Orion and the First Mission on Our Journey to Mars - An Illustrated Talk with Chris Nie
It is our national goal to put humans on Mars sometime in the 2030s, and NASA is developing a series of missions to do that. Key to the first mission (EM-1, or Exploration Mission 1) will be an uncrewed launch in 2019 of the new Orion spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin. Designed to navigate, communicate, and operate in a deep space environment, Orion will travel thousands of miles beyond the Moon, farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. Chris Nie will tell you how Orion has been designed to meet the unique challenges posed in transporting humans to Mars, a goal that will be our first interplanetary journey in the solar system and a defining moment for our species.
Chris Nie is a Systems and Integration Engineer working on the environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle at Lockheed Martin Space. His career has given him the opportunity to work on GPS satellites, SmallSats, in government affairs and business development, as well as NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program, Orion. Chris graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder, with a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering and a focus in Bioastronautics. He has been named one of Aviation Week’sTwenty20s as a rising leader in Aerospace and Defense, and has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award multiple times for his work in STEM outreach.