STEM Teacher Roundtable Aerospace Engineering Sean Tully CRS/Cygnus Systems Engineering Manager

Transcription

1 STEM Teacher Roundtable Aerospace Engineering Sean Tully CRS/Cygnus Systems Engineering Manager May 11, 2017

2 Bio Hometown: Rockville, MD Youngest of 6 siblings Attended private school from grade school through high school Graduated from Gonzaga 01 Graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelors in Aerospace Engineering 05 Strong focus in aircraft controls Held various jobs throughout school Landscaper, IT professional, Home Title processor, Debt collector Plan to work at Boeing straight out of college was derailed by a hiring freeze Began working for Orbital Sciences 06 Started as a technician testing electrical components for Communication and Sciences missions Moved into the Guidance group as an engineer in 07 working on Communication Satellites Began working on Commercial Resupply Services in 08 Collected a Masters in Systems Engineering from GWU in 11 Moved into Systems group in 12 2

3 Orbital ATK As a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, Orbital ATK designs, builds and delivers space, defense and aviation-related systems to customers around the world both as a prime contractor and as a merchant supplier. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK employs approximately 12,500 people in 18 states across the U.S. and several international locations. Comprised of three groups Flight Systems Group Defense Systems Group Space Systems Group 3

4 Communication Satellites Provides high speed connections to various parts of the world Examples of practical uses are satellite TV, voice communications, internet, etc. From a science and engineering perspective it is all 1 s and 0 s, it is up to the user to decide what they want to communicate 4

5 Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of contracts awarded by NASA from (extended through 2018) for delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. 5

6 International Space Station The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research. Small unmanned spacecraft can provide platforms for zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers over periods that exceed the capabilities of manned spacecraft. The ISS simplifies individual experiments by eliminating the need for separate rocket launches and research staff. The wide variety of research fields include astrobiology, astronomy, human research including space medicine and life sciences, physical sciences, materials science, space weather, and weather on Earth (meteorology). Scientists on Earth have access to the crew's data and can modify experiments or launch new ones, which are benefits generally unavailable on unmanned spacecraft. Crews fly expeditions of several months duration, providing approximately 160-man-hours per week of labor with a crew of 6. 6

7 What s in the Future While Mars is the logical next destination for human space exploration, significant work is required to mature the technologies needed for such a journey. Cislunar space, the region between Earth and the Moon, is the ideal environment to prove out the systems required for human exploration of Mars. Orbital ATK was one of several companies selected for the NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) program, a public-private partnership for commercial development of deep-space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human space flight missions in cislunar space. 7