I Am Artemis: Ernesto Garcia

3 Min Read

I Am Artemis: Ernesto Garcia

Listen to this audio excerpt from Ernesto Garcia, Rayotech Scientific engineering manager:

My name is Ernesto Garcia, and I am an engineering manager at Rayotech Scientific in San Diego, in charge of fabricating the windowpanes for the Orion spacecraft.

Fabricating Orion’s windowpanes entails a very strict manufacturing process. It involves first starting from a giant sheet of glass that we cut down to near net shape. Once we get down to that near net shape, we perform a grinding operation. We grind the window edges and grind the faces.

Once we do all that grinding, we perform a specialized process where we actually strengthen the edges of the window. Since most of the window’s strength comes from the edges, we want to make sure that those are perfect and pristine, and so we minimize any subsurface damage that is around that. Then we send it off to get polished and coated.

After that, we perform pressure testing in our lab, which is really the most important thing that is required for this window to prove that it can survive in space. We apply the required stresses to make sure that the windows can survive on the Orion spacecraft.

The opportunity to be part of this program has been something that I’m really proud of.

When I was a child, I always wanted to work for NASA — and now, I work directly with NASA engineers, work with the windows first-hand, and work to develop processes.

Ernesto Garcia

Engineering Manager, Rayotech Scientific

Coming up with ideas of how to manufacture [the windows] and then coming up with the pressure testing equipment to verify that they are going to survive in space was extremely fulfilling.

Being able to participate in Artemis I and seeing those windows on that [Orion spacecraft] — seeing it go into space — was probably one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced besides having my kids. My children are immensely proud of what I’m doing. Seeing my kids’ reactions when I’m letting them know that I’m working directly with people that are putting things in space, with people that are making changes in the world — it’s something that inspires them.

I imagine it will be a very special experience for the Artemis II astronauts to look out of these windows on their mission around the Moon. For them to be able to just look out and see what’s around them…to explore what else is out there from their eyes, not a camera’s point of view. It’s going to be pretty extraordinary that they’ll be able to see from their eyes — through our windows — something that not everybody else gets to see.

About the Author

Erika Peters

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NASA F-15s Validate Tools for Quesst Mission

High over the Mojave Desert, two NASA F-15 research jets made a series of flights throughout May to validate tools designed to measure and record the shock waves that will be produced by the agency’s X-59 quiet supersonic experimental aircraft.

The F-15s, carrying the recording tools, flew faster than the speed of sound, matching the conditions the X-59 is expected to fly. The X-59 is the centerpiece of NASA’s Quesst mission to gather data that can help lead to quiet commercial supersonic flight over land.

The team behind the successful test flight series operates under the Schlieren, Airborne Measurements, and Range Operations for Quesst (SCHAMROQ) project at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. There, they developed tools that will measure and visualize the X-59’s unique shock waves when it flies at Mach 1.4 and altitudes above 50,000 feet. For a typical supersonic aircraft, those shock waves would result in a sonic boom. But thanks to the X-59’s design and technologies, it will generate just a quiet thump.

Cheng Moua, engineering project manager for SCHAMROQ, described the validation flight campaign as “a graduation exercise – it brings all the pieces together in their final configuration and proves that they will work.”

NASA began to develop the tools years ago, anchored by the arrival of one of the two F-15s – an F-15D from the U.S. Air Force – a tactical aircraft delivered without research instrumentation.

“It showed up as a former war-fighting machine without a research-capable instrumentation system – no telemetry, no HD video, no data recording,” Cheng said. “Now it’s a fully instrumented research platform.”

The team used both F-15s to validate three key tools:

• A shock wave-measuring device called a near-field shock-sensing probe
• A guidance capability known as an Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System
• An Airborne Schlieren Photography System that will allow the capture of images that render visible the density changes in air caused by the X-59

Before the F-15D’s arrival, Armstrong relied on the second F-15 flown during this campaign – an F-15B typically used to test equipment, train pilots, and support other flight projects. The SCHAMROQ project used the two aircraft to successfully complete “dual ship flights,” a series of flight tests using two aircraft simultaneously. Both aircraft flew in formation carrying near-field shock-sensing probes and collected data from one another to test the probes and validate the tools under real-world conditions. The data help confirm how shock waves form and evolve during flight.

Keeping Things ALIGNed

For the Quesst mission, the F-15D will lead data-gathering efforts using the onboard probe, while the F-15B will serve as the backup. When flown behind the X-59, the probe will help measure small pressure changes caused by the shock waves and validate predictions made years ago when the plane’s design was first created.

The schlieren photography systems aboard the F-15s will provide Quesst researchers with crucial data. Other tools, like computer simulations that predict airflow and wind tunnel tests are helpful, but schlieren imagery shows real-world airflow, especially in tricky zones like the engine and air inlet.

For that system to work correctly, the two aircraft will need to be precisely positioned during the test flights. Their pilots will be using a NASA-developed software tool called the Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System (ALIGNS).

