Katie Bisci: Resourcing for Big Science

Deputy Project Manager for Resources – Goddard Space Flight Center

How are you helping set the stage for the Roman mission?

I’m a deputy project manager for resources on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team, sharing the role with Kris Steeley. Together, we oversee the business team, finance, outreach, scheduling, and more. I focus more on the “down and in” of the day-to-day team — helping the financial team, resource utilization across the project, and support service contracts management — while Kris handles more of the “up and out” external work with center management and NASA Headquarters. Kris and I collaborate on many things as well. The two of us have been together on Roman for many years, and we have definitely become one brain in many aspects of the role. The main goal in the job is programmatics: We need to understand and help along the technical parts of the mission, while also supporting cost and schedule control since Roman is a cost-capped mission. I try to make sure that I partner with our engineers to understand the technical part of Roman as much as possible. I find that I can’t do my job well on the programmatic side without working together closely with our engineers to understand the hardware and testing.

What drew you to NASA? Did you always intend to work here?

I think I always knew I wanted to go into the business and finance side of things, but I thought I’d end up at a big investment bank. I interned at one during college, but it just didn’t feel right for me. After graduating, I worked on corporate events for defense contractors in New York City. Then my husband got a job in Annapolis, Maryland, and I took a leap and applied for a resource analyst job at NASA, where some college friends were working. Looking back, as an oldest daughter it probably should have been obvious that project management would be a good fit! Once I got to NASA, I was really drawn in by the missions and work we do. It was so different from the corporate world. Being able to work on some of the coolest missions with some of the most brilliant minds out there is a gift. Almost 15 years later, I’m still here.

How did your career grow from there?

After serving as a resource analyst in the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, I moved into the center’s Astrophysics Projects Division, where I began working on Roman in 2012, back when it was just a small study called WFIRST (Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope). I could never have imagined at the time what that small study would turn into. People at NASA often say they “grew up” on the James Webb Space Telescope, and for me I definitely “grew up” on Roman. I became the mission business manager, then financial manager, and now a deputy project manager for resources. I feel lucky that most of my career has been spent on Roman. Adding it up, I’ve been on this project for over a decade. I’ve worked with so many amazing people, not just at NASA Goddard, but across the United States. It’s hard to believe we are so close to launching.

What’s been the highlight of your career so far?

Becoming part of the management team on Roman, for sure. Working with the leadership team has been incredible. The best part about Roman is the people. It still cracks me up to look at the plethora of people we have in the same room for our weekly senior staff meeting, from the programmatic and finance types like myself, to engineers leading super complicated integration and test programs, Ph.D.s, and some of the most brilliant science minds I will probably ever know. The Roman team is amazing, and those relationships are what keep me excited to come to work every day.

Has your work influenced your understanding or appreciation of astronomy?

Absolutely. I’ve learned so much just by being around brilliant people like our project scientist Julie McEnery. I even recently gave a talk about Roman at my daughter’s school! Being able to stand up in front of a group of children and talk about what Roman science is going to do is something I never would have been able to do prior to working here. I’ve learned about how the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb, and Roman all build on each other during my time on this project. And it’s really incredible science. I’ve also developed a deep admiration for the engineers who have built Roman. As a business focused person, our engineering team has really helped me understand the different facets of what our engineering team does on Roman. They are so patient with me! It’s really fulfilling to be a small part of something so big.

What advice do you have for others who are interested in doing similar work?

If you’re in finance, don’t just learn the numbers — learn the work behind them. Understand the mission, the tech, the people. That’s what helps you move from analyst to leader. People can tell when you really get what they’re doing, and that’s how you become a better partner and manager.

What’s life like outside NASA?

I have three kids — ages 9, 5, and 3 — so life is busy! When I’m not working, I’m usually at their sports games or chauffeuring them around to one event or another. It’s a little bit of a rat race, but this season of life is also really fun. Recently, my family and I have gotten back into traveling now that my kids are a little bit older. We took a spring break trip to Europe, which was fantastic.  Spending time with my family and friends is everything. Whether it’s going to the beach, spending time at the pool, or hanging out on the sideline of a lacrosse game, just like at work it’s being with my people that I thrive on. And maybe one day I will have time for more hobbies again!

By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Ashley Balzer

Over Soroya Ridge & Onward!

Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University

Perseverance has continued exploring beyond the rim of Jezero crater, spending time last week at Parnasset conducting a mini-campaign on aeolian bedforms. After wrapping up that work, three separate drives brought Perseverance further southeast to an outcrop named Soroya.

