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LEMON TREE

April 28, 2020

Even from Home, NASA Team Keeps Mars ExplorerMoving

Exercise 1- Vocabulary

remote – adj. faraway

screen – n. aflat area on an electronic device where images can be seen

chat – n. aninformal talk with someone

juggle – v. totry to do several things at once

three-dimensional – adj. havingor seeming to have length, width, and depth

sensitive – adj. ableto measure very small details

drill – v. tomake holes in hard materials with a machine

workflow –n. the steps involved in moving from the beginning to the end of a workingprocess

figureout – v. to finally understand something or someone after a lotof thought

Excercise2 - Article

Even from Home, NASA Team Keeps Mars ExplorerMoving

Millions of people around the world arecurrently working from home in an effort to slow the spread of the newcoronavirus. Many of them have had to learn new ways of performing their jobswhile attempting to turn living spaces into work-friendly environments.

While such change can be difficult for anyworker, it can be even harder for a scientist or engineer who cannot work intheir usual laboratory setting.

The American space agency NASA employs a largenumber of these workers. Almost all of them have been working from home for thepast month.

Recently, the NASA team that controls theCuriosity explorer on Mars showed that they were able to perform their dailyduties completely from their homes. NASA recently reported on the team’s latestactivities on itswebsite.

Usually, the Curiosity control team operatesfrom NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, California. But forthe first time ever, all members of the team have had to do all of theirwork remotely.

Alicia Allbaugh leads the Mars ExplorationProgram. She said the current situation is very different from the environmenther team is used to working in at JPL headquarters. "We're usually all inone room, sharing screens, images and data. People are talking in smallgroups and to each other from across the room," she said.

The Curiosity team has attempted to recreatethe same cooperative work atmosphere by using video conferencing technology andmessaging apps. Effective communication is very important. So, team leadershave added extra planning time each day to help make sure all team members areconnected.

Carrie Bridge is the chief of scienceoperations for the team. She said one of her main jobs is to be a bridgebetween the scientists and engineers to make sure they understand each other’swork.

Bridge said she is also now looking at about 15different message chats at all times to keep effective communicationflowing. "You're juggling more than you normally would,"she said.

The remote Curiosity team was lacking sometechnology and tools they usually use to perform their jobs. Some employeeswere able to pick up some computer and communications equipment. But otherequipment could not be sent home.

For example, the team uses special goggles, oreyewear, to examine three-dimensional (3D) images sent from Mars. Theequipment helps scientists get a better look at the surface of the planet sothey know where to drive Curiosity and how far they can extend the explorer’sarm.

The gogglesrequire high-powered computer systems to operate that team members could notset up at home. So, they were told to use simple red-blue 3Dglasses instead. While not nearly as sensitive as theusual goggles, the team reported that the low-tech 3D glasses worked just aswell for planning drives and arm movements for Curiosity.

After a lot of planning and test runs, theremote team was excited to announce that the explorer had received its commandsfrom Earth and performed as expected. The first result: Curiosity successfullycompleted a rock drilling operation in an area called “Edinburgh.”

While the effort required a lot of creativethinking and workflow changes, Carrie Bridge said the experiencedemonstrated what NASA has always been about. "We're presented with aproblem and we figure out how to make things work. Mars isn't standingstill for us - we're still exploring."

Questions:

1. What did Alicia Allbaugh say is oneof the main differences for employees working at JPL headquarters and workersat home?

2. What does the article say is amongthe main tools used by Curiosity explorer team members working from home?

3. What is the purpose of the specialgoggles described in the story?

4. What was the first major operationperformed by Curiosity that was controlled by team members working fromhome?