Imagining A Mission to Jupiter's Ganymede with Planetary Science Summer School

Group shot - PSSS Session 1 - July 2010

The application deadline for the NASA Planetary Science Summer School at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California is approaching, and I realized that I hadn't yet written about my own PSSS experience six years ago. Rereading our paper and looking at photos just now, I remembered that I had met a few of my friends and colleagues through that experience. I present to you:

Ganymede Interior, Surface, and Magnetometer Orbiter, or, GISMO.

Planetary Science Summer School is a one-week bootcamp. Fourteen of us planetary science and engineering graduate students and post-docs gathered for the first session of PSSS in July 2010. We had been emailing back and forth for a month or so, throwing around ideas and getting to know each other. It was through these exchanges that we settled on our mission to Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon and the only moon known to have its own magnetosphere (magnetic field).

I was assigned the positions of Planetary Protection (protecting other worlds from us) and Education & Public Outreach (EPO). I was tasked with creating our protocols and objectives for protecting Ganymede and nearby worlds such as Europa from contamination and educating the public, especially students.

Protecting the solar system from us humans - July 2010

Additionally, I chose to be on the non-icy surfaces team and the instruments team. On the non-icy surface team, we focused and advocated for studying the interesting surface and subsurface features that Ganymede has to offer, that aren't ice. On the instruments team, we determined which sensors we'd need to carry in order to complete our science objectives. We had to make difficult choices when we didn't have enough money, didn't have enough data bandwidth downlink, didn't have enough power, or was too heavy to carry all that we wanted to fly.

What impressed me the most about the experience was how quickly we were able to design a planetary exploration mission to another world. With the help of experts from JPL's Team X, in just a week, we wrote a mission design paper and an hour-long presentation with technical details and budgets in line with a NASA New Frontiers program mission. The science objectives of the GISMO probe were to study:

• the magnetic field
• the interior
• the surface
• the atmosphere

All for approximately $710 million.

This was my first time at JPL, so I was glad we also got to see the sights. We got a tour of the Mars Exploration Rover mission (Spirit and Opportunity) facilities including rover mock-ups, testbeds, and the controls that give the rovers their schedule. We saw the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity in the clean room before it was launched. It was nice to roam the campus-like grounds, including spending time with the deer. We even saw a show at the Hollywood Bowl, BBC's Planet Earth with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Me with a Mars rover mock-up - July 2010

Mars rover testbed - July 2010

Curiosity on a test run in the JPL cleanroom before its stroll on Mars - July 2010

In addition to our NASA presentation that week, we also presented our paper at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Science Conference, the American Geophysical Union conference, and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Aerospace conference. If there ever is a NASA mission to Ganymede in the future, I hope that the creators of that mission build upon what we started with GISMO.

A Pseudo Geologist Among the Rocks at Barringer Meteor Crater, Arizona

Around 50,000 years ago, a nickle-iron meteorite approximately 50 meters long hit the Earth in what is now Arizona, creating what is known as Meter Crater or the Barringer Crater. Four and a half years ago, I got to explore it. I was one of 16 graduate students who participated in the Lunar and Planetary Institute's Meteor Crater Field Camp in September 2011. It was quite an experience!

On the rim of Meteor Crater - September 2011

I'll start out by admitting that I was not exactly a happy camper during the eight day field camp because I am not a camper at all. I enjoy comfortable beds, temperature controlled rooms, clean bathrooms, vehicles that can take me long distances, and other modern conveniences. To be fair, camping at Meteor Crater isn't fully camping. They had bathroom facilities with decent showers, electrical outlet ports outside, and wifi. I brought my laptop and connected to the internet every morning and evening. Even so, eight days is a long time for a non-camper to camp.

The Meteor Crater camp site - September 2011

I was also quite out-of-place with my peers. Although the program was open to geologists and planetary scientists, it heavily leaned toward geology. I had taken a graduate-level geology class and was studying lunar impact craters, but it was soon clear that I was the least knowledgeable about geology in the pack. Additionally, my fellow classmates seemed to love rocks and their excitement to stare endlessly at rocks was genuine. I think rocks are cool, but my interest in the minutia is short-lived. The program leader quickly identified me as a geologist fraud and took a disliking to me. We didn't see eye-to-eye on space policy, either. Despite my inadequacies, I learned quite a bit of geology from my peers and became the group's photographer with my DSLR.

Group at work - September 2011

Someone else took this one. I'm the short girl in purple - September 2011

The landscapes in the desert are gorgeous and plenty photogenic. We hiked around the crater rim, down to the center and back up again, around the crater ejecta blanket, and in an old quarry. Abandoned mining equipment and infrastructure littered the field like an archaeological site. Recent rains caused wildflowers to burst with color. And my team always seems to be posing in an action shot among the rocks. The sights were truly spectacular.

Wildflowers blooming - September 2011

Abandoned wheel - September 2011

Standing in the ruins with abandoned buildings yonder - September 2011

On the second full day, former astronaut Tom Jones joined us in our hike down the crater. I had met him once before and once since, and he always seems like such a cool guy. Apollo astronauts used to train for the lunar terrain in the crater, and NASA relics are still kept in the crater's museum, so the area has a history of astronaut activity. Tom gave us a presentation on potentially hazardous near Earth asteroids, a relevant subject in an area once hit by a near Earth asteroid.

