org).
Electric Thruster Testing
Edward Beiting, Senior Scientist in the Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department, develops optical diagnostics to study atmospheric phenomena, reactive flows, and plasmas. During the past decade, his work in the field of electric propulsion has included fundamental studies of rarefied flows in resistojets using coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy; an investigation of the effects of certain propellant contaminants on resistojets and arc jets; the creation of diagnostic techniques to investigate grid erosion in ion engines; and the invention of a sensitive impulse thrust stand for micropropulsion. He is now using optical techniques to measure plasma properties inside Hall-effect thrusters and is using an EMC facility he developed to characterize electromagnetic emissions from electric thrusters. He joined Aerospace in 1987, and has a Ph.D. in physics from The Johns Hopkins University (edward.j.beiting@aero.org).
Ronald B. Cohen is Principal Scientist in the Space Materials Laboratory. He is responsible for developing new research and technology programs and for increasing Aerospace support in the field of propulsion science and engineering. He joined Aerospace in 1975 to work in the Chemistry and Physics Laboratory. He was named Section Manager of the Propulsion and Environmental Chemistry Section in 1981. He also served as Director of the Propulsion Science and Experimental Mechanics Department. He holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Pennsylvania State University (ronald.b.cohen@aero.org).
Mark W. Crofton, Research Scientist in the Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department, focuses on the evaluation of electric thrusters and their components using a variety of specialized techniques. He has particular expertise in the area of spacecraft-thruster interactions. He holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago and has been with Aerospace since 1990 (mark.w.crofton@aero.org).
Kevin Diamant has been a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in the Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department since 2000. He has 15 years of experience working in electric propulsion, including research and development in magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, ion thrusters, Hall-effect thrusters, and microwave electrothermal thrusters as well as microwave hollow cathodes. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1996 from Princeton University (kevin.d.diamant@aero.org).
James E. Pollard, Senior Scientist in the Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department, supports military and commercial satellite programs that use electric propulsion. His laboratory work includes thruster plume characterization and the evaluation of plume effects on spacecraft materials. He provides technology assessments and mission analysis for Milsatcom (Advanced EHF, Wideband Gapfiller) and classified programs. He joined Aerospace in 1982 after receiving a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley (james.e.pollard@aero.org).
Jun Qian, a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in the Propulsion Sciences and Experimental Mechanics Department, has been engaged in the investigation of the physics and characteristics of electrical propulsion systems using nonperturbing techniques based on propellant spectroscopy. His research interests also include hyperspectral imager and data exploitation. He holds a Ph.D. in atomic, molecular, and optical physics from the University of Rochester. He joined Aerospace in 2000 (jun.qian@aero.org).
Software Testing
Myron Hecht, Senior Engineering Specialist, works in the areas of systems engineering, software architecture, reliability, and system safety. He supports the next generation Global Positioning System and other national security space programs and has previously worked in the areas of nuclear energy and air traffic control. Research interests include software dependability, fault tolerance, and products liability. He is an author of more than 75 peer-reviewed publications and has served on standards committees of the IEEE, AIAA, and American Nuclear Society. He holds an M.S. in engineering, an M.B.A., and a J.D., all from UCLA (myron.j.hecht@aero.org).
Douglas J. Buettner, Engineering Specialist, provides software and test engineering expertise to various space systems under development at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. He conceived and leads an Aerospace initiative to accumulate software life-cycle process data from software-intensive space system acquisitions and correlate these processes with deployed failure data. He has held both quality-assurance management and software test lead positions in the software industry. He is working on a Ph.D. in astronautics at the University Of Southern California and holds an M.S. in physics from Oregon State University (douglas.j.buettner@aero.org).
Ground Systems Testing
Norman L. Strang, Director of the Ground Systems Development and Operations Department, is responsible for engineering management of the Ground Systems Engineering Office and the Ground Systems Support Office. Since joining Aerospace in 1977, he has worked for many different programs and organizations, including the shuttle, Titan, Atlas, EELV, NRO, SBIRD, and civil and commercial projects. Prior to joining Aerospace, he worked for McDonnell Douglas Astronautics as a propulsion engineer. He earned an M.S. in engineering management from the University of Southern California (norman.l.strang@aero.org).
To Fall 2005 Table of Contents
