(continuing here, because my reply exceed the 4300 word limit for a single comment)
What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?
Oh, gosh, where to start? The spacecraft itself can develop a problem, like failure of some component. A major example of this would be December of 2001 when two of the four reaction wheels used to point the spacecraft failed within ten days of each other. We spent the next three months developing a way to fly the mission with only the remaining two reaction wheels and the magnetic torquer bars which were originally intended to unload torque into the Earth's magnetic field. We can also have problems with our ground stations. These are big radio transmitters/receivers which we use to communicate with the satellite. We can also have problems with our own Spacecraft Control Center, if a computer fails or we lose one of the ISDN lines that connect us to our ground stations.
What kind of person thrives in your job: Someone who can handle stress well, and who is very comfortable with science, mathematics, and computer programming. Being a member of a flight operations team also requires good human relations skills. You have to be able to get along well with other people.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-24 05:26 pm (UTC)What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?
Oh, gosh, where to start? The spacecraft itself can develop a problem, like failure of some component. A major example of this would be December of 2001 when two of the four reaction wheels used to point the spacecraft failed within ten days of each other. We spent the next three months developing a way to fly the mission with only the remaining two reaction wheels and the magnetic torquer bars which were originally intended to unload torque into the Earth's magnetic field. We can also have problems with our ground stations. These are big radio transmitters/receivers which we use to communicate with the satellite. We can also have problems with our own Spacecraft Control Center, if a computer fails or we lose one of the ISDN lines that connect us to our ground stations.
What kind of person thrives in your job: Someone who can handle stress well, and who is very comfortable with science, mathematics, and computer programming. Being a member of a flight operations team also requires good human relations skills. You have to be able to get along well with other people.