Bios |
Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) |
Meet: Eric Drucker
Northrop Grumman
Who he is:
Eric Drucker has enjoyed over 14 years of experience in the space industry.
He interned at Spectrum Astro in Chandler, AZ during college, then joined
Hughes Space & Communications in El Segundo, CA as a Propulsion Engineer upon graduation from UCLA in 1995 with his BS in Aerospace Engineering. At Hughes, Eric contributed to more than 40 commercial and classified spacecraft missions, serving in every Propulsion Engineering role from system architect, to mission analyst and even propellant test/loading engineer. For the two years following the purchase of Hughes by Boeing, Eric moved to classified spacecraft systems engineering, learning a more global view of spacecraft engineering prior to accepting an offer from Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale. At Lockheed Martin, Eric stepped up to the role of Propulsion Product Team lead for rapid response missions. In less than a year and a half, Eric guided a propulsion project from PDR to successful delivery, which was excellent training for his eventual LCROSS role. In 2003, his new marriage brought him back down to Northrop Grumman Space Technology in Redondo Beach, CA where he focused on payload integration, and requirements generation and implementation for classified programs. NG's
rigorous approach to systems engineering gave Eric the insights needed to
know where requirements could be successfully and safely tailored for rapid
development programs like LCROSS.
LCROSS Mission Specifics:
Eric joined LCROSS during its development phase in 2006, and has adeptly
filled many roles since: Payload interface lead, Requirements lead,
autonomy and fault management (A&FM) lead, systems engineering I&T interface, propellant loading expert, and flight operations systems engineer.
Eric currently serves LCROSS as the spacecraft's A&FM lead and as one of the two NG Flight operations systems engineers (Call sign = "NG SYSTEMS"). LCROSS has been Eric's most challenging and interesting program ever. The intimate team of people, the typical Propulsion Engineer's
desire to blow things up, and the extreme challenge of producing a product
that few in the world could, made LCROSS the perfect program for Eric.
Go LCROSS!
Visit
the NASA Mission Site @ http://www.nasa.gov/lcross
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