On April 19, 2000, a press conference was held at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to update the media on the Terra Spacecraft Program. The press conference, which several E&EM graduate students attended, focused on one of the main programs coordinated by E&EM doctoral student Mark Kowaleski.
 | As the Associate Director for Systematic Measurements, Program Planning and Development Division, Office of Earth Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Mark coordinates the execution of the Earth Observing System (EOS) program. EOS is a program involving an extensive array of satellites, |
The Terra spacecraft is about the size of a school bus | instruments, and ground systems |
designed to gather information about planet Earth.
The Terra spacecraft, the focus of the press conference, was launched into space on December 18, 1999 and, on February 24, 2000, began collecting what ultimately will become a new, 15-year global data set on which to base scientific investigations about our home planet.
The Terra spacecraft successfully launches on December 19, 1999 |
|
Physically, the Terra spacecraft is roughly the size of a school bus. It carries a payload of five state-of-the-art sensors that will study the
 | Animation of the Terra Spacecraft over Earth |
interactions among the Earth's atmosphere, lands, oceans, life, and radiant energy. Each sensor incorporates design features that will enable EOS
Environmental and Energy Management Program doctoral student Mark Kowaleski |  |
scientists to meet a wide range of science objectives. Much more information about this exciting earth science satellite program can be seen at the following web site: http://terra.nasa.gov/
 |
Oblique shot of the Himalayas from Terra earlier this year |
Prior to assuming his current position at NASA headquarters, Mark worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center, where he started out as a project manager responsible for managing individual communications systems and satellite networking projects in support of operational spacecraft ground data systems. He then worked as a System Engineer responsible for end-to-end ground data systems and serving as a member of the Source Evaluation Board for the Rapid Spacecraft Procurement. Mark also has served as the Operations Manager for the EOS Ice, Clouds, & Land Elevation (ICESat) satellite project, where he was responsible for all aspects of mission operations and ground systems development for the ICESat project.
Infrared photograph of the San Francisco Bay area taken this year from the Terra spacecraft |  |
Mark received his B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Scranton and an M.S. degree in System Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include environmental and energy management, systems analysis, advanced satellite technology development management, and applications of remote sensing data using Geographic Information Systems.