KSC-05-S-00313

Hello, my name is Diana Alicea and I work for NASA at Kennedy Space Center, Florida with the Launch Services Program. In the rocket business, I am an Electrical Engineer working as an Instrumentation engineer. This might sound complicated but it's really fun. What is instrumentation? Instrumentation is a way of gathering the health of a rocket while it is flying. In other words, instrumentation consists of sensors that measure things like pressure, temperature, and acceleration. These instruments tell us when the engine starts, what is the power consumed by the rocket, what temperatures the rocket is experiencing and how fast it's going. There are hundreds of instruments in and on the rocket that help us determine if the rocket is performing as planned and if it is headed in the right direction. They are our eyes and ears since there are no astronauts on Expendable Launch Vehicles. All the information that we receive is beamed to the ground in radio waves that we call telemetry. Sometimes we also put video cameras on the rocket to examine the vehicle and flight from the rocket's point of view. As part of my job, I have to verify that the instruments are in the right locations and working properly. I interact with systems engineers in other disciplines such as mechanical, thermal and environmental, to know if the instruments are the most appropriate for the expected environments. I also follow the manufacturing of the instruments to make sure that they are built following the requirements I specify. After they are manufactured, they are tested at maximum operational levels to know their thresholds and assure they will work under launch and mission conditions. Once they are installed they are tested to verify their compatibility within the rocket. During a launch processing flow, we test the instruments to verify the system is performing and ready for launch. We also test the transmitters in the vehicle to assure that they will radiate the data in the right frequency and that no data noise is seen that might interfere or mess the reception of the data. As part of this big responsibility, I follow up on any problems encountered during the rocket processing. Lots of time is spent reviewing all the data gathered. I am in a lot of meetings with co-workers to make sure everything is ready for launch. The most difficult part of my job is when we are within hours of launching the rocket. We must make sure that everything is working as expected before we ignite the rocket. As soon as the rocket leaves the ground, there's no turning back. As part of our regular workday, we have a lot of fun. We have to travel to different launch pads, meet people and make sure the rockets are being prepared correctly. This is an interesting place to work and learn about rockets. If you want to work in an exciting field, study math and science, pay attention in school. If you work hard on your dreams, anything is possible.