Jeffrey Umland

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Jeffrey Umland is the Chief Mechanical Engineer of NASA's InSight mission. He previously served as the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Curiosity Rover at NASA's Mars Science Laboratory. [1]

NASA space-related agency of the United States government

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

<i>InSight</i> Twelfth mission of the Discovery program; in-situ seismology and geology study at Elysium Planitia, Mars

The Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission is a robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of the planet Mars. It was manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and most payload instruments it carries were built by European agencies. The mission launched on 5 May 2018 at 11:05 UTC aboard an Atlas V-401 rocket and successfully landed at Elysium Planitia on Mars on 26 November 2018 at 19:52:59 UTC. InSight traveled 483 million km (300 million mi) during its journey.

<i>Curiosity</i> (rover) American robotic rover exploring the crater Gale on Mars

Curiosity is a car-sized rover designed to explore the crater Gale on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL). Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 15:02 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 560 million km (350 million mi) journey. The rover's goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration.

Background

Umland received his B.S. and Ph.D in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1985 and 1991, respectively. In April 2014, he received the University's Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award for achievement and distinction in science and engineering.

Mission achievements

As the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Curiosity MSL mission, Umland and his team were able to successfully land the rover on the surface of Mars on August 5, 2012. He led the project's mechanical engineering technical development during the mission. Umland also lead his team to invent the rover's "Sky-crane". [2]

Mars Fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. In English, Mars carries a name of the Roman god of war, and is often referred to as the "Red Planet" because the reddish iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance that is distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

Prior to MSL, Umland was the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's structural dynamics lead for the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which flew on STS-99.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research and development center and NASA field center in California, US

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States, though it is often referred to as residing in Pasadena, California, because it has a Pasadena ZIP Code.

Shuttle Radar Topography Mission research effort to generate a digital topographic database of Earth

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Earth prior to the release of the ASTER GDEM in 2009. SRTM consisted of a specially modified radar system that flew on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the 11-day STS-99 mission in February 2000, based on the older Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR), previously used on the Shuttle in 1994. To acquire topographic data, the SRTM payload was outfitted with two radar antennas. One antenna was located in the Shuttle's payload bay, the other – a critical change from the SIR-C/X-SAR, allowing single-pass interferometry – on the end of a 60-meter (200-foot) mast that extended from the payload bay once the Shuttle was in space. The technique employed is known as interferometric synthetic aperture radar. Intermap Technologies was the prime contractor for processing the interferometric synthetic aperture radar data.

STS-99 human spaceflight

STS-99 was a Space Shuttle mission using Endeavour, that launched on 11 February 2000 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The primary objective of the mission was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. This was also the last solo flight of Endeavour; all future flights for Endeavour became devoted to the International Space Station.

Currently, Umland is the Chief Mechanical Engineer for NASA's InSight mission, which is expected to launch in March 2016 and land on Mars in September 2016.

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<i>2001 Mars Odyssey</i> Space probe

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Mars Science Laboratory robotic space probe mission

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a manned mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team.

Steve Squyres Professor of Physical Sciences at Cornell University

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Hazcam

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References

  1. ↑ "Speaker Profile". UB Graduate Student Association. State University of New York at Buffalo. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "Cornell Profile" (PDF). www.cornell.edu. Cornell University . Retrieved 21 June 2014.
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