09/29/2022
By Lynne Schaufenbil

Please join the Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology and the Space Science Lab on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 11 a.m. as Shanti Rao, physicist and serial entrepreneur, presents the virtual talk "Carbon Mapper mission architecture."

Abstract:

How did the Carbon Mapper mission architecture come to be? How did an airborne instrument cross the TRL Valley of Death? How do you persuade a bureaucracy to do something that’s in its short-term best interest? Real progress happens when the complex becomes a commodity. We’ll explore some of the decisions that went into choosing the objectives, designing the instrument, and convincing the sponsors.

Short bio:

Shanti Rao is a conceptual artist who uses the aerospace and defense industry to impact human society. He does freelance spacecraft systems engineering and agitates for the commercialization of remote sensing. Rao has more than 20 years' experience in developing precision instruments, focusing on feedback and control systems and electro-optical sensors for spacecraft. He worked for JPL for 16 years, transferring technology research into space missions, including adaptive optics, interferometers, atomic clocks, and hyperspectral imagers. Before that, at age 16, he cofounded a software company that developed the first web surveys and touchscreen user interfaces. Rao is an active investor in and mentor of startup space companies. Rao holds a Ph.D. in physics from Caltech and two bachelors degrees, in physics and astronomy, from the University of Washington.

If you are interested in participating, please email Lynne_Schaufenbil@uml.edu for the Zoom link.