MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Diane Ainsworth, JPL
Robert Tindol, Caltech, 626-395-3631
David Salyers, 312-346-3131
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 3, 1998
PATHFINDER MANAGER BRIAN MUIRHEAD NAMED ENGINEER OF YEAR
Brian Muirhead, manager of NASA's innovative and highly
successful Mars Pathfinder mission, has been named 1998 Engineer
of the Year by the readership of Design News, which represents a
national audience of engineers and aeronautics specialists.
Muirhead was cited by readers of the magazine for his
leadership of a high-risk, low-budget mission, developed on a
fast track, which demonstrated a novel approach to landing a
spacecraft on the surface of Mars. The Pathfinder mission,
developed and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA, landed on Mars on July 4, 1997, and returned a
phenomenal amount of data and images of the surface, atmosphere
and weather on Mars.
Muirhead, 46, will receive a $25,000 educational grant, to
be designated to his alma mater, the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, CA, from the magazine's Engineering
Education Foundation. He will also share an additional $10,000
educational grant with other winners of the magazine's Special
Achievement and Quality awards. Both grants have been earmarked
for economically disadvantaged engineering students attending
Caltech, where Muirhead earned his master's degree in
aeronautical engineering in 1982. He also holds a bachelor's
degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New
Mexico.
In its March 2 issue, Design News reports that the Mars
Pathfinder mission was an engineering demonstration and a radical
departure from the billion-dollar-class spaceflight projects of
the recent past. Operating on a skeleton budget of $170 million -
- a small fraction of the cost of the Viking missions of the mid-
1970s -- Pathfinder dove directly into the Martian atmosphere and
landed with the aid of a parachute, airbags and retro-rockets.
The spacecraft also delivered the first microrover ever to
photograph the surface of another planet and the first vehicle to
measure the chemical composition of Martian rocks.
In addition to its unique entry, descent and landing, the
Mars Pathfinder mission introduced more than 25 new technologies
and broke new ground in the application of commercially derived
hardware that could be used in the extremely harsh environment of
space, the magazine says. For example, Pathfinder relied on a
single radiation-hardened flight computer derived from an IBM
RS6000-series workstation.
Pathfinder also became a model of teamwork and an
inspiration for future missions by providing proof that NASA's
goal of faster, better and cheaper missions was a reality, the
magazine reports. New space missions of the 21st century --
destined for Mars, the outer solar system and asteroids and
comets -- will build on the legacy of Mars Pathfinder. Muirhead
himself will be moving into a managerial role on one of these new
missions, the fourth deep space technology validation mission to
be flown under NASA's New Millennium program, known as Deep Space
4/Champollion. This mission will attempt the first-ever
rendezvous and landing on the surface of a comet. Once on the
surface, the 100-kilogram (220-pound) lander will analyze the
surface composition and gather a sample for return to Earth.
Mars Pathfinder was exemplary as the first of these new-
generation, fast-track missions -- able to meet its development
schedule and cost constraints through the skill and dedication of
a tightly knit team, the magazine notes. Muirhead's leadership as
flight system manager was critical to the development of the
Pathfinder spacecraft and the spectacular success of this very
challenging mission.
Muirhead will be honored at an awards ceremony to be held
March 17 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Chicago. Contact David
Salyers of Salyers Carman & Associates, 312-346-3131, for
additional information about the banquet. For information about
Muirhead's grant to Caltech, contact Robert Tindol at the Caltech
Media Relations Office, 626-395-3631, or Diane Ainsworth at the
JPL Media Relations Office, 818-354-5011.
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2/19/98 DEA
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