Front row, fifth from left: Prof Goi,
Florence Tan, Prof Ewe and Dr Yap with staff and students
UTAR Sungai Long Campus was graced with the presence
of Florence Tan, chair of the Small Spacecraft Coordination Group (SSCG) at
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headquarters and
the deputy chief technologists (DCT) for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
(SMD) on 15 July 2022. She was invited to give a talk titled Gravity Assists
and Adventures in Building Spaceflight Missions. Organised by UTAR Centre
for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD), the talk took place in a
hybrid mode at UTAR Sungai Long Campus.
It also saw the attendance of UTAR President Ir Prof
Dr Ewe Hong Tat, who was also the moderator of the talk, UTAR Vice President
for Internationalisation and Academic Development Ir Prof Dr Goi Bok Min,
UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Dean Assoc Prof Ts Dr
Yap Wun She, UTAR staff and students.
The talk kicked off with a speech by Prof Ewe, who
thanked Florence Tan for taking the time to give a talk at UTAR. “When we
watch space movies and films, we often hear about gravity assists, which is
using the gravitational force of a planet or a star to give an additional
pull for spacecraft to enter into orbit or to take a different trajectory.
With that being said, we are honoured to have Florence Tan here today to
teach us more about these gravity assists,” Prof Ewe said and added, “As
Malaysians, I am sure we are all proud of all her achievements at NASA and
how far she has come.”
From left: Dr Yap, Prof Goi, Prof Ewe
and Florence Tan
Prof Ewe giving his speech
Florence Tan began her talk by sharing her
background, “I grew up without having any knowledge of designing.
Back then in the 60s and 70s, there were no classes on how to build
spacecraft. In the beginning, I wanted to become a teacher, since both my
parents were teachers, however, after watching the Star Trek movies on the
television, I instantly fell in love with space and wanted to do something
related to it.” She added, “At NASA, I have worked on five missions, two of
which were the Cassini mission and the Curiosity mission. While we were
working on the Cassini mission to get the spacecraft to Saturn, we had to
use this important technique called gravity assist to propel the spacecraft
closer and closer to its destination.”
She then showed a video and conducted a class
activity to demonstrate how gravity assists work. “To get to Saturn, the
spacecraft had to employ gravity assists to do flybys around Venus, Earth
and Jupiter. This manoeuvre took an extra 1.2 billion miles and a total of
seven years for the spacecraft to finally reach Jupiter. However, it was
necessary as, without the gravity assists, the spacecraft would not have had
the additional boost it needed to reach Saturn,” said Florence Tan. She also
compared gravity assists to daily life, noting, “Like the spacecraft, we
need to use our own ‘gravity assists’ to launch ourselves forward in our
journey, since it can take a long time and it can be indirect. We need to
take advantage of the ‘gravity assists’, boosts and whatever opportunity
there is to get to our destination or our goal faster.”
Some of the participants taking part
in the class activity
Florence Tan
Florence Tan continued the talk by talking about
thrusters, saying, “Once Cassini got to Saturn, it needed thrusters to help
it get to different parts of the planet. In life, you need these thrusters
too, like your parents or friends, to help redirect your path or to get you
somewhere different. Sometimes, a small thrust can turn into a big thrust;
for instance, when you make your hobby or interests into a real working
thing, it can be life-changing.” When speaking about her work on the
Curiosity mission (one of the most complex instruments launched into space
to look for habitable places on Mars), she stated, “There was a problem
while we were working on the Mars Curiosity Rover. We encountered an issue
and had to rethink our whole plan. During this time, I learned that
communication was extremely vital and that we should speak up because
gravity assists cannot happen without communication. By voicing out, we
could potentially give ourselves a huge boost, whether be it in our career
or our normal lives which helps us reach our destination.”
The session ended with Florence Tan encouraging the
participants once more, telling them, “You have to figure out the trajectory
you want to follow and take the opportunity to receive help from your
friends and family. Go seek your own gravity assists and seize any chance
you get to keep learning. With the gravity assists, you can reach for the
stars.” After that, Prof Ewe chimed in to show his appreciation to Florence
Tan for broadening the scope of gravity assists to not only about space, but
for also converting it into a life metaphor.
The talk ended with a quick Q&A session, a souvenir
presentation and a group photography session.
Florence Tan giving her talk
enthusiastically
Prof Ewe (left) presenting a souvenir
to Florence Tan (right)
Florence Tan (right) answering the
participants’ questions
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