Hi, my name is Eric Anderson and I work for NASA here at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
I am the Lead Telemetry Engineer for the Launch Services Program.
My primary job is to support telemetry processing for expendable launch vehicles.
Telemetry is a Latin derived word that means simply “measuring at a distance”.
All rockets have sensors on them that measure things like battery voltages and tank pressures.
There is an electronic box on the rocket that takes all these sensor readings,
encodes them into a radio signal and transmits them back to us on the ground.
That radio signal is called a telemetry stream. I manage a computer system on the ground that takes the
telemetry stream, breaks it apart into the individual sensor readings, and displays that for the system engineers.
Informally, I am the “Speaker to Rockets.” I'm fluent in all types of telemetry languages,
like Delta, Atlas, Pegasus, and even some Shuttle. In my spare time, I'm even learning a little Spanish.
My group also records and stores this data so that the system engineers have years of data at their fingertips for comparison and analysis.
Other engineers in my office tie together some fairly elaborate voice and data networks so that we can, for instance, launch a rocket on the west coast,
follow it all the way around the earth, and provide all this information, in near real time, to engineers sitting in a control room right here at KSC.
We stay pretty busy following both NASA and non-NASA launches, averaging about two launches per month. In between launches,
we monitor ground testing and develop new capabilities to enhance the system engineer's knowledge of the launch vehicles.
In my years with the Launch Services Program, I have supported hundreds of ELV launches.
Every successful launch is a time for congratulations and a sense of fulfillment, but the next day we begin preparing for the next launch.
Working on the operations side of NASA can be both challenging and rewarding. You may work long hours and in unusual locations.
You will get involved in all types of projects from hypersonic aircraft to robotic missions to the far corners of the solar system.
You will need to be flexible. You will also be expected to get things done.
Whatever the customer needs to have a successful launch. Whether it is developing sophisticated orbital prediction models in
software or running data cables to their workstations, you will need to be ready, willing, and able.
So, if you want to enter this field, my advice to you is learn about everything you can. And don't forget to "carpe diem," that's Latin for seize the day.