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Interview: Dr. Brian Glass

What is your job description, and what does that mean in terms of what you actually do? What projects are you currently working on?

Dr. Brian Glass

I'm nominally a senior staff scientist [at the Computational Sciences Division at NASA-Ames]. In practice, this means I have a pretty free hand to pursue both science and projects, and I do some of both. My current projects are:

Mars Analog Rio Tinto Experiment (MARTE): a co-investigator responsible for automation and remote-science simulations (treating the platform in Spain as though it were a lander, and running it from "Earth" at NASA).
Mars Underground Mole (MUM): co-investigator, doing the control systems and automation for a pickle-sized metal cylinder that vibrates its way down 2m into the subsoil. We're teamed on this one with the Germans.
Mars Arctic Drilling Demon-stration (MADD): data acquisition and drilling automation, going to the Arctic for testing.
Geophysical studies: currently working on a magnetic and gravity study of a large Arctic impact crater (Haughton Crater, on Devon Island in Canada).
Air traffic automation and data management (System-wide Information Management): working with the airlines and the FAA.
Human-robotic productivity study (HORSE): comparing the performance of spacesuited humans vs. remotely-directed rovers in doing field geology tasks -- getting productivity numbers.

How did you get involved with space work?

I started as an undergraduate at MIT, working as a research assistant in the Space Systems Lab. Our first project looked at automation for future free-flyers and space stations, working with Danny Hillis in the MIT AI Lab and Georg von Tiesenhausen (one of the original Germans at NASA-Marshall). It was a lot of fun...I'd been a space fan as a teenager, and that was my first opportunity for hands-on work in the field. Then, after a stint at Lockheed, I went back to grad school at Georgia Tech in aerospace engineering, working on a Ph.D in smart-structures for space robotics, then wound up at NASA-Ames after I finished.

How did you end up working at NASA, in your present position?

My wife had gotten accepted to law school at Stanford—we were trading-off support of each other's graduate degrees. So I looked in Silicon Valley for space automation and robotics jobs, found a NASA-Ames phone book and research annual, and cold-called people who were working on vaguely similar-sounding projects. A new project between Ames and Johnson Space Center needed people to create a prototype automated thermal control system for the Space Station, so I was hired at Ames.

What sort of study and research lead to your current career?

Structural dynamics, then robotics, then AI, then geophysics. I went back to grad school at Stanford in the early 90s to get another MS in earth sciences, because I wanted to work in space science projects as well as in human spaceflight projects. And geology is fun for its own sake! I spent a year at NASA Headquarters trying to get laptops and wireless networks onboard the Space Station, and participating in early discussions with the Russians there.

Meanwhile, I got a pilot's license...which, upon my return to Ames, made me the logical person to lead a new air-traffic project with the FAA. That one led to a surface-movement advisor that is still in use. I put together a research program in intelligent systems for space applications, and a project in vehicle health management. The overlap of automation and geophysics and new technologies led to my participation in the Haughton-Mars Project, the spacesuited humans vs. rover productivity research, and current automated drilling projects.

Did you know that you wanted to be involved with space science as a child? What advice do you have for children and parents who are interested in space careers?

I was fascinated with other planets and exploration—terrestrial explorers as well as in space—as a child. Posters all over my bedroom walls.

The best advice I can give is to give children the opportunity to pursue what they love, what interests them. And to give them opportunities to pursue science and math in school, if that's their love. To pursue a space career, one needs to excel in an area that is space-related...and that's hard unless one loves what one is doing. And it isn't just engineering or astronomy or planetary science...there are roles for biologists, physicians, computer scientists, psychologists, or even more hands-on operational roles as machinists, pilots, nurses, or technicians. Find something fun, that's also space-related. Then look for connections and opportunities to get involved.

First of two parts. More on Dr. Glass’ projects next month.