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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, December 15, 2008 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Steve Davis

"Falcons and Dragons: Economical Liftoffs for Science Payloads, Cargo, and People"

ABSTRACT -- A new vehicle for small payloads, the Falcon, was successfully launched in September. Designed for cost efficiency and reliability, the Falcon series of spacecraft can provide an affordable option for science and engineering researchers to get their payloads to orbit, either LEO or, with the Falcon 9, geo-synchronous. In addition to describing the Falcon spacecraft, the speaker will describe the Dragon. The Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members. Initiated internally by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in 2005, Dragon will be utilized to fulfill a NASA COTS contract for demonstration of cargo re-supply of the ISS.

SPEAKER -- Mr. Davis of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) (http://www.spacex.com) is Lead Systems Engineer for Dragon, a free-flying reusable spacecraft being developed under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program for the delivery of cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). In this role, Davis is responsible for the technical management of 25 engineers, overall system and mission design, and interfacing with the ISS program to ensure ISS-Dragon compatibility. Prior to his role as Lead Systems Engineer on Dragon, Davis designed, analyzed and tested the guidance system for the SpaceX Falcon 1, the first privately-developed liquid fuel rocket to achieve Earth orbit.

Before joining SpaceX in 2003, Davis received a Masters of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and a Masters of Science in Elementary Particle Theory from the University of Durham, UK, where he graduated with distinction. Davis holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Aeronautics (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Economics (Summa Cum Laude) from The Wharton School of Business.




Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov