Juan R. Cruz
Juan R. Cruz | |
|---|---|
aerospace engineer |
Juan R. Cruz (born: January 5, 1946) is a Puerto Rican aerospace engineer who played an instrumental role in the design and development of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) parachute.[1]
Early years
Cruz was born and raised in
Career in NASA
Cruz is a senior
aerospace engineer[5] in the Exploration Systems Engineering Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. His responsibilities are focused on research and development of entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems for robotic and human exploration missions. He was a member of the highly successful Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Science laboratory (MSL) projects that placed rovers on the surface of Mars in 2004 and 2012. His contributions to the MER and MSL projects centered on the design and qualification of the supersonic parachute.[1][6] In October, 2004 he was among a group of scientists who received an "Exceptional Achievement Award", from NASA.[7]
Mars Exploration Rover mission
The
Gusev crater on January 4, 2004, and Opportunity landed in the Meridiani Planum
on the opposite side of Mars from Spirit, on January 25, 2004. Cruz was among the scientists from Langley who helped develop the parachute which helped slow the spacecraft during entry, descent and landing.
According to Cruz:
There are challenges to testing these parachutes because we can not test it at exactly the right conditions.
Martian atmosphere is very different, so you have to make adjustments in how you test the parachute. Another issue is the wind tunnel models we used in our tests were ten-percent scale models, about five feet in diameter.[8]
Cruz is also a member of the
unmanned aircraft.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Denise Lineberry, Langley is 'All Systems Go' to Make History on Mars, NASA, 07.16.12 (Accessed Nov. 13 2012)
- ^ a b Joan Ackermann-Blount and William Oscar Johnson, Winging Into History, Sports Illustrated, May 02, 1988 (accessed Nov. 13 2012)
- ^ Geoffrey A. Landis, Human Powered Aircraft - Monarch Crew Archived 2012-02-02 at the Wayback Machine (accessed Nov. 13 2012)
- ^ Hispanics@NASA LaRC Employees' Achievements Archived 2015-05-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Dietrich, Tamara (February 17, 2019). "NASA Langley rocket scientist recalls work on Mars Opportunity rover". pilotonline.com. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ a b MIT MUSEUM PRESS RELEASE
- ^ "Universe Jet Propulsion Laboratory" (PDF). jpl.nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
- ^ NASA News Archived 2007-08-20 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Denise Lineberry, Getting Curiosity to Mars, One Simulation at a Time, NASA, 08.02.12 (Accessed Nov. 13 2012)