IEEE BUENAVENTURA

Robotic Exploration of Mars: InSight Mars Lander Mission

By Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, FIET, FRAeS, SMIEE,PMP

NASA-JPL CALTECH

 

March 18, 2015 at 6:30 pm

at CLU Ahmanson Richter Hall

Meetings are free and open to the public

 

Dr. Trebi-Ollennu will give a firsthand account of developing, building and operating InSight Mars Lander mission. He has participated in three successfully Mars missions and will discuss his roles on the InSight mission.

 

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a NASA Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior.

 

InSight is a terrestrial planet explorer that will address one of the most fundamental issues of planetary and solar system science - understanding the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system (including Earth) more than four billion years ago.

 

InSight will delve deep beneath the surface of Mars, detecting the fingerprints of the processes of terrestrial planet formation, as well as measuring the planet's "vital signs": Its "pulse" (seismology), "temperature" (heat flow probe), and "reflexes" (precision tracking). The science payload is comprised of two instruments: the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS), provided by the French Space Agency (CNES) and ESA partners and the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), provided by the German Space Agency (DLR).

 

Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu (FIET, FRAeS, SMIEEE, PMP) is a highly accomplished visionary multidisciplinary engineer with a broad background and extensive hands-on experience in Space Robotics Systems, Flight Systems Integration & Test, Planetary Rover Operations, System of Systems Design, Distributed Mobile Robotics, System Architectures, Dynamic Modeling, Control Systems design for Aerospace and Mechatronics Systems and Contract Technical Management.

Dr. Trebi-Ollennu is a Group Lead and Robotics Engineer at the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, CA and a Fellow of the IET (U.K.), a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, U.K., a Senior Member of the IEEE and Certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

 

His current research at JPL focuses on Planetary Rovers, Manipulation, Multiple Mobile Robots (Planetary Outpost), Reconfigurable Robots and Man-machine Interaction. Dr. Trebi-Ollennu’s research has resulted in more than 95 publications. He currently works on the InSight Mission as an Instrument Deployment Systems Engineer and MSL (Curiosity Rover) a Robotic Arm Systems Engineer.

 

Dr. Trebi-Ollennu has a Ph. D. in Control Systems Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Royal Military College Science, Cranfield University, U.K., 1996 and a B.Eng. in Avionics, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Queen Mary College, from the University of London, 1991.

 

Awards received in the past ten years

1. NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal (2008) “For exceptional technical contributions to the Mars Exploration Rovers, providing comprehensive engineering support pre- and post-launch, including resolutions of rover anomalies.”

2. Sir Monty Finniston Achievement Medal (2007) for outstanding technical contribution to any field of Engineering from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Europe’s largest professional society for engineers. “For outstanding technical contribution to the NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mission.”

3. Outstanding Engineer Award (2007), from IEEE Region 6 (12 states of the Western USA.), for exceptional technical leadership and ingenuity in diagnosing the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity robotic arm anomaly culminating in a successful resolution of the anomaly leading to the continuing successful exploration of the surface of Mars in the extended mission. Also for exceptional service to the IEEE as a Guest Editor in organizing and publishing a special issue of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine on Mars Exploration Rovers, June 2006

4. JPL Mariner Award from MER for outstanding leadership in the analysis and resolution of the IDD unstow anomaly on Opportunity rover, 2006.

5. NASA SPACE ACT AWARD, Inventions and Contributions Board Major Award, Mars Exploration Rover Ground Based Rover Localization, 2005

6. NASA SPACE ACT AWARD, Inventions and Contributions Board Major Award, Mars Rover Pair Cooperatively Grasping and Lifting a Long Payload, 2005

7. NASA SPACE ACT AWARD, Inventions and Contributions Board Major Award, Planetary Rover Absolute Heading Detection Using A Sun-Sensor, 2005