Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM 

Monday, December 13, 1999 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium 

Linda Robeck

ABSTRACT -- The Mars Pathfinder Project was the first of JPL's high visibility "Faster Better Cheaper" missions.  A variety of techniques were used to reduce costs while keeping the risk factors low.  One of these techniques was to build hardware early, and then assemble it and test, test, test.  Linda Robeck was the engineer in charge of the Lander assembly and test operations, and will share a number of the trials and tribulations the team faced on the way to Mars.  The presentation will include behind-the-scenes photos taken during the assembly and test process, and possibly a video with highlights of the test program if time permits.

SPEAKER -- Linda Sophie Robeck (a.k.a. Mrs. Donald Fuhrman) joined JPL in July, 1987, after completing a Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering at MIT and a Master's in the same subject at Stanford University.  Her early years at JPL were spent working on the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystems of Galileo, Cassini, CRAF, and several small Earth Observation instruments.  In recent years, her assignments have included mechanical support for Cassini, MISR, and Mars Pathfinder, most notably as Deputy ATLO Mechanical Engineer in charge of the assembly of the Mars Pathfinder lander, which required a temporary assignment (four months) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Linda recently worked on the Critical Dynamics in Microgravity (DYNAMX) experiment, a superfluid Helium investigation intended for spaceflight in the early 2000's.  Linda has recently been assigned a managerial role as Group Supervisor of the Precision Motion Control Systems and Celestial Sensors Group; the group specializes in the sensors used by robotic spacecraft to navigate and control cameras and other moving parts.