Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM and SCHNEEBAUM AWARD CEREMONY
Monday, May 14, 2012 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
D. Elizabeth Pugel
“Indiana Jones and the Search for Apollo - Modern Day Adventures in Materials Science”
ABSTRACT -- As NASA designs and builds new systems for Exploration, innovative approaches to non-destructive evaluation (NDE) are needed to assess the quality and properties of new materials, new manufacturing techniques, and the resulting system. The development of these approaches demands a mission view that integrates knowledge acquired by traditional basic research methods with the applied realities associated with instrument and hardware building. The development of ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy and imaging as an NDE approach for Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials and manufacturing processes for the Orion Heat Shield is one example of this coalescence of basic research understanding with the applied reality of deliverable hardware. Join me on an adventure in applied materials science, taking us from the dusty corners of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives to the stark cleanrooms for TPS manufacturing as we review of our investigative efforts in UV spectroscopy and imaging as applied to Shuttle, the Stardust Sample Return Capsule, and Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle TPS.
SPEAKER -- Dr. Diane (Betsy) Pugel pursues innovation in a wide variety of applications and searches far and wide to work on interesting challenges for a broad range of agency missions. Since arriving at Goddard in 2002, she has enjoyed many adventures in technology development, the majority of which have been at the interface between science and engineering in the Detector Systems Branch at Goddard, and at various other NASA Centers all over the U.S., including NASA's Ames, Johnson, Kennedy, Glenn, and Langley Centers. She has written over 16 refereed publications and coauthored a chapter on Ultraviolet devices. She was this year's recipient of the Women in Aerospace Achievement Award, and recently received her first patent award. Dr. Pugel received her Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics at the University of Maryland. On a personal note, she wants you to know that one device she worked on - the backshell for the Stardust Sample Return Capsule, which is currently housed at the National Air and Space Museum, smells like mesquite barbecue (It's too bad it's stored behind glass or you could smell it too!).