“ALIGNS acts as a guidance system for the pilots,” said Troy Robillos, a NASA researcher who led development of ALIGNS. “It shows them where to position the aircraft to either probe a shock wave at a specific point or to get into the correct geometry for schlieren photography.”

The schlieren system involves a handheld high-speed camera with a telescopic lens that captures hundreds of frames per second and visualizes changes in air density – but only if it can use the sun as a backdrop.

“The photographer holds the camera to their chest, aiming out the side of the cockpit canopy at the sun, while the pilot maneuvers through a 100-foot-wide target zone,” said Edward Haering, a NASA aerospace engineer who leads research on schlieren. “If the sun leaves the frame, we lose that data, so we fly multiple passes to make sure we capture the shot.”

Aligning two fast-moving aircraft against the backdrop of the sun is the most challenging part. The photographer must capture the aircraft flying across the center of the sun, and even the slightest shift can affect the shot and reduce the quality of the data.

“It’s like trying to take a photo through a straw while flying supersonic,” Robillos said.

But with ALIGNS, the process is much more accurate. The software runs on ruggedized tablets and uses GPS data from both aircraft to calculate when the aircraft are in position for probing and to capture schlieren imagery. Giving pilots real-time instructions, enabling them to achieve precise positioning.

The X-59 team’s validation milestone for the schlieren imaging and other systems confirms that NASA’s core tools for measuring shock waves are ready to study the X-59 in flight, checking the aircraft’s unique acoustics to confirm its quieter sonic “thump.”

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NASA Student Challenge Prepares Future Designers for Lunar Missions

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NASA Student Challenge Prepares Future Designers for Lunar Missions

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the next generation of lunar explorers and engineers are already hard at work. Some started with sketchbooks and others worked with computer-aided design files, but all had a vision of how design could thrive in extreme environments.
Thanks to NASA’s Student Design Challenge, Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS), those visions are finding their way into real mission technologies.

The SUITS challenge invites university and graduate students from across the U.S. to design, build, and test interactive displays integrated into spacesuit helmets, continuing an eight-year tradition of hands-on field evaluations that simulate conditions astronauts may face on the lunar surface. The technology aims to support astronauts with real-time navigation, task management, and scientific data visualization during moonwalks. While the challenge provides a unique opportunity to contribute to future lunar missions, for many participants, SUITS offers something more: a launchpad to aerospace careers.

The challenge fosters collaboration between students in design, engineering, and computer science—mirroring the teamwork needed for real mission development.

SUITS taught me how design can be pushed to solve for the many niche challenges that come with an environment as unique and unforgiving as space.

Keya Shah

Softgoods Engineering Technologist

Keya Shah, now a softgoods engineering technologist in Johnson’s Softgoods Laboratory, discovered her path through SUITS while studying industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

“SUITS taught me how design can be pushed to solve for the many niche challenges that come with an environment as unique and unforgiving as space,” Shah said. “Whether applied to digital or physical products, it gave me a deep understanding of how intuitive and thoughtfully designed solutions are vital for space exploration.”

As chief designer for her team’s 2024 Mars spacewalk project, Shah led more than 30 designers and developers through rounds of user flow mapping, iterative prototyping, and interface testing.

“Design holds its value in making you think beyond just the ‘what’ to solve a problem and figure out ‘how’ to make the solution most efficient and user-oriented,” she said, “SUITS emphasized that, and I continually strive to highlight these strengths with the softgoods I design.”

Shah now works on fabric-based flight hardware at Johnson, including thermal and acoustic insulation blankets, tool stowage packs, and spacesuit components.

“There’s a very exciting future in human space exploration at the intersection of softgoods with hardgoods and the digital world, through innovations like smart textiles, wearable technology, and soft robotics,” Shah said. “I look forward to being part of it.”

For RISD alumnus Felix Arwen, now a softgoods engineer at Johnson, the challenge offered invaluable hands-on experience. “It gave me the opportunity to take projects from concept to a finished, tested product—something most classrooms didn’t push me to do,” Arwen said.

Serving as a technical adviser and liaison between SUITS designers and engineers, Arwen helped bridge gaps between disciplines—a skill critical to NASA’s team-based approach.

“It seems obvious now, but I didn’t always realize how much design contributes to space exploration,” Arwen said. “The creative, iterative process is invaluable. Our work isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about usability, safety, and mission success.”

Arwen played a key role in expanding RISD’s presence across multiple NASA Student Design Challenges, including the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, the Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams, and the Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-changing Idea Challenge. The teams, often partnering with Brown University, demonstrated how a design-focused education can uniquely contribute to solving complex engineering problems.

“NASA’s Student Design Challenges gave me the structure to focus my efforts on learning new skills and pursuing projects I didn’t even know I’d be interested in,” he said.

It seems obvious now, but I didn’t always realize how much design contributes to space exploration. The creative, iterative process is invaluable. Our work isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about usability, safety, and mission success.