Posing with astronaut Tom Jones - September 2011

Resting at the bottom of the crater - September 2011

If I wasn't a geologist before I arrived at the field camp, I certainly wasn't going to leave as one. Day after day, we undertook laborious tasks that I can't quite believe modern geologists still do. We counted pebbles by hand. We measured pebbles with rulers. We took location measurements of boulders with outdated handheld GPS receivers. We categorized everything we saw with our own eyes. It seemed to me that aerial remote sensing with good software could have accomplished most of what we did a lot more easily, but graduate students are cheap labor and we were out there for the experience.

Working among the rocks - September 2011

I do appreciate the experience and I'm glad to have participated in the program. Real science was done, and in a small way, I contributed. I'm a co-author on conference proceedings from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference: Extensional Faulting of the Overturned Coconino Ejecta Layer and Emplacement of Fallback Breccia at Barringer Meteorite Crater (aka Meteor Crater). But honestly, I'm more proud of my photography.

Self-portrait on the cliff - September 2011

Sunset at Meteor Crater - September 2011

Attention Students Desiring Space Careers: This Is For You

I am pleased to announce my services as a space career mentor. I've been sitting on this idea for a while and was finally inspired by a friend to move forward with it. I want to thank all of my mentors and mentees for giving me such great mentoring experiences over the years.

As a student, I collected mentors. No matter where I was and what stage I was in, I identified a professional who I admired and wanted to emulate. Interestingly, these were never university-assigned advisors. They were people I came across in passing or people I sought out and partnered with. Only in the case of my graduate school advisor were these formal mentors. Most of them had no idea that I considered them a mentor unless I told them. When told, they often acted embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Even the concept of an informal mentor carries weight. And so I refrained from defining relationships as thus an instead simply appreciated the individual as a colleague or authority figure who inspired me.

Over the past few years since I left academia, I've begun reaching out to individual students and student groups to spread the love of space and inspire space careers. Age ranges included elementary school through graduate students and even a few early professionals. Although these relationships are usually temporary, I have had the pleasure of connecting with some of these students long-term. I've watched some of them progress through high school and college and into professional jobs. I've been a cheerleader and a shoulder to cry on. I've watched some obtain their dream jobs and others leave the field for a better path. I've seen them all grow.

These mentee relationships, all of them informal except for one, have been tremendously rewarding. It's my current and former mentees who I have to thank for showing me how much I enjoy the relationship. It also helps to know that at least a few of them think that I'm pretty good at being a mentor. If I didn't know that I wasn't helping them in some way, I wouldn't offer myself as a mentor. To know that they think well of me and that I inspire them is a gift that they give me in addition to the gift of getting to know them. I thank them for their encouragement.

I also take inspiration from my former career coach who assisted me in jumping the hurdle from student to professional. She looked inside of me and inspired confidence and courage. She showed me that I had potential that I didn't know I had. It was from working with her did I realize that formal guidance could be offered with the assistance of the right tools, the right questions, and good listening skills. She knew nothing of the space field, yet she played a large part in guiding me to where I am today.

And so, I am offering my services as a space career mentor. The details can be found on the Astralytical website. I will still continue to speak with student groups and assist individual students on an informal basis, of course. This project doesn't replace my STEM outreach; it enhances it. I never felt that I had the time to follow up closely with each mentee to help them in the best way I could in the moment. With formal mentoring, I can do just that. I'll be able to assist and guide mentees in ways I haven't been able to before. And this excites me!

Are you looking to pursue or develop a space career, but don't know how or don't know if you're on the right track? Do you feel lost, stuck, or uncertain? Do you want to improve your career progress and prospects? Or do you know of a student or young professional who may benefit from a mentor? I'm here to help!

Hanging out in the VAB at KSC with college students at a STEM outreach event - August 2015 

My Personal Journey into Space Policy Geekery

Politics – a topic everyone loves to argue about. However, space is generally a universally loved subject. We can disagree about how much money is spent on it, who pays, and what actions are taken toward what objectives, but we all love that work is being done in space. This is seen when we achieve big discoveries: gravitational wave detection, Pluto fly-by, humans landing on another world. Here in Florida, space is especially beloved.

Earlier this month, I participated in my fourth Florida Space Day. Yesterday, we held the wrap-up meeting. Our goal is to effectively communicate with state legislators to promote space. After each annual event, we go over our lessons learned to improve the process for the next year. We try to make each year better and more impactful than the previous.

To understand why Space Day is so important to me, I need to go back in time four years. I was a doctoral student, enjoying my studies but wanting very much to get involved in space policy. I was President of the Florida Space Development Council, a National Space Society chapter, and was able to participate in Space Day thanks to FSDC sponsorship. I was thrilled to take part. When up in Tallahassee for the event, I was sitting on a job offer from CASIS, contemplating taking it (I did), but also wondering what a career in space policy would look like. As a student, the legislators loved meeting me. I felt like a sponge, absorbing everything.