Soroya was first picked out from orbital images as a target of interest because, as can be seen in the above image, it appears as a much lighter color compared to the surroundings. In previous landscape images from the surface, Mars 2020 scientists have been able to pick out the light-toned Soryoa outcrop, and they noted it forms a ridge-like structure, protruding above the surface. Soroya was easily identifiable from rover images (below) as Perseverance approached since it indeed rises above the surrounding low-lying terrain.

From Parnasset to Soroya, the team planned a series of drives so that Perseverance would arrive at Soroya in a great workspace, and the plan was successful. As shown in the first image, we arrived at  an area with flat, exposed bedrock –  great for proximity science instruments.

The WATSON and SHERLOC ACI cameras plan to acquire many high-resolution images to investigate textures and surface features. For chemistry, SCAM LIBS and ZCAM multispectral activities will give important contextual data for the outcrop while PIXL will acquire a high-resolution chemical map scan of a dust-cleared part of the bedrock. While parked, MEDA will continue monitoring environmental conditions and ZCAM will image the surrounding terrain to inform the next drive location. Take a look at where Perseverance is now – where would you explore next?

• Want to read more posts from the Perseverance team?

  
  
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  Visit the Science Instruments page
  
  

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Patagonia Glacier retreat, Chile

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Before and After

Patagonia Glacier retreat, Chile

September 18, 1986 – August 5, 2002

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Patagonia, Chile. Left: September 18, 1986. Right: August 5, 2002. The 1986 image shows the region prior to a major retreat of the glaciers. The 2002 image shows a retreat of nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the glacier on the left side. The smaller glacier on the right has receded more than 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). In front of the smaller glacier, two ribbon lakes have formed behind the debris left by the glacier’s advance. Scientists and government managers are using satellite imagery like this to monitor the retreat of the glaciers and the impact on water bodies caused by the changes in the glaciers’ size and direction. Left image taken by the Thematic Mapper sensor onboard Landsat 5. Right image taken by the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor onboard Landsat 7. Source: USGS Landsat Missions Gallery, “Patagonia Region – Retreating Glaciers,” U.S. Department of the Interior / U.S. Geological Survey.

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Meet NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Masterminds

As four astronauts venture around the Moon on NASA’s Artemis II test flight in 2026, many people will support the journey from here on Earth. Teams directing operations from the ground include the mission management team, launch control team, flight control team, and the landing and recovery team, each with additional support personnel who are experts in every individual system and subsystem. The teams have managed every aspect of the test flight and ensure NASA is prepared to send humans beyond our atmosphere and into a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration.

Mission management team

Reviews of mission status and risk assessments are conducted by the mission management team, a group of 15 core members and additional advisors. Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program, will serve as the mission management team chair for the test flight.

Two days prior to launch, the mission management team will assemble to review mission risks and address any lingering preflight concerns. With more than 20 years of human spaceflight experience, Kshatriya will conduct polls at key decision points, providing direction for the relevant operations team. If circumstances during the flight go beyond established decision criteria or flight rules outlined ahead of the mission, the team will assess the situation based on the information available and decide how to respond. 

Matt Ramsey, serving as the Artemis II mission manager, will oversee all elements of mission preparedness prior to the mission management team assembly two days before launch and serve as deputy mission management team chair throughout the mission. With more than two decades of experience at NASA, Ramsey managed the SLS (Space Launch System) Engineering Support Center for Artemis I. 

Launch control team

The launch control team coordinates launch operations from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as the agency’s Artemis launch director, responsible for integrating and coordinating launch operations for the SLS, Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems Programs, including developing and implementing plans for countdown, troubleshooting, and timing.

Two days before liftoff, when the countdown for launch begins, Blackwell-Thompson’s team will begin preparations for launch from their console positions in Firing Room 1 in Kennedy’s Launch Control Center. On the day of launch, Blackwell-Thompson and her team will manage countdown progress, propellent loading, and launch commit criteria. The criteria include standards for systems involved in launch, and the team will monitor the rocket until it lifts off from the launchpad.

Flight control team

From solid rocket booster ignition until the crew is safely extracted from the Orion capsule following splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their mission, the flight control team oversees operations from the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Multiple flight directors will take turns leading the team throughout the 10-day mission to support operations around the clock. Jeff Radigan, bringing more than 20 years of International Space Station experience to Artemis II, will serve as lead flight director for the mission. The work for this role begins well in advance of the mission with building mission timelines; developing flight rules and procedures; leading the flight control team through simulations that prepare them for the flight test; and then helping them carry out the plan.

On launch day, the ascent flight control team will be led by Judd Frieling, an Artemis I flight director who also supported more than 20 shuttle missions as a flight controller. Frieling is responsible for overseeing the crew’s ascent to space, including performance of SLS core stage engines, solid rocket boosters, and propulsion systems from the moment of launch until the separation of Orion from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. As Orion is propelled toward the Moon, guidance of operations will pass to the next flight director.