Felix Arwen

Softgoods Engineer

Both Arwen and Shah remain involved with SUITS as mentors and judges, eager to support the next generation of space designers.

Their advice to current participants? Build a portfolio that reflects your passion, seek opportunities outside the classroom, and do not be afraid to apply for roles that might not seem to fit a designer.

“While the number of openings for a designer at NASA might be low, there will always be a need for good design work, and if you have the portfolio to back it up, you can apply to engineering roles that just might not know they need you yet,” Arwen said.

As NASA prepares for lunar missions, the SUITS challenge continues to bridge the gap between student imagination and real-world innovation, inspiring a new wave of space-ready problem-solvers.

“Design pushes you to consistently ask ‘what if?’ and reimagine what’s possible,” Shah said. “That kind of perspective will always stay core to NASA.”

Are you interested in joining the next NASA SUITS challenge? Find more information here.

The next challenge will open for proposals at the end of August 2025.

About the Author

Sumer Loggins

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Laser Focused: Keith Barr Leads Orion’s Lunar Docking Efforts 

Keith Barr was born only months before the historic Apollo 11 landing in 1969. While he was too young to witness that giant leap for mankind, the moment sparked a lifelong fascination that set him on a path to design technology that will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before. 

Today, Barr serves as a chief engineer and Orion Docking Lidar Field Test lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He spearheads the field testing of docking lidars for the Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis III mission. These lidars are critical to enabling Orion to autonomously dock with the human landing system on Artemis III — the mission that will land astronauts near the Moon’s South Pole for the first time in history. 

“The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions are some of humanity’s greatest technical achievements,” he said. “To be part of the Artemis chapter is a profound honor.”  

In recognition of his contributions, Barr was selected as a NASA Space Flight Awareness Honoree in 2025 for his exceptional dedication to astronaut safety and mission success. Established in 1963, NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Program celebrates individuals who play a vital role in supporting human spaceflight. The award is one of the highest honors presented to the agency’s workforce. 

With a career spanning over 25 years at Lockheed Martin, Barr is now recognized as a renowned leader in lidar systems—technologies that use laser light to measure distances. He has led numerous lidar deployments and test programs across commercial aviation, wind energy, and military markets.  

In 2019, Barr and his team began planning a multi-phase field campaign to validate Orion’s docking lidars under real-world conditions. They repurposed existing hardware, developed a drone-based simulation system, and conducted dynamic testing at Lockheed Martin facilities in Littleton, Colorado, and Santa Cruz, California. 

In Littleton, the team conducted two phases of testing at the Space Operations Simulation Center, evaluating performance across distances ranging from 50 meters to docking. At the Santa Cruz facility, they began much farther out at 6,500 meters and tested down to 10 meters, just before the final docking phase. 

Of all these efforts, Barr is especially proud of the ingenuity behind the Santa Cruz tests. To simulate a spacecraft docking scenario, he repurposed a lidar pointing gimbal and test trailer from previous projects and designed a drone-based test system with unprecedented accuracy.  

“An often-overlooked portion of any field campaign is the measurement and understanding of truth,” he said. “The system I designed allowed us to record lidar and target positions with accuracy never before demonstrated in outdoor docking lidar testing.” 

The test stand at the Santa Cruz Facility had once been used for Agena upper stage rockets—a key piece of hardware used during the Gemini program in the 1960s. “We found a Gemini-era sticker on the door of the test bunker—likely from the time of Gemini VIII, the first space docking completed by Neil Armstrong and David Scott,” Barr said. “This really brought it home to me that we are simply part of the continuing story.” 

Barr spent more than two decades working on WindTracer—a ground-based Doppler wind lidar system used to measure wind speed and turbulence at airports, wind farms, and in atmospheric research. 

The transition from WindTracer to Orion presented new challenges. “Moving onto a space program has a steep learning curve, but I have found success in this new arena and I have learned that I can adapt and I shouldn’t be nervous about the unknown,” he said. “Learning new technologies, applications, and skills keeps my career fun and exciting and I look forward to the next giant leap—whatever it is.” 

Barr’s passion for flight moves in tandem with his pursuit of innovation. Over his career, he has flown over 1.6 million miles on commercial airlines. “I often joke that I’m on my fourth trip to the Moon and back—just in economy class,” he said.  

Before specializing in lidar systems, Barr flew as a captain and assistant chief pilot at New England Airlines, operating small aircraft like the Piper Cherokee 6 and the Britten-Norman Islander.  

He also worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, contributing to several NASA airborne missions aimed at unraveling the science behind global ozone depletion.  

As Barr reflects on his journey, he hopes to pass along a sense of legacy to the Artemis Generation. “We are in the process of writing the next chapter of human space exploration history, and our actions, successes, and troubles will be studied and analyzed well into the future,” he said. “We all need to consider how our actions will shape history.” 

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