{"418281":{"#nid":"418281","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Prof. Bobby Braun and GT Alums Contribute to Mars Curiosity Landing","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Bobby Braun (AE) with former Georgia Tech AE students Ravi Prakash, David Way and Devin Kipp and a full-scale model of the Mars Curiosity rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn August 6, the world was watching as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) completed an autonomous landing on Mars.\u0026nbsp; The fate of the most ambitious machine humans ever sent to another planet rested on an innovative seven-minute landing sequence that has been years in the making.\u0026nbsp; Georgia Tech alumni Devin Kipp and Ravi Prakash have been part of the MSL entry,descent and landing team since graduating in 2005 with M.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering; Georgia Tech Alumnus Dr. David Way has been part of this team since 2002.\u0026nbsp; In the LA Times, Kipp states, \u0022It\u0027s not really possible to do an end-to-end test on Earth - because Earth is not Mars.\u0026nbsp; The first time we do that end-to-end test, it\u0027s not a test.\u0026nbsp; It\u0027s the real thing.\u0026nbsp; On Mars.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe goal of Mars Science Laboratory (nicknamed Curiosity), is \u0022to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms.\u0022\u0026nbsp; Curiosity carried 10 science instruments to Mars for testing and calibration.\u0026nbsp; The instruments are reported to be in good health after landing and testing and calibration are now proceeding.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduating from Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Aerospace Engineering with an M.S. in 2005, Devin Kipp joined JPL as an entry, descent, and landing systems engineer.\u0026nbsp; He has spent the past 7 years working on the design, development, testing, and operation of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft.\u0026nbsp; During that time he has focused on parachute descent, terrain interactions and mission operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERavi Prakash joined JPL after graduating from Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Aerospace Engineering with an M.S. in 2005.\u0026nbsp; He has been on the Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent and landing (EDL) team for over 5 years, participating in radar field tests and leading the in space checkout of the MSL EDL instrumentation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter graduating from Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Aerospace Engineering with a Ph.D. in 2001, Dr. David Way joined the technical staff of the NASA Langley Research Center.\u0026nbsp; He has spent the past 10 years performing detailed simulation of the Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent and landing process.\u0026nbsp; These simulations results have been used as part of the navigation process, and in the design and testing of a range of entry, desent and landing subsystems.\u0026nbsp; David is a member of the EDL mission operations team.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo read an article by Prof. Robert Braun on the importance of the U.S. remaining the leader in planetary exploration, click \u003Ca title=\u0022here.\u0022 href=\u0022http:\/\/www.aviationweek.com\/Article.aspx?id=\/article-xml\/awx_08_06_2012_p0-483287.xml#\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehere.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor Bobby Braun (AE) with former Georgia Tech AE students Ravi Prakash, David Way and Devin Kipp and a full-scale model of the Mars Curiosity rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)."}],"uid":"27456","created_gmt":"2015-06-24 13:30:33","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:18:49","author":"Britanny Grace","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-08-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-08-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"30211","name":"Bobby Braun"},{"id":"130361","name":"David Way"},{"id":"130371","name":"Devin Kipp"},{"id":"130381","name":"MSL"},{"id":"130351","name":"Ravi Prakash"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["communications@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}