Space research led to a job in the USA
Jonas Jonasson, who has conducted research at the Ångström Space Technology Centre (ÅSTC) and publicly defend a doctoral thesis at the Department of Technological Sciences in 2012, got a job at NASA, the Federal Authority for space travel in the USA.
How did you get into space technology?
“When I was studying for an MSc in Space Engineering at Luleå University of Technology in 2005, I did my masters thesis project at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory outside of Los Angeles. My supervisor was then working on an idea with a researcher at ÅSTC to build a tiny submarine to explore, among others, subglacial lakes in Antarctica.
I was then employed as a doctoral student at ÅSTC. Here I built miniature instruments for the underwater vessel which, apart from the subglacial lakes, perhaps is a forerunner to something that one day may explore the water worlds on the icy moons around Jupiter and Saturn...”
How did you end up at NASA?
“After I publicly defended my doctoral thesis in the spring of 2012 and worked for ÅAC Microtec, where they manufacture electronics for satellites, the head of NASA Ames came to the Ångström laboratory. During a lunch meeting, we spoke about my background and what I was working on. It then took about a week before I was contacted by SGT Inc., an American company under contract to NASA. I was offered a job and in November 2012 I started working at NASA Ames Mission Design Center in Silicon Valley.”
What do you work with?
“Primarily I support various satellite projects with the miniaturisation of instruments and subsystems. It's not just a question of making them smaller, but also to produce other effects such as higher performance and lower power consumption.
I also work with researchers on specific environments on earth. In Canada, there is a lake with unique microorganisms that build sedimentary structures that are very similar to those which make up some of the oldest fossils of life on Earth. These sites are also used as analogue space environments: simulations are performed where you are in space and the divers are astronauts who must communicate with “earth” through a time delay.”
Have you experienced anything extra special