Systems Engineering Seminar
You won your proposal! Now what?
Presented by:
Mitch Davis, Code 592, Chief Instrument Development Engineer
Tuesday, September 22, 2015, 1:00pm
Building 3 Auditorium
Abstract:
A look at the Phase-A activities for the Global Ecosystem Dynamic Investigation (GEDI) Instrument which refined the winning proposal in 7 months to a detailed 3 year instrument development plan for the cost-capped instrument. GEDI is an International Space Station attached payload multi-beam, waveform Lidar using analog detection to capture the vertical vegetation structure of the Earth's surface. The presentation will focus on the system engineering activities that went into creating the detailed development plan which was approved with compliments by the Mission System Requirements and Design Review (MSRR/MDR) team.
Biography:
Mitchell Davis is the Chief Instrument Development Engineer in the Instrument & Payload Systems Engineering Branch/Code 592. Mr. Davis graduated from the University of Akron with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. He began his career at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a Co-operative Education student in 1982. After graduating from U of Akron (1984), Mr. Davis returned to GSFC and was the led designer for the STS - based telescope Two Axis Pointing System which flew on STS - 35 in December 1990. He was then promoted to the Electrical System Engineer for the Composite Infrared Spectrometer instrument for the Cassini spacecraft which launched in 1997 and the instrument is still operating today. In 2001, Mr. Davis was promoted to the Electrical System Branch's chief engineer with responsibility for resolving Electro-Magnetic Compatibility designs and electrical system architectures. He either led or was a key team member on numerous anomaly investigation teams for the Hubble Space Telescope, ICESAT spacecraft, Spitzer Observatory and all three flagship Earth Observing Systems (EOS) spacecraft. In June 2003 the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) was created, Mr. Davis served as deputy to the Avionics lead. He supported numerous investigations on the Shuttle, Space Station and the Constellation programs. In April 2007, Mr. Davis was promoted to NESC Technical Fellow for Avionics and he participated in numerous assessments for the Agency. In December 2010, Mr. Davis transitioned back to GSFC as the Chief Electrical System Engineer for the Electrical Engineering Division. Mr. Davis has received numerous Performance Awards, Special Act Awards Group Achievement Awards and received the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service in June 2003. He has authored/co-authored numerous technical publications.