Hi
everyone,
I
have always been inspired by people who follow their dreams. Today, I’m so excited to introduce a
woman I have been in awe with for years. Dr. Joy Crisp, the Mars
Science Laboratory Deputy Project Scientist, is here to share with us how she
learned to dream, and how her dreams led her to Mars.
Joy,
I know that since the new Mars rover Curiosity’s landing in August, you have
been living on Mars time. I can’t thank
you enough for taking time out of your crazy schedule to share what keeps your
dream alive and how you handle the constant ups and downs.
Would
you please tell us a little about yourself?
I
received a bachelor's degree in Geology from Carleton College in Minnesota and
a PhD in Geology from Princeton University. My scientific expertise is in
the mineralogy and formation of volcanic rocks on Earth and Mars. I have been a
scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1987, carrying out
NASA-funded research on volcanic eruption clouds and lava flows on Earth and
Mars. For the Mars Pathfinder Project, I was the Assistant Rover
Scientist and Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer Investigation Scientist.
After that, I was the Mars Exploration Rover Project Scientist for the Spirit
and Opportunity rovers for six years. In my current job as Mars Science
Laboratory Deputy Project Scientist since 2005, I have worked to maintain the
science integrity of the mission and to prepare for and carry out science
operations for the Curiosity rover on Mars.
People of all ages have
forgotten how to dream. What inspired you to dream?
What inspires me to dream is being a
“rock detective.” I like trying to figure out how rocks formed by studying and
interpreting the clues revealed by textures, mineralogy, chemistry, and the
local geology. The rover missions on Mars have allowed us to answer a lot
of questions about what Mars was like in the past, and have also taken us to
the next level of interesting questions for us to ponder. To be on the
very edge of these discoveries, and to see the detective work as it unfolds, is
awesome and exciting. I am also jazzed that kids and people in the general
public find the rover missions interesting and that it inspires kids to be more
interested in science and engineering.
We all place obstacles in our path
which brings our dreams to a dead stop. I call these obstacles dream killers. What was your dream
killer and how did you overcome it?
I’ve never come to a complete dead
stop. But my work on the Mars missions has been a never-ending cycle of
encountering problems and either overcoming them, working around them, or
accepting them and resetting expectations. The problems span a wide range
of things that the whole team faces: tight schedule constraints, budget issues,
technical challenges, complexity challenges, and new bureaucratic challenges!
How do you keep the dream alive under extreme adversity –
external or internal?
What keeps me going is seeing new
pictures come down from Mars with amazing surprises and hearing about new
things the science team is figuring out. When working on a Mars rover
mission that is years in the making, before it gets to Mars, the dream stays
alive with the realization of how exciting it will be when the rover finally
gets there. It also helps that a whole team works through the problems
together. The wide variety of people helps bring different ideas, attitudes,
and team spirit into the mix and strengthens our ability to get through it.
When you reached the
top, how did it feel?
When each of the rover missions have
landed successfully on Mars (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity), I
felt a huge sense of relief and happiness, but also realized my life was about
to change tremendously once again as my workday life suddenly changed from
planning and preparing for a mission to actually carrying out a mission. Each
mission has been more difficult than the previous one so the psychological and
scientific payoff keeps increasing.
How did realizing your dream change you?
It made all that hard work leading up to the success
feel worth it. And it makes me really proud of the team – that we pulled it
off.
What's next? What new dream would you like to reach for?
My current dream (which I share with
the whole science and engineering team) is that we are able to use the
Curiosity rover to its fullest and make it all the way over to Mount
Sharp. We won’t know what discoveries will be in store for us until we get
there, but the pictures taken from about 5 miles away are stunning! I
want to help enable the science team to get the most out of the mission we can,
and participate in the learning.
If anyone would like to follow Curiosity, you can find more information here:
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
http://joycrisp.com
Dr.
Joy Crisp at the launch of Curiosity at Cape Canaveral, Florida 11/26/2011
Excellent blog!! Thanks so much for sharing with us. I'm so interested in what we can learn from this. How our entire universe came to be. And I hope one day we'll have the technology to travel between planets and see things up close and personal.
ReplyDeleteI know that funding is always a problem. So my wish for you is to have some benefactor with VERY deep pockets come forward with a blank check and the belief that this is as important as you do.
Teresa R.
Hi Teresa!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed the interview. The very idea that we had Spirit and Opportunity, and now Curiosity on the surface of Mars sending back data still baffles me. Only a few years ago, this would be something from a science fiction novel. A lot of people put in endless hours to make this possible, but I believe it all began with amazing scientist like Joy, who years ago, dreamed of the possibility.