The following years, I became a team lead and a subcommittee head, and I left my studies to enter the professional world. It really wasn't until this year that I felt that I could hold my own among the seasoned professionals advocating with me. Spreading the love of space is easy. Giving specific examples and answering the questions of busy and over-scheduled part-time state legislators is complex. This year, my fourth, I feel that I finally have the process down.

Building that confidence and expertise prepared me for my second space policy meeting yesterday: Congressman Bill Posey's Space Advisory Council. Twelve of us gathered with the Congressman to discuss relevant space topics of interest. In no particular order, this included: Orion and the Space Launch System, NASA commercial cargo and crew, education and public outreach, asteroid mining, launching from the United States versus elsewhere, certifications, the FAA's role in spaceflight, federal research grants, the presidential candidate's opinions on space, Air Force range, gravitational waves, the Chinese space agency, RD-180 Russian rockets, and NASA's budget planning.

I'm the only woman on the council and was the youngest by far. It was an honor to serve on the council with such a distinguished crowd. I proudly contributed to the conversation with my informed and sometimes unpopular opinions that I hope challenged some of the perceptions in the room. I've been doing quite a bit of research and self-study lately, and I'm hoping that my fresh look at the issues can be of use to the Congressman and even others on the council. It was a fun afternoon!

It amazes me to see how much I've learned in four years. And this is just the start of my space policy journey. What comes next, I can't wait to see!

Congressman Bill Posey's Space Advisory Council - February 18, 2016

A Refreshingly Honest Look at ISRU for Missions to Moons and Mars

It's refreshing to have an honest conversation about human spaceflight. I've written here previously about my frustrations that future human spaceflight hype discredits missions and makes it harder for us in the space world to do our jobs. Spaceflight is difficult, expensive, and takes time. Well-intentioned promoters downplay these challenges, but reality backfires on them. I'm an idealist by nature, but when it comes to the business and technical challenges of space, I'm a realist bordering on skeptic. Show me the detailed plan, show me the money, and show me how the technology is already being developed and tested.

It has been a pleasure to delve into realistic human spaceflight architectures at the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute this week. Only by detailing, step-by-step, a feasible and affordable means of creating a sustainable path to humans living on another world (Earth's Moon, Mars' moons, Mars itself, etc.) with a business case for industry profit can we accomplish such a monumental task. Apollo to the Moon was a one-time effort in history which will not and arguably should not be repeated. For decades, many in the space industry have known that sustainability (settlement, colonization, pioneering, establishing a base or outpost, whatever you want to call it) is what is needed. But there has never been a consensus on how to do it.

In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is not a new concept but is surprisingly an under-appreciated and under-funded area of study. Instead of needing to bring all resources with us on a rocket from Earth to wherever we're going, it would save a lot of weight (which translates to fuel savings, which translates to money savings) to use the resources that exist in space already. Although it has been politically unpopular to say so for years, a heavy lift rocket such as the Space Launch System is likely not needed if we instead focus on ISRU.

To use two examples that we discussed today at BASI, if we can use lunar and/or Martian regolith (dirt) to create water and rocket fuel/propellant, we would not have to bring extra water and fuel with us on these missions. Existing water/ice H2O can be extracted from the regolith. Electrolysis can break H2O into hydrogen H2 and oxygen O2 which can be used as fuel. All that is needed is energy. On Mars, carbon dioxide CO2 is also available in the atmosphere for ,making fuel.

There are multiple unanswered questions that need to be studied in order to propose this course of action. How do we best mine this regolith, especially the icy regolith? Can and how do we break apart the regolith and ice to extract the elements needed? How much energy would it take? How pure does the water and fuel need to be? Can and how do we create a usable fuel? How much would we save launching from the Moon compared to launching from Earth with Earth's higher gravity? So many questions, too little done in experimentation!

Thankfully, planetary regolith experimentation is one of my things, and I find this all to be exciting questions to ponder and later to test. Unfortunately, so far there hasn't been an organized and collaborative effort. There are scattered teams working on ISRU at NASA centers, universities, and even a few commercial companies, but no one seems to be talking to each other in a productive way to move the field forward. Thankfully, building collaborations is also one of my things. Today's meeting was fun and I look forward to bringing together even more people to advance this effort and get things done!

Money is the main barrier, as it always is. Aside from NASA, I don't know of anyone willing to fund these efforts, and NASA money is scarce. Without much funding, ISRU demonstration progresses at a snail's pace and the concepts and technology won't be ready for prime time when missions are being planned. Of course, missions are also endlessly delayed, so this isn't urgent. Here's where my optimism returns: I believe that public-private partnerships will return humans to other worlds in my lifetime. In fact, I'm holding on to the dream that I'll be among the astronauts to walk on another planetary body. I'm working hard to do my little part to get us there in whatever way I can.

What can we do with lunar regolith? - NASA KSC, January 22, 2015

“What is Your Dream? What are You Doing to Make it Happen?”

“What is your dream? What are you doing to make it happen?”

A top man in the field asked me this when I was in graduate school. I was puzzled by the question. I was in school pursuing a doctorate. Wasn't I already doing what I needed to do in order to make my dream happen?

