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Presentation Abstract:
During this special lunchtime presentation for all pre-conference day participants, Jim McAdams, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, will present, via teleconference, how his team has been using STK for NASA's MESSENGER Mission. The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission, launched on August 3, 2004, is the seventh mission in NASA's Discovery program. The nominal mission timeline includes six planetary flybys (one Earth, two Venus, and three Mercury) and five deep-space maneuvers prior to Mercury orbit insertion and a one-year Mercury orbit phase. On Oct. 6 at 3:40 a.m. central daylight time (CDT), the MESSENGER spacecraft is expected to pass 200 km above the surface of the planet Mercury, marking the second Mercury flyby by MESSENGER. Since the beginning of NASA funding for MESSENGER in January 2000, STK software has contributed an ever-growing role in the success of this first-ever Mercury orbiter mission. Although many STK animations and trajectory-focused graphics appear on the MESSENGER Web site, STK's most important contributions have been in design and planning for MESSENGER Mission Design and Mission Operations. Examples will be provided of STK improvements in each of these areas that were not discovered by expert users of other top-notch software.
 Speaker Bio:
Jim McAdams has contributed to interplanetary mission design since his first summer as an Engineering Co-Op at NASA/JPL on the Galileo mission in 1980. After receiving degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Purdue University in the mid-1980s, he worked in the Chicago area for eight years with SAIC on advanced mission studies for NASA's Solar System Exploration Division. His 15 years with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory includes work on the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission design team and as the MESSENGER Mission Design Lead Engineer for the duration of each mission. Asteroid 17408 McAdams was named after Jim by discoverer Carolyn Shoemaker several years ago. Jim was recently awarded the AIAA Baltimore section 2008 Engineer of the Year award. He currently lives near Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and four children.
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