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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, May 11, 2015 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Dan O'Shaughnessay

"The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury"

ABSTRACT -- MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is the first spacecraft to achieve orbit about Mercury. Designed to operate for one Earth-year in Mercury orbit, MESSENGER exceeded expectations by completing more than four years of scientific study of the innermost planet. On 30 April 2015, MESSENGER will have completely exhausted all onboard propellant, leaving no means to fight the persistent tug of the Sun's gravity, resulting in a 3.9 km/s impact with Mercury's surface. The MESSENGER mission faced numerous technical challenges associated with achieving and operating from Mercury orbit across 10.5 years of flight. These challenges will be discussed, with particular focus on the mission endgame—the so-called "hover" campaign.

SPEAKER -- Mr. Dan O'Shaughnessy graduated from the University of Missouri with BS and MS degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering. After graduation, he joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) as a guidance and control engineer. He has been involved with MESSENGER since joining APL in 2000, previously leading the guidance and control team through cruise, Mercury orbit insertion, and the first year of orbit operations. Dan has also supported NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous), STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory), and New Horizons, in addition to working numerous research and flight projects in control systems, algorithm and software development, and autonomous on-orbit commissioning and calibration. As recently as two weeks ago, he served as MESSENGER's Mission Systems Engineer, making him responsible for all technical aspects of the program. In 2014, Dan was awarded the inaugural Heinlein Award for Space Technology for his work supporting MESSENGER's flight demonstration of solar sailing. He is particularly interested in guidance, control, orbital mechanics, autonomy, optimization, and circumventing accepted processes whenever possible. Most importantly, Dan was a former guest player in (and champion of) the Goddard Soccer League.


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