Yes, and no. Because of the popularity of the academic track and the bias toward it in academic institutions, I was moving along the pipeline indirectly pursuing my dream. More directly, I was pursuing someone else's dream. Many people strive to secure the rare and coveted professor position at a respected university becoming an expert in a particular subfield due to years of training and research. But at the time, I already knew that path wasn't for me.

The first step in answering that question was to determine what my dream is. I want to be an astronaut, the same dream since childhood. But if I examine more closely, or just take a look at the specialty Florida license plate that I had ordered around this time which proclaimed 2LUNA – to the Moon – I'll note that my dream is to become a lunar astronaut or more broadly, a planetary astronaut. I was in school to be a planetary scientist, after all.

A look at NASA's direction at the time showed a choice: work hard to become an astronaut if you're lucky and you'll orbit Earth, or hold off on astronaut aspirations for a little while until NASA's next mission to somewhere. It didn't take me long to conclude that the private sector might be more in line with my goals. Although I still loved NASA, I had just come from working at MSFC and no longer saw working there as my end goal.

I was inspired by a company called Golden Spike which formed to create private human missions to the Moon. I even did a tiny side project with Golden Spike for a short while. I was just beginning to explore the world of the private space industry and I dove in head first. I knew that this is where I belonged. It seemed like the best avenue to make my dream become reality.

Years in the industry has taught me one thing over and over again: private industry can be as slow as government and doesn't always succeed. At this time, there is no path to me becoming a planetary astronaut. I don't have the funds to become a suborbital astronaut. I likely don't have the genes to become a NASA astronaut. The path forward for the pursuit of my dream is unclear.

So, what am I doing to make my dream happen? I'm joining the doers. I'm learning all I can and contributing to the progress of the space industry as a whole. I'm starting conversations with people smarter and more experienced than myself, I'm analyzing data, and later this year I hope to play with hardware again. I am working as part of something greater than myself.

Lately, I've been envious. I see others along the path with me and I want what they have. But I need to work to get there. I have my own needs and goals. Now, when I catch envy stirring in me, I ask myself not, “Why don't I have that?” but rather, “What do I need to do to get that? And do I even want it?” In discerning my actions, I can take the best steps forward. My life is no one else's.

What is your dream? What are you doing to make it happen? Don't just live on autopilot. Don't pursue someone else's dream. Really consider what actions you're taking to move forward in your pursuit. Don't be afraid of course corrections. Don't be afraid to try something new. Best of luck on your journey!

Finding the courage to pursue my dream, and to tell the world about it! - February 2011

Adventures in Tallahassee with Florida Space Day

For the fourth year, I drove up to Florida's capital, Tallahassee, on Tuesday for Florida Space Day. During this day, our group of space industry representatives meets with as many legislators as we can schedule in order to thank them for their support and to ask for their continued support. For the third year, I was a team lead for a small team of four people schedule to meet with six legislators and drop off information at a handful of other offices. Although I'm not part of a sponsoring entity this year, I drove up on my own dime because I believe in the cause – and it's fun!

The event begins with a light reception at the Challenger Learning Center the evening before so that teams can becoming acquainted with one another. This also means catching up with colleagues and meeting new people. This year, AIAA Executive Director and former astronaut Sandy Magnus joined us; she's astronaut #47 I've had the pleasure to meet. Typically, a large number of us go out to dinner after, usually to Harry's across the street.

Hello pre-reception, happy to be here! - February 2, 2016

My morning started early on Wednesday with a 7:30 breakfast at the Challenger Center to meet up with my team. Cissy Proctor, the new director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity spoke to us at 8:00. She quoted from their new marketing campaign: "Some states promise you the moon. Florida delivers it."

Florida's Capitol in Tallahassee. The dolphins are fitting. - February 2, 2016

A view of Tallahassee from the top 23rd floor of the Capitol - February 2, 2016

Our team's first meeting with Space Coast area Senator Thad Altman was scheduled to be at 8:30 but had to be rescheduled. I took the opportunity to admire a beautiful painting in his office of a rocket launch and my undergraduate university's campus. Our team then had lots of time to kill, so we hung out in the Florida Space Day exhibit hall in the 3^rd floor of the Capitol building. It was then that I really got a chance to speak with astronaut Sandy Magnus. We spoke about travel, blogging, and why she loves Florida.

My alma mater Florida Tech in this painting with a space shuttle launch - February 2, 2016

Florida Space Day exhibits line the 3rd floor rotunda of the Capitol - February 3,2016

Meeting astronaut Sandy Magnus - February 3, 2016

I've never had a negative meeting during Florida Space Day. Generally speaking, Florida lawmakers are very supportive of the space industry. Most are very enthusiastic, even going as far as to say they wanted to be astronauts or they wanted to take a special trip from wherever their home is to see a rocket launch. One year I met a House Representative whose uncle was a private astronaut who flew to the International Space Station. You never know how the conversations will go.

Our team meeting with Rep. "Coach P" Rene Plasencia of Orlando - February 3, 2016

This year I had the most challenging meeting yet. This Tea Party-leaning Republican representative did not believe that any government spending should go to the space program at all, including grants and incentives to private industry. It is difficult to convince someone dead against all spending that some spending is not only beneficial, but necessary. The country's space industry wouldn't exist without government investment and infrastructure. Thankfully, he was very supportive of the commercial space industry and innovation.

