pegkerr: (Not all those who wander are lost)
pegkerr ([personal profile] pegkerr) wrote2003-04-23 07:40 pm

FROM FIONA: Your reply cordially requested

Tomorrow, as part of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work, Fiona is going to be visiting Rob's store and spending the day with him, learning about his job. The last two years, she has spent this day with me at my office, learning about my job.

I'd like her to give her the chance to learn about a lot of jobs. Specifically, your job.

Won't you tell Fiona about your job, so she can get an idea of the vast possibilities in the World of Work out there?

If you can, please leave Fiona a comment by tomorrow night, telling her about your career. Something like:

What your job title is, and what that means

A description of a typical day

What you need in the way of training/education/experience to do this job

Why you like it and (if you dare)

Why you dislike it

What sorts of things can go wrong at your job?

What kind of person thrives in your job

Anything else you can think of that would give her an idea of what it might be like to choose your career?

I'd like her to get as many replies as possible. Thanks ever so much!

Cheers,
Peg (and Fiona)

[identity profile] wcg.livejournal.com 2003-04-24 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi Fiona,

Your mom asked for these explanations of jobs, so here's mine:

Job title: Astronomical Satellite Mission Planner/Analyst

What that means: It means that I'm one of two astronomers on the Flight Operations Team for the FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) mission (http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu). There are other astronomers on the FUSE science team, but my colleague Julia and I are the only two who are allowed to command the spacecraft and the science instruments aboard it.

A typical day:

If there haven't been any spacecraft contingencies overnight, I'll arrive at work sometime between 8:00 and 9:00 in the morning. I check with the on-duty flight operations engineer to find out what the spacecraft status is, and then I sit down at my desk to read the overnight e-mail. This might include anomaly reports (describing some problem which occured with the spacecraft or with one of the ground stations), new mission planning schedules, comments from various people about current mission planning schedules, questions about the onboard scripts and rules which I've written and which determine how observations are carried out, notifications of new orbital data from NORAD, requests for reports of the spacecraft's position and velocity at some specific time, or a bunch of other mission related things.

My workload consists of two broad categories: First, there's stuff that has to be done on a regular basis, such as generation of a new spacecraft orbit model each time NORAD updates our orbital elements, or the scripting of observations into programs which are then compiled and executed onboard. Second, there are contingency operations, where I'm having to respond to some kind of unplanned (and usually unexpected) problem.

In addition to those regular duties, I also represent the FUSE team as a member of the Office of Public Outreach. In that capacity I work with students and teachers to develop teaching material, and I sometimes make public appearances to talk about FUSE operations and the teaching materials we've developed.

What you need in the way of training/education/experience to do this job:

The minimum requirement for my job would be a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, or engineering. People with masters degrees are prefered. A strong background in astronomy is desired for the astronomical missions. Also, you'd need some prior experience as a member of a spacecraft operations team, with a concentration in science instrument operation and data analysis. I've been working with spacecraft for the past 12 years, and I have almost 20 years experience working in astronomy. I hold a Master of Science degree in physics.

Why I like it: It's a challenging job in a field I love. I really like astronomy (I also teach physics and astronomy classes, as an additional job), and I like the challenge of being a member of a small team of really excellent people who work closely together to accomplish a big goal.

Why I dislike it: There are several things to dislike. Often I'm so busy with operations that I have no time for the science of astronomy, and I have to leave that to my colleagues who are not involved in operations. The mission also places huge demands on my time, and I sometimes get called in the middle of the night to deal with a spacecraft emergency. Even when I go on vacation I have to take a laptop computer along in case something comes up requiring my attention. The satellite was built as a "Better, Faster, Cheaper" mission, which means that a lot of corners were cut. That has required all of us to have to make up for annoying little problems by being very carefully attentive. The spacecraft will have been in orbit for 4 years in June, and the constant vigilence is taking a toll in burnout among some of our team members.

[identity profile] wcg.livejournal.com 2003-04-24 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
(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.