'Best job at JPL': What it's like to be an engineer on the Voyager project The Voyager probes have entered a new phase of operations. As recent events have shown, keeping the venerable spacecraft running is challenging as the end of their mission nears. As with much of the Voyager team nowadays, Kareem Badaruddin, a 30-year veteran of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), divides his time between …
Most scientists and engineers working in roles close to science (like at NASA, ESA, university labs etc.) really enjoy their jobs. I know I did, but the job opportunities are getting more scarce as you move up the ladder in your qulifications and work experience. Many positions are fixed term (one to four years), and then you have to move on. There are tenured positions, but those are basically through a dead man's (or woman's) shoes... You need to be pretty good as a scientist and brilliant in getting research funds (yes, that order) and of course bloody lucky.
I'm lucky, I've been working in the space industry for my entire career (over 35 years now, just a few more years to retire) primarily as an engineering consultant. Never have I thought of changing my career path; I've just had too much fun and made too many friends over the years.
I used to look after a lot of kit used in secret applications, by various military/defense/space/etc.
I once had a US Rear Admiral ring me to give me the "heater treatment".
I replied that I was in the UK, why hadn't he spotted that from the phone number and that he had broken multiple US laws telling me the things that he had....Click!
It helped me to resolve their problem though, which was better than the normal cycle I had to endure:
"We have a problem with xyz"
"Can you tell me what is wrong?"
"No."
"Can you tell me how I might cause a similar problem?"
"No."
"If I tried abc, might it show a similar problem?"
"No."
Until I got an answer of "Yes", and then I could resolve the problem.
So, I totally understand NASA's diagnosis and fixing role.
Oh, and yes, some of that kit may well have been on rockets, and certainly some equipment couldn't stand more than 1 minute of down-time during updates which had to work first time.
Anon for very obvious reasons
I'm super ultra lucky to work for a woman who's been with the program for 36 years, and who's honestly far smarter than I.
They explain the problem to her, and she tells me the symptoms without all the secret squirrel stuff that I really don't need to know.
Quite a rational and workable situation, which as you know is rare in this environment. I feel like I'm working for Admiral Grace Hopper but without the frequent butt-chewing.
It's a crying shame there's only one of her. Which is why losers like me have a job.
Anon for the same very obvious reasons
"Can you tell me what is wrong?"
"No."
"Can you tell me how I might cause a similar problem?"
"No."
"If I tried abc, might it show a similar problem?"
"No."
Until I got an answer of "Yes", and then I could resolve the problem.
Never had to work like that before, sounds challenging and incredibly frustrating. Not sure I'd be able to cope with the ridiculous nature of playing 20 questions when the pressure is on to fix something and they can't even tell me what needs fixing!
I know I don't. It's fascinating to read about how the Voyager Project continues to work miracles after all these years, but I wouldn't want the stress of knowing that if I made a wrong call one of our greatest achievements would be gone forever. I'm content to admire the work from afar, and let others have the amazing life.
If you don't try, you will never succeed.
It is better to fail than to do nothing.
If you fail, at least you tried.
I'm wondering how much of a tear-jerker the XKCD is going to be when they pull the plug. I'm looking at you, 695 Spirit.
Ah, the brilliance of the few! Training in the fundamentals for this kind of real engineering (which are primarily a way of thinking, not just a body of knowledge) has become an essential for general education in our intensely technology-driven societies, as opposed to aiming for provision of soft options that merely avoid "turning teens off".
The engineers went further down the fault tree, and eventually managed to get a minimum program to the spacecraft to give a memory readout. That readout could be compared to one retrieved when the spacecraft was healthy. 256 words were corrupted, indicating a specific integrated circuit. Code was then written to relocate instructions around that failed area.
Something that would make me feel a bit wobbly if doing it in a nice safe earthbound environment...fixing the problem on something all that way away is just something else.
25 years ago, 56kbps modems were common and xDSL was around a year later in 2000. Cable modems first appeared in, I think 1995, the first DOCIS standards being implemented in 2000 with cable modem speeds up to about 27Mb/s
As I said to someone else the other day, the 1980's were NOT 25 years ago. You are older than you think! :-)
"Well, Voyager 2 is the one that's been flying the longest, and Voyager 1 is the one that's furthest from Earth. So they both have a claim to fame."
Big "I love all my children equally" energy there.
I actually spent a semester and a summer off during my junior year of college, working at the JPL. This was back in 1995, and they very shrewdly didn't let me mess with the space systems — I spent half the time in the parallel computing lab, the other half in network security. Great place to work, though.
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