At the opposite end of the mission, Rick Henfling will take the lead for Orion’s return to Earth and splashdown. Orion will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph to about 20 mph for a parachute-assisted splashdown. Drawing from a background supporting space shuttle ascent, entry, and abort operations and 10 years as a space station flight director, Henfling and the team will monitor weather forecasts for landing, watch over Orion’s systems through the dynamic entry phase, and to ensure the spacecraft is safely shutdown before handing over operations to the recovery team.

At any point during the mission, a single voice will speak to the crew in space on behalf of all members of the flight control team: the capsule communicator, or CapCom. The CapCom ensures the crew in space receives clear and concise communication from the teams supporting them on the ground. NASA astronaut Stan Love will serve as the lead CapCom for Artemis II. Love flew aboard STS-122 mission and has acted as CapCom for more than a dozen space station expeditions. He is also part of the astronaut office’s Rapid Prototyping Lab, which played a key role in development of Orion’s displays and controls.

Landing, recovery team

Retrieval of the crew and Orion crew module will be in the hands of the landing and recovery team, led by Lili Villarreal. The team will depart San Diego on a Department of Defense ship, and head to the vicinity of the landing site several days before splashdown for final preparations alongside the U.S. Navy and DOD.

The recovery team is made up of personnel operating from the ship, land, and air to recover both astronauts and the capsule. Decision-making authority during the recovery phase of mission operations belongs to Villarreal, who served as deputy flow director for Artemis I and worked in the operations division for the space station.

The success of Artemis II will pave the way for the next phase of the agency’s campaign, landing on the lunar South Pole region on Artemis III. These teams, along with the four crew members and countless NASA engineers, scientists, and personnel, are driving humanity’s exploration on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

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Lauren E. Low

Strap In! NASA Aeroshell Material Takes Extended Space Trip

Components of a NASA technology that could one day help crew and cargo enter harsh planetary environments, like that of Mars, are taking an extended trip to space courtesy of the United States Space Force.

On Aug. 21, several pieces of webbing material, known as Zylon, which comprise the straps of the HIAD (Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator) aeroshell developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, launched to low Earth orbit along with other experiments aboard the Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. This trip will help researchers characterize how the Zylon webbing responds to long-duration exposure to the harsh vacuum of space.

The strap material on the HIAD aeroshell serves two purposes – short strap lengths hold together HIAD’s inflatable rings and longer pieces help to distribute the load more evenly across the cone-shaped structure. The HIAD aeroshell technology could allow larger spacecraft to safely descend through the atmospheres of celestial bodies like Mars, Venus, and even Saturn’s moon, Titan.

“We’re researching how HIAD technology could help get humans to Mars. We want to look at the effects of long-term exposure to space – as if the Zylon material is going for a potential six to nine-month mission to Mars,” said Robert Mosher, HIAD materials and processing lead at NASA Langley. “We want to make sure we know how to protect those structural materials in the long term.”

Flying Zylon material aboard the Space Force’s X-37B mission will help NASA researchers understand what kind of aging might occur to the webbing on a long space journey before it experiences the extreme environments of atmospheric entry, during which it has to retain strength at high temperatures.

Multiple samples are in small canisters on the X-37B. Mosher used two different techniques to put the strap material in the canisters. Some he tightly coiled up, others he stuffed in.

“Typically, we pack a HIAD aeroshell kind of like you pack a parachute, so they’re compressed,” he said. “We wanted to see if there was a difference between tightly coiled material and stuff-packed material like you would normally see on a HIAD.”

Some of the canisters also include tiny temperature and humidity sensors set to collect readings at regular intervals. When the Space Force returns the samples from the X-37B flight, Mosher will compare them to a set of samples that have remained in canisters here on Earth to look for signs of degradation.

“Getting this chance to have the Zylon material exposed to space for an extended period of time will begin to give us some data on the long-term packing of a HIAD,” Mosher said.

Uninflated HIAD aeroshells can be packed into small spaces within a spacecraft. This results in a decelerator that can be much larger than the diameter of its launch vehicle and can therefore land much heavier loads and deliver them to higher elevations on a planet or other celestial body.

Rigid aeroshells, the sizes of which are dictated by the diameters of their launch vehicles, typically 4.5 to 5 meters, are capable of landing well-equipped, car-sized rovers on Mars. By contrast, an inflatable HIAD, with an 18-20m diameter, could land the equivalent of a small, fully furnished ranch house with a car in the garage on Mars.

NASA’s HIAD aeroshell developments build on the success of the agency’s LOFTID (Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) mission that launched on Nov. 10, 2022, resulting in valuable insights into how this technology performs under the stress of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after being exposed to space for a short time period.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/space-technology-mission-directorate/tdm/

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