Our meeting with Senator Altman was rescheduled to the late afternoon, so what was to be our first meeting became our last. The senator is one of our biggest supporters in the Florida senate and it's always a pleasure to speak with him. He took our team to see the Senate Chambers, empty at the moment. I hadn't been down to the floor before. It's such a grand room!

Senator Thad Altman kindly showed us the Senate Chambers - February 3, 2016

Florida Space Days always ends with a party, this time held at the Challenger Center. NASA's Spaceman was still around, so I got a picture. I swapped stories with my colleagues and met a few more people. Then, I was off again for a 4 hour drive back home. And thus concluded another great Space Day!

Hurrah for another successful Florida Space Day! - February 3,2016

Purpose and Community - What Drives You?

It's not often that a simple question stops me in my tracks and makes me really think. "What are some things you have liked from your experiences so far?"  I have had varied experiences over the years, many good, some not so good, some extraordinarily fantastic. What stands out in my mind?

In my previous job, I found it exhilarating to be part of a new space venture. The goal was exciting and new. I loved getting in at the beginning and being able to influence the direction and make things happen. I enjoyed being part of the larger conversation with people who make a difference at the Commercial Spaceflight Federation members meeting. I got a kick out of the uniqueness of attending a Swiss Embassy party. I felt like I had a purpose when I was bringing people together to assist in getting a new space vehicle off the ground and experiments and passengers within it.

In my job before that, I found satisfaction in being part of something bigger than myself, the International Space Station. I enjoyed being exposed to a diversity of science and engineering experiments ranging from research I was familiar with to research I had never imagined before. I felt comraderie in reaching out to scientists to understand their fundamental questions and assist them in attempting to answer them in space.

In another job, I loved examining the space industry as a whole and understanding how everything is interconnected. In another job, I loved the hands-on science experimentation that I was able to perform, including two microgravity campaigns in parabolic aircraft. I was also privileged to undergo centrifuge and altitude chamber training to simulate suborbital space. Although I was miserable camping, I enjoyed climbing down a meteor crater with an astronaut as our guide. In leading space-related organizations, I loved bringing people together and accomplishing things that bring others enjoyment. From my very first job in the field, I was excited to be doing real science!

Nothing beats watching the flames light beneath a vehicle heading toward the stars, or at least to the Karman line, and hearing the roar as it goes. I've watched a Mars rover testing and a future space observatory just being built. I've touched space hardware and I've longed to travel with it. I've held dust from another world. I've been on teams dreaming up Moon bases and Mars bases and various ways for humanity to travel beyond.

On the interpersonal side, this extrovert gets a thrill from discussing plans and ideas with colleagues and strangers alike. Presentations at conferences can be stimulating and the travel is fun, but I really prefer one-on-one or small group conversations where ideas flow. I enjoy meeting lawmakers and associated movers and shakers and articulating why space is such an important topic to me, to them, and to the country. I enjoy meeting strangers at a party or on an airplane and conveying to them why they should care. I especially enjoy speaking to students of all ages but especially older students who can ask great questions and convey their own enthusiasm for the subject. Inspiration is everywhere.

What do my favorite experiences have in common? Purpose and community. If I can find a true purpose in what I'm doing and belong to a community of like-minded people working with me to achieve it, I'm happy. And of course, lots of fun!

Astronaut Laura ready to leap - July 2007

Astronaut Celebrity: Do You and I Have What it Takes?

I've never been starstruck by celebrity. People are people. I don't value fame nor rubbing shoulders with the famous. I value people for who they are. I've been this way for as long as I can remember.

In high school, I was starstruck by astronomy and the space industry in general. I had almost no interaction with the field, so I valued those who were my connection between the world I was in and the world I wanted to enter. For Laura the high school senior in suburbia Pennsylvania, that was astronaut Sally Ride.

I don't remember how the interaction was arranged. Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut, was visiting our all-girls kindergarten through twelfth grade school which was undergoing a STEM education push. It was well known that I was a space geek, the only one among my peers. I was to be her student guide and travel with her on her tour of the school throughout the day.

I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but my memories of that day are not positive. I had no experience with celebrity and had never been used as a photo prop before. But there I was, standing next to a person who caused me to be starstruck not because of who she was but what she represented, cameras capturing the moment and reporters interviewing us both. When the cameras were on, she was all smiles.

When the cameras left, I no longer existed. She responded to my excited questions with dismissal. She had heard all the questions before, many times before, but in my youth I didn't know that. I took her snub personally. As people, we all have our good and our bad days, and that may have been a bad day for her for all I knew. As I escorted her to my AP Physics class, I slumped into my desk, dejected. Short of being her guide, I was not invited to join her for the rest of the day, and I had not yet developed the boldness to go anyway.

Press shot from my physics class, back when I had short hair and wore a uniform - November 2001

She was among the first of the nearly 50 astronauts that I've met. There are times when I feel a bit starstruck, especially when meeting some of the originals, but I step back and check myself. These are people, just people, not too different from me. They have achievements and they have flaws. They are intelligent people who have done extraordinary service to their countries and to humankind, but at the core, they are just like you and me.

