The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Chapter in Los Angeles presents a special dinner, lecture, and election event

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Space Station… Or: Science on a Shoestring – The ISS-RapidScat Story

Dr. Stacey Boland, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Thursday, November 6, 2014 (Dinner starts at 5:30 PM, talk starts at 6:30 PM)

Cameron’s Restaurant, 1978 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107

This meeting is free to IEEE Los Angeles Section GRSS Chapter members and their spouses/companions, and includes dinner selected from a limited menu and non-alcoholic beverages. Non-members fee is $45. Reservations are required. RSVP with your IEEE membership number to la.grss.officers@ieee.org no later than November 3. If you wish to become a GRSS member, go to www.ieee.org/join. You do not need to be an engineer or a scientist to become a member. For questions, please contact la.grss.officers@ieee.org.

About the Speaker: Stacey W. Boland is the Project Systems Engineer for ISS-RapidScat. Previously, she served as the Observatory System Engineer for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) Earth System Science Pathfinder mission. Dr. Boland received her B.S. in physics from the University of Texas, Dallas, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from California Institute of Technology. Dr. Boland was awarded NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal in 2009. She currently serves on the National Research Council’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space, a standing committee of the Space Studies Board.

About the Topic: The International Space Station (ISS) is becoming increasingly used as a platform for remote sensing science, as scientists realize that the unique characteristics of ISS can make challenging and innovative science affordable. The Station’s newest external payload, ISS-RapidScat, was launched on September 21, 2014, installed robotically on September 29-30, and activated on October 1. In addition to the usual technical challenges for developing any space mission, the RapidScat engineering team also had to learn and adapt to the unfamiliar culture of the Station, with often amusing results.  In this talk, Dr. Boland will describe the RapidScat mission and share stories of how the team defied (and continues to defy) the odds to return valuable ocean vector wind data to the science and operational communities for a fraction of the time and money typically spent for even a small Earth science mission.

About the Election: We will conduct an election of GRSS chapter officers for the following year at this meeting.  We have a slate of candidates; however, if you would like to nominate anyone including yourself, please send your nomination, including the candidate’s IEEE membership number, resume, and statement of interest, to la.grss.officers@ieee.org by October 25, 2014 to be placed on the ballot. All Metro Los Angeles members are eligible to vote.

See the event flier.