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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

photo of Bruce Underwood

September 10, 2012 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Bruce Underwood

"Wallops Flight Facility as a Satellite Launch Facility"

ABSTRACT -- While Wallops Flight Facility is mostly known for its suborbital programs, it actually has an extended history of conducting orbital launches. Wallops' first orbital mission was the Explorer 9 mission, launched in January 1961. Over the last 50+ years, Wallops has launched a variety of orbital rockets for a variety of customers, both NASA and non-NASA, including several launched from remote locations via the Wallops Mobile Range. The selection of Wallops by Orbital Sciences Corporation in 2008, as launch site for its new Antares medium-class ELV shocked the space community and renewed focus on Wallops as an orbital launch site. This discussion will provide an overview of the Wallops history of launching small satellites, a discussion of the Range's existing and new technical capabilities in place to support an increasing pace of orbital missions, and some speculation on what future might hold.

SPEAKER -- Bruce Underwood holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from North Carolina State University. He has worked for NASA Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility for the past thirty-one years. He began his career as a flight analyst in the NASA Sounding Rocket Program, followed by nine years in the Wallops Range Safety Office as both a flight safety analyst and as a mission Range Safety Officer, supporting launch operations from Wallops as well as worldwide field campaigns. He worked several years as a Project Manager before becoming Head of the Operations Management Section and as Range Test Director, responsible for the management and execution of all flight rocket and aircraft operations conducted from the Wallops Research Range. During his Range Safety and Range Operations career, he participated in the launch of more than one-hundred suborbital and orbital rockets.

For the past thirteen years, he has served as Chief of the Advanced Projects Office, responsible for new project formulation, strategic planning, and policy guidance. In this capacity, he is responsible for leading pursuit and formulation of new Wallops opportunities with other NASA organizations, other Federal and State agencies, industry, and academia.


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