My former employer's motto is “space for all” and I'm rather fond of it. What is it about the “right stuff” mentality that makes us think that human spaceflight is only for the elite? I hope to fly someday. I hope my infant daughter flies someday if she chooses to. I believe in the concept of opening space up for the average consumer to book a flight and introducing space settlement for the general society.

The firsts deserve celebration and respect. They paved the way for the rest of us. But there is a “rest of us” that will follow. They were capable, and we are capable. We're dreamers, we're doers, and we're explorers. We'll all people. It's in our blood.

Mars Mission Imagining with the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute

Last August, my undergraduate alma mater Florida Institute of Technology announced the creation of the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his son, Andy Aldrin. On Monday and Tuesday this week, I was excited to attend the inaugural Buzz Aldrin Space Institute Workshop with approximately 40 Florida Tech professors and invited guests. The topic of the workshop was the Aldrin Earth-Mars Cycler concept and, more generally, a human mission to Mars.

Buzz Aldrin opening up the workshop. - January 18, 2016

Buzz opened up the workshop on Monday morning discussing his cycler and his thoughts on spaceflight in general. I met Buzz three or four times previously and had heard him discuss the cycler, but this was the longest and most comprehensive talk I'd seen him give. His plan, Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars, has evolved over the years and continues to evolve. I've read a few of the studies done to detail and analyze the plan, but I have more research to do in order to understand it all.

In brief, the cycler is a continuous motion spaceflight plan to periodically send cargo and crew to and from Earth and Mars, and also potentially tying in cis-lunar space, the Moon, and Mars' moon Phobos. The timeline, number of vehicles, number of astronauts, and even the types of vehicles used all seem to be in flux depending on studies being done. Buzz seems to be moving away from NASA's Space Launch System SLS (which he sees as a drain of money and wants to see defunded along with the International Space Station) and more toward commercial space industry utilization. Specifically mentioned were Bigelow Aerospace inflatable habitats. International co-operation also seemed to be a key component. The eventual plan is to establish settlements on Phobos and Mars.

The technical details don't appear to be fleshed out well enough to be a true mission architecture at this point. The concept is early-stage and needs refinement. Therefore, the current timelines stated are very optimistic. It's all a good start. In order for this concept to become a proposed mission, more work needs to be done. I look forward to seeing the concept progress.

The international relations need a lot of work. The presentations had countries closely partnering who hate each other (China and Japan, North and South Korea), close partners not working together (Japan and USA, Japan and Europe, China and Russia), and a Mars-interested country forgotten entirely (India). There was also a curious statement that the United States can't go to Mars without China. We've send robotic missions to Mars without China. We'll very likely need international partnerships for a human mission but not necessarily China. China would be a great space partner but I'm not seeing that happen anytime soon.

Most of the rest of the workshop were talks related to the theme in four categories: in-space systems; surface systems and operations; human factors, health, and safety; and international cooperation and public support. Talks included topics such as trajectories, regolith flow due to rocket plumes (similar to a project I did while in grad school), propulsion, autonomous maneuvering, magnetic shielding, habitat analogs and simulators, biomining, Martian terrain, teamwork, mental health (in Buzz's opinion, the #1 human factors concern), costs, and public outeach. Some discussions took unexpected turns. Regarding the mental health talk, I've never heard prisoners of war discussed at a space talk before!

The last few hours of the workshop were break-out session discussions in small groups. I took notes and ended up later presenting for the surface systems and operations group. We covered a lot ground but there's so much more to discuss! It really got me thinking.

The workshop also included dinner on Monday evening. My husband took care of the baby all day Monday and Tuesday, so I took Josephine to dinner with me. She met her first two astronauts: Buzz Aldrin and Sam Durrance. Buzz's 86^th birthday is today so we celebrated on Monday (the day after my birthday). It was a great opportunity to get to know everyone and exchange ideas. I'm pleased to have been involved and look forward to what BASI creates in the future.

Happy birthday, Buzz! cheer Josephine and I from the back - January 18, 2016

Josephine meets her first Moonwalker - January 18, 2016

Why I Took My Baby to a Professional Networking Event

I wasn't looking to make a statement. Initially I wasn't going to take her to the Florida Space Day pre-event reception. It's a professional event and bringing a baby would be seen as unprofessional, I concluded. My newborn is not yet taking a bottle, so for survival, she needs to be with me at all times. If being away from me isn't an option and taking her would seem unprofessional, then I would need to skip the event.

But then I began to question my own assumptions. Why would taking my baby to a professional event be unprofessional? When she is wrapped around my chest in three layers of what is essentially a very long scarf made to carry babies, she doesn't cry or fuss, she can barely be seen unless I uncover her. She silently eats and drifts off to sleep. She herself is not a disturbance. But her presence is a disturbance, one can say. Babies are a nearly universal conversation starter and many parents love sharing stories about their experiences. Baby talk when a baby is around is inevitable.

But that's no different to the disturbance my pregnancy caused. I didn't stay locked away when I was visibly pregnant. I was professionally active up until a week before the birth and even gave a talk 10 days before she was born. Anyone who saw my giant belly connected me to motherhood and baby talk was plentiful. No one deemed it unprofessional to attend professional events with my baby in my womb.

I polled social media, looking for outside opinions. Three men and two women thought that I should skip it while seven women thought that I should take her. Even my own mom the attorney mentioned that she brought me to hearings when I was a baby. I wasn't looking for consensus or majority opinion, I wanted perceptions and points of view.

In the end, I decided to attend. I sacrifice a lot for my child. I shouldn't sacrifice something that I want to do because of someone else's opinion of my child. The venue was a restaurant and the event was casual and celebratory. Nearly everyone in attendance had known me for years and had seen me pregnant over the months. Some were genuinely excited for me. Josephine was a big hit and did take up a lot of the conversation. But I also got to talk shop and be part of the Space Coast space community that I so very much love.

This is my first child but not the only child I hope to have. Should I as a mother be banished from professional society each time I have a little one? Although no one said anything negative, I'm sure that there were people in attendance who disapproved of my decision and think less of me professionally because of it. I'm unconcerned by their bias. My mind and my professional capabilities are not diminished because I reproduced.

More importantly, several people, mostly women but also one man, were grateful that I had brought the baby with me. One young lady a couple of years younger than me made a point to thank me twice throughout the night for being such an inspiration. It seems to me that babies at an event like this may seem unprofessional because it's uncommon. We just aren't used to seeing it. Although I did not set out to normalize it, I'm glad that my action may have contributed positively. Professional women should not be ashamed to also be mothers.

Florida Space Day kindly welcomed my little Josephine on their social media accounts with this photo.

Josephine and me at the Florida Space Day pre-event reception - January 7, 2016

Cape Canaveral Not Busiest Spaceport in 2015, but Did Make History

I was in the room on January 13, 2015 when Col. Thomas Falzarano, commander of the 45^th Space Wing's Operations Group, told the National Space Club Florida Committee that with 24 launches scheduled in 2015, Cape Canaveral may be the busiest spaceport in 2015. I very much wanted this to be true, but I was skeptical. Launches often face delays and space plans usually aren't executed on time. Now that 2015 is completed, how did the year's launch manifest pan out?

Short the 24 scheduled launches, there were 17 launches out of Cape Canaveral in 2015, one more than in 2014. Of those, 7 were SpaceX Falcon 9 launches, 8 were ULA Atlas V launches, and 2 were ULA Delta IV launches.

Russia's Baikonur launch site, which was the busiest site in 2014, again was the busiest in 2015 with 18 launches.

Not all launches were successful. I saw the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch failure from fairly up close on a boat on the lagoon. Two of the Baikonur launches failed. Looking at it another way, Cape Canaveral and Baikonur tied for the number of successful launches in 2015.

I watched the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch out of Cape Canaveral a week and a half ago, the last launch of the year out of the Cape. I heard those sonic booms as the rocket first stage returned to Earth and landed. Although Cape Canaveral didn't meet its goal of 24 launches and wasn't the busiest spaceport in the world in 2015, it made history last year. I'm looking forward to more successes in 2016.

My shot of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch out of Cape Canaveral on June 28, 2015

New Beginnings: New Life, New Rocket, New Position, New Professional Goals

The beauty of new beginnings: one week ago, after being discharged from the hospital, I watched space history in the making. As my husband drove the car and my one-day-old daughter wailed in the car seat, I watched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch above the treetops and disappear into the clouds. When I brought my daughter home for the first time and was taking her out of the car seat, we heard the twin sonic booms from the upper stage returning to land vertically. A new life beginning, the sonic booms returning to the Space Coast, and a new stage of rocketry beginning. Cheers for new beginnings at the conclusion of 2015!

The new year will also bring new beginnings for me professionally. When I was approached to help establish a space start-up company in Florida, it was an exciting opportunity that I couldn't pass up. Although I don't use the term “newspace,” I find myself swept up in the excitement of the emerging space industry with its promise of new technology and more frequent access to space for a larger segment of the population. I knew full well that many space start-ups don't achieve their goals and fade into history. I don't regret my decision to take the job and I have learned a lot in the past year. I've had experiences that I wouldn't have otherwise had and gotten to know some great people from all over the world. But, it is time to move on. We have closed the Florida office and I have resigned from my position managing Swiss Space System's Florida operations.

I'm not one to be idle for long. Already I've been working on a few projects as an analyst for Astralytical, a space consultancy start-up. I am starting small, especially with a newborn to care for. In 2016, I plan to increase my efforts and try new things. I am a highly educated, highly competent space professional, yet I find it difficult to put myself out there to try new things which I've never done but know that I'm capable of. I fear criticism and failure, yet those negatives help to mold me into a better professional. With Astralytical, I will grow professionally to become what I know that I can be.

A merry Christmas and a joyful and successful new year to us all!

Baby Josephine and I wish you the happiest of holidays!

Newest Addition to the Space Generation: Josephine Claire

I'm interrupting our usual space news and discussions to introduce you to the newest addition to the space generation, my daughter, Josephine Claire. She was born yesterday morning, December 20, 7:25 AM Eastern, 6 lbs 6 oz. Baby is doing well after 24 hours and new parents are recovering and resting. After a long labor, I'm thankful to have gotten some sleep last night.

