Notes From An Aerospace Engineer

This note was written by Michael Zedd.

I am a volunteer officer of the American Astronautical Society (AAS).  Through my participation in the affairs of the society, I learned more about our association with SEDS.  My venture to strengthen the bonds between our organizations begins by participating in this blog.

Kirk asked me to write a few paragraphs about where I work and what I do.

In early July 2007 I achieved 25 years with the same employer:  the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.  I have always been an analyst within the spacecraft department.  I followed a technical path, with a short stint as a technical manager.

I chose to work here because an engineer can participate in the same project from cradle to grave:  the proposal, the design, the analysis, the build, the testing, the launch preparation, and the flight operations of spacecraft.  I have participated in all portions of this list for several spacecraft and some portions for other spacecraft.

My interests are in designing orbits to accomplish the mission goals, maneuver planning to transfer the spacecraft from rocket injection to mission orbit, the flight operations to specify the burn attitude and duration, and the orbit determination to figure out where the previous burns placed us before retargeting the remaining burn(s).

The Naval Research Laboratory calls itself the corporate research laboratory for the Navy.  There are many science and engineering specialists supporting the fleet, the Department of Defense, and other national organizations.

I am an active member of the AAS and lifetime member at the Associate Fellow grade of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

By the way, in 2003 I was accepted into the docent training program for the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy National Air & Space Museum located about 5 miles south of the Dulles Airport terminal.  I lead tours of the museum every other Sunday.  All docents for all Smithsonian museums are volunteers.