Distinguished Speaker Series: Todd Barber on Voyager 1 and 2

When:  May 20, 2023 from 14:00 to 16:00 (ACST)
Associated with  Adelaide Section

The Adelaide Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is proud to bring you a presentation from Mr Todd Barber of NASA JPL, one of the AIAA's Distinguished Speakers. This shall be a virtual presentation,online via zoom, to permit as many members to attend as possible, and beginning at 2pm on Saturday the 20th of May, ACST (UTC+9.5). Please register for a spot via eventbrite at https:// www.eventbrite.com.au/e/distinguished-speaker-webinar-todd-barber-on-voyager-1-and-2-tickets-596313438547 as login details shall be sent out shortly before the scheduled start time of the event to those who have registered their email. For more information, please see the presentation abstract and Mr Barber's biography below.

We hope to see you there.

Abstract: “Voyager 1 & 2: Humanity's Most Distant Explorers”

The Voyager mission to the outer planets and interstellar space will be discussed in detail. Topics to be discussed include the incredible opportunity for a "grand tour" of the outer planets only encountered every 176 years and some true "postcards from the edge" at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The interstellar mission and current status will also be highlighted as well, particularly the challenges of flying two geriatric spacecraft with a tiny flight team. Finally, the future of the mission and the Voyager Golden Record will be featured in some detail as well.

Biography:

Todd Barber is a JPL senior propulsion engineer, spending two decades as lead propulsion engineer on the Cassini mission to Saturn, following part-time work on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, Deep Impact mission, and the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which landed the large rover Curiosity on the red planet on August 5, 2012. Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997, on its two-billion-mile, seven-year journey to the ringed planet. It “took the plunge” into Saturn’s atmosphere in 2017 after thirteen years in orbit around Saturn. The MER team launched twin rovers to the red planet in June and July of 2003, and Spirit and Opportunity lasted six years and fourteen years, respectively, into their three-month missions. Todd also worked as the lead impactor propulsion engineer on Deep Impact, which successfully crashed into Comet Tempel- 1 on July 4, 2005, at 23,000 miles per hour. Mr. Barber recently completed working on the Dawn mission, an ion propulsion mission to the two largest main-belt asteroids, Vesta and Ceres. He also recently began supporting the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission and was the Mars2020 propulsion lead engineer for operations. Much to his delight, he is now supporting the Voyager mission as well, more than 40 years after its launch.

Mr. Barber worked on the Galileo project for over seven years and his primary responsibility was getting Galileo into Jupiter orbit on December 7, 1995. Todd also worked part-time on the Space Infra-Red Telescope Facility (SIRTF) mission and on the Stardust mission, as well as the Mars Sample Return mission and a Mars airplane study. Mr. Barber received NASA's Exceptional Achievement Award in 1996 for his work on Galileo. In 2018, he was also honored to receive NASA’s Exceptional Public Service Medal for heading up Cassini’s propulsion team for nearly two decades.

Mr. Barber is a native of Wichita, Kansas, and attended MIT between 1984 and 1990, obtaining B.S. and M.S. degrees in aerospace engineering, with a humanities concentration in music. He is also a composer of church choral music, with two pieces published to date. His hobbies include singing charitably and professionally, playing the piano, snagging degree confluences (exact integer latitude/longitude intersections), visiting all the U.S. tri-state corners and national parks, playing basketball (though it’s been a while), and amateur astronomy.

Location

Online Instructions:
Url: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/distinguished-speaker-webinar-todd-barber-on-voyager-1-and-2-tickets-596313438547
Login: Please register via eventbrite, as login details shall be sent via email shortly before the scheduled start of the webinar.
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Contact

Patrick Neumann
61431080512
paddy@neumannspace.com