Josephine the newborn - December 20, 2015

Holding my baby, 12 hours old - December 20, 2015

I'm going to take some time to care for this new life on planet Earth. I'm looking forward to some positive changes and new opportunities in 2016! My professional goal in 2016 is to put myself out there and try new things that I know that I'm capable of but have been too intimidated to try. Watch out new year, I'm ready for you!

Space Commercialization: Small Sats, Launch Costs, and Florida's Future

Twitter is a very useful communication medium, but I sometimes forget its limitations and my limited skill in utilizing it. I posted a couple of summary tweets from a talk that I gave this morning but wasn't able to formulate my opinions well in the limited space. Blogging seems like the better avenue of expression in this case.

This morning I gave a talk and sat on a panel titled Space Commercialization hosted by the Space Coast Technical Council's Aviation & Aerospace Committee. My fellow panelists were Don Platt, the CEO of Micro Aerospace Solutions, and Mike Vinje, Small Business Technology Manager at NASA KSC. I've met both Don and Mike previously and had a good idea of what they might touch upon. And so, I made my talk a general overview.

Where is the profit in space? It's important to note from the start that money in space is not fictional. According to the Space Foundation's 2015 report, the space industry was a $330 billion business globally in 2014. Roughly half of that comes from government spending. This year was also a big year for venture capitalists with several large investments into companies such as SkyBox, OneWeb, and Planet Labs.

Traditional space profit-makers are large satellite constellations used for navigation (GPS, for example), communications, TV, and radio. Many of the companies involved in these sectors are publicly traded with revenues in the hundreds of millions through tens of billions. Many of these ventures began as military applications with government funding. All have branched out to capture the private commercial market.

Remote sensing and specifically Earth observation is also a huge and diverse industry. Applications for military intelligence are obvious, but alternate applications are vast. Weather and climate monitoring, mapping, and environmental monitoring beyond weather (logging, agriculture, water and plant resources and quality, mineral locations, traffic, infrastructure development or disruption, etc.) are just a few examples of how space data can be useful to businesses on Earth.

The launch industry in the United States is almost entirely commercial with government paying for services as needed. There are too many players to list, but some of the current successes are: Orbital ATK, United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites / The Spaceship Company, Blue Origin, XCOR, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Masten Space Systems, UP Aerospace, and zero2infinity.

Space components needed for satellites, launching, and ground infrastructure are too numerous to mention. Space manufacturing is an area of potential profit but has not reached its time. Material science, fluid science, biotechnology, biomedical sciences, and protein crystals are some areas of research which show promise. Recent advances in 3D printing have great potential in space as Made in Space has recently demonstrated. Space utilization and integration – providing means to allow others to utilize space – is a great niche area, as NanoRacks has shown.

Space tourism remains an area for the very rich. Space Adventures has flown 7 paying individuals (private astronauts, spaceflight participants, whatever term you'd prefer) to the International Space Station. Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and Sierra Nevada want to enter into the space tourism market as well. Perhaps someday, space tourism will become more commonplace and affordable. I'm hoping to buy myself a ticket someday!

Potential areas of future space commercialization include space mining (on asteroids, the Moon, Mars, or other planetary bodies), rapid global transportation (sometimes called point-to-point transportation), space-based solar power (beaming solar power to Earth's surface), and advanced tourism in deeper space or other planetary bodies. Sign me up for a trip to the Moon.

Panel discussion that I want to highlight has to do with the bottleneck of small satellites needing transportation to space. The small sat and cubesat community is very active in central Florida. Due to the relative ease and inexpensive of building such small satellites, the door has opened for almost anyone to build one, including student groups. But the means to launch these small sats into space is still very limited. For smaller, newer companies who are trying to respond to this market need, there is a large learning curve. Building a spacecraft and operating successfully is a complex, difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process. I cheer on the small launch community in the hope that soon we will see more frequent access to space for these smaller payloads.

Another area that I want to highlight is the continued high expense of launching to orbit or beyond. Generally speaking, launching has gotten more expensive over time. The old technology of chemical propulsion has not seen many improvements over the decades. More R&D into new propulsion technology is needed. Reusability may bring costs down, but it may not be enough (I apologize for leaving out the word “may” in my tweets). We have yet to see a truly reusable rocket so it's hard to judge how such technology will effect the market. I am a skeptic, and my guess is that it won't be enough to make any major dents in launch costs, but I'd love to be proven wrong. It's certainly a step in the right direction.

Florida's Space Coast remains one of the best areas in the world to launch to orbit because of its existing infrastructure, skilled workforce, and geographic positioning. In a conversation I had at a space function last night, we agreed that more rural areas such as Mojave, Texas, and New Mexico offer better areas for test launches. But to create a transportation hub, a population with establish infrastructure is a better bet. It was slow-going for a few years after the retirement of the space shuttle program, but I had no doubt that this area would bounce back and thrive in the evolving space industry. Florida has a lot to offer and has been making a fantastic effort over the years to evolve with the industry, even lead the industry at times. I'm proud to live here.