Mission-critical software supporting space launch systems

The Contract

Six years (2003 to 2009) as a software engineer at L-3 Communications Systems West on the Patrick Air Force Base contract, supporting the space launch systems behind missions flying out of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral: the Delta II era through the final years of the Space Shuttle program.

Engineering

This was heads-down systems programming: Unix and C# development on mission-critical spaceflight software, hardware integration where code met range equipment, and Oracle-trained SQL work on the data layers underneath. Software here had one standard, it works when the countdown reaches zero, and the systems I contributed to achieved 90% reliability.

The Foundation

Before I ever designed an interface, I spent six years as the engineer on the other side of one. That discipline, building for operators who cannot afford ambiguity, is the foundation under everything else on this site: I design systems I could build, and I know what the code on the other end has to do.

Unix / C# Hardware Integration Oracle SQL Mission-Critical Software

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Launch authority team at consoles in the Young-Crippen Firing Room, Kennedy Space Center (NASA)

Delta II launch of the Mars Exploration Rover from Cape Canaveral, 2003 (NASA)

Delta II SIRTF liftoff from Cape Canaveral, 2003 (NASA)

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-129 launch, November 2009 (NASA)

Shuttle Atlantis on Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center (NASA)