Category Archives: Musing
Failure Mode
A few things to keep in mind if you have a major test failure: Take a big deep breath and don’t touch anything. Our inclination as engineers is always to poke things and try to fix it right away. That is a bad idea. Leave the room. Go home if its the end of the…
If only we had taller been
If you’re at all interested in space exploration or even scientific advancement make sure to listen to Ray Bradbury’s poem “If Only We Had Taller Been”. In the words of the author himself it encompasses, “why I love space travel, why I write science fiction, why I’m intrigued about what’s going on this weekend on…
Goodnight Oppy
I don’t think I had been into any theater or even large auditorium since the beginning of the pandemic until this week. I attended an advanced showing of Amazon’s wonderful new film Goodnight Oppy which chronicles the 15 year odyssey of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. Its not so much a story of the…
Left of the blue wall
One thing I have learned from reading authors like Robert Macfarlane and Barry Lopez over the last year is the power of language to shape our world view. Both authors believe that the words we use directly affect the way we see the world, and that the current evolution of our language, away from specialized…
To be taught, if fortunate
Science fiction and fantasy author Becky Chambers gave a short talk at JPL last week. We were all expecting a fun conversation, probably accompanied by a powerpoint presentation, about what it’s like to be a science fiction writer. Instead she gave us so much more. Chambers’s talk was essentially a love letter letter to space…
Scientific Progress
It occurs to me that much of scientific progress, at least in the realm of astronomy and our understanding of the universe, since the enlightenment can be described as a regression of the importance of human beings relative to the universe. Of course, it used to be obvious that the Earth was at the center…
Tactical Plans
Deciding where to drive a rover on Mars is a complicated process. We break it down into three levels of fidelity at JPL: strategic, tactical, and supratactical. Strategic planning is long-term thinking on the scale of months to years and addresses questions like roughly where do we want to go, what are the high level…
One Thousand True Fans
There’s a concept, popularized by Kevin Kelly, that you only need 1,000 true fans to make it as an artist or creator. You don’t need to go viral, don’t need millions of followers, and don’t need to be a household name. All you need is 1,000 people willing to show up and pay $10 or…
Psychopomps
I don’t consider myself a huge fan of nature waiting in general, but I have come to appreciate writing that explores the intersection of landscape and culture, or as Robert Macfarlane self describes his own writing, the intersection of landscape and the human heart. Macfarlane has a skill to go beyond eloquently describing nature along…
Backyard Astronomy
I have an admission to make. You know all of those stunning new images coming from the James Webb Space Telescope? I haven’t been all that interested in them. I feel like I should be. I’m an amateur astronomer and part of what got me into the hobby as a kid were all of those…