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Projects: LightSail - Solar SailingLightSail Mission TeamContent for class "clear" Goes Here
Louis D. Friedman,
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Credit: The Planetary Society |
Louis D. Friedman, Program Director
Louis Friedman is a co-founder and the Executive Director of The Planetary Society. Prior to his work at The Planetary Society, Friedman worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1970–1980, where he was involved in planning deep space missions. His projects included Mariner-Venus-Mercury, the Grand Tour (Voyager), Venus Orbital Imaging Radar (Magellan), the Mars Program Halley, and the Comet Rendezvous-Solar Sail. Although the solar sail never launched for Halley's Comet, the concept of using light to propel a spacecraft intrigued Friedman so much that he wrote a book on the subject, Starsailing: Solar Sails and Interstellar Flight. Friedman earned a B.S. in applied Mathematics and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin, followed by an M.S. in Engineering Mechanics at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. from the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at M.I.T. In 1978-79, Friedman went to Washington, DC as the AIAA Congressional Fellow and worked on the staff of the subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
 Credit: Courtesy Jim Cantrell |
Jim Cantrell, Project Manager
Jim Cantrell is an entrepreneur, small spacecraft expert, and operator of a 20 person aerospace consulting firm, Strategic Space Development Inc. Cantrell's career spans 20+ years with stints at NASA JPL, the French space agency CNES to work the Mars 94 program, work on joint missile defense and space programs with the Russian ministry of defense, and key roles in developing private space ventures and launch vehicle suppliers. He was the deputy program manager for The Planetary Society's Cosmos 1 solar sail program. Cantrell has also founded several non-aerospace businesses including the latest, Vintage Exotics, which restores and campaigns vintage race cars. Cantrell is a native of California but received two degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Utah State University and resides in Tucson Arizona.
Credit: Courtesy Tomas Svitek |
Tomas Svitek, Spacecraft Manager
Tomas Svitek has long been involved in developing advanced and innovative aerospace projects, including small science missions for NASA, earth observing satellites for commercial applications, and technologies for missile defense. Svitek was previously employed at JPL, Orbital Sciences, AeroAstro, Earhtwatch, Blastoff! and Blue Origin. He founded and manages Stellar. He earned his Ph.D. at Caltech, studying under Professor Bruce Murray, one of the co-founders of The Planetary Society. Interestingly, LightSail concludes a long arc in Svitek's professional history. At the conclusion of Friedman's solar sailing book, Friedman mentions being approached (at the IAF Congress at Paris in 1982) by a teenager from (then) Czechoslovakia, who had just presented a student team report describing a miniaturized solar sail design, intended to weigh only 5 kg and be launched as a secondary payload. This was in contrast to the just-completed 8,000 kg JPL solar sail design. That teenager was Svitek -- just 25 years ahead of his time.....
Credit: Paul Vanezis |
Bruce Betts, Payload Manager
Bruce Betts is The Planetary Society’s Director of Projects. A planetary scientist, whose research has focused on telescopic, spacecraft and laboratory studies of planetary surfaces. Bruce earned Bachelors and Masters degrees from Stanford and a Ph.D. from Caltech. At NASA headquarters he managed planetary instrument development programs and served as a program scientist on NASA missions. At The Planetary Society, he has managed numerous projects including flight instrument projects. He writes for The Planetary Report and planetary.org, and hosts the weekly "What's Up?" feature on Planetary Radio. He is an Adjunct Professor with Cal State Dominguez Hills and an Alumnus Senior Scientist with Planetary Science Institute.
Credit: Courtesy Beth Wahl |
Beth Wahl, System Engineer
Beth Wahl is President of Blue X, Inc., a private company providing expertise in spacecraft systems engineering. She has over 30 years experience in engineering systems development, including submarines, missile systems, and spacecraft. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cal State Long Beach, Wahl was a senior engineer at the Jet Propulsion Lab where she was responsible for mechanical subsystems development for numerous NASA missions. After moving to Colorado with her family, Wahl joined SAIC where she was heavily involved in advanced concept design and source selection activities for NASA programs such as Discovery and New Frontiers.
Ann Druyan |
Ann Druyan, Chief Advisor
Ann Druyan is Creative Director of NASA’s Voyager Interstellar Message, co-writer of the COSMOS television series, co-creator with Carl Sagan of the motion picture CONTACT and co-author with him of several books, including Comet and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. Since the year 2000,Druyan has beenFounder/CEO of Cosmos Studios, which produces science-based entertainment. She co-wrote Passport to the Universe starring Tom Hanks and The Search for Life. . .Are We Alone starring Harrison Ford, for the Rose Sky Theater at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. She is the Host of At Home in the Cosmos with Annie Druyan, a presentation of Podjockey.com.
Planetary Society Members
Planetary Society Members
Planetary Society members test rovers at Santa Monica Beach. Credit: Planetary Society |
The LightSail project couldn't succeed with out the support of tens of thousands of Planetary Society members. Our members supported our first solar sail, and, when the spacecraft was lost, our members rallied behind us and gave us the resources to try again. Now, with LightSail-1, our members are working with us meet our 2010 deadline. Our members are forward-thinking individuals, giving what they can, to launch a technology that may one day take us to the stars. LightSail-1 is truly a citizens' spacecraft.
You, too, can be part of our LightSail-1 team and make this exciting mission happen!
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