On Monday, four RPI alumni returned to campus for a program held at the Heffner Alumni House entitled “There IS Intelligent Life on Mars!” Kobie Boykins ’96, Fred Serricchio ’94, Chris Voorhees ’96, and Jason Suchman ’94 conveyed their personal experiences in relation to the Mars rovers program.
After introductions, the panel of four narrated simulated video clips that told the story of Spirit and Opportunity. The video began with a countdown and within 20 seconds of takeoff, the craft had reached Mach I. The craft soon escaped from Earth’s gravitational pull and began a seven month journey to Mars.
The video then jumped seven months in time to show the craft surviving travel through Mars’s atomsphere at phenomenal speeds. Next came impact: the craft hit the surface and bounced an estimated 28 times for a quarter of a mile—protected only by air bags.
Once the craft stopped, its parts slowly deployed and in the words of Voorhees, it tried to find out, “Where am I?” As information was sent back to Earth, teams slowly issued commands to the rovers to get them in motion. Opportunity was on its landing pad for seven days, while Spirit was on its pad for 13 days.
Suchman completed the story corresponding to the simulated video clips, detailing the care taken as the rovers left their pads. He joked about the embarassment that would have been caused if the rover tipped over or became stuck and was never able to explore Mars.
After the video clips, the four talked about their specific roles. Boykins worked on developing the solar arrays and on their deployment as a staff mechanical engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory run by both the California Institute of Technology and NASA. He started his involvement with JPL when he went on Co-op through the CDC during the second semester of his junior year.
Boykins advice to current students with an interest in space was, “Get involved in a Co-op or summer internship … showcase your talents.” He continued by saying that there was “No better time than right now,” and offered to take resumes of anyone interested back to the lab with him. He said, “RPI was a vehicle to get to what I wanted to do—to work with space.”
Serricchio is an attitude control system engineer at the JPL and worked on the systems involved in the landing and maneuvering of the rovers. He urged students who had an interest in space “to take advantage of the extracurricular activities” available here. He said he, “wanted something that would constantly be changing” and that LITEC was the class that made him think, “I want to do this forever.”
Voorhees, like Boykins, got involved with JPL first through the Co-op program. He emphasized that learning to accept failure is a must, telling the audience that those interested in the field should “learn to embrace failure as soon as you can… A string of failures leads to ultimate success.” He worked on the mobility systems including the drive train, steering, and wheels as a mechanical systems engineer at JPL
Suchman was a cognizant engineer at JPL and worked on the mechanisms that made the panoramic images sent back to Earth possible, before leaving to take a position at Northrop Grumman Space Technology. He said that one of the advantages RPI students have in the workplace is the hands on experience they gain during their time at RPI, specifically citing the machine shop class he took his first year.
When the floor was opened for questions, they came from professors, students, alumni, and others. Harry Steven ’56 inquired as to the scale of the model on display and in response Boykins said that the size of the actual rovers was “Shaquille O’Neal wide by Danny DeVito tall.”
Evan Shechter, a graduate student in the computer science department concentrating in robotics, was one of the many students who chose to attend the presentation. He said he went because he was “interested in the Mars rover—it’s related to my field.” The audience filled the Heffner Alumni House and consisted of students, professors, alumni, and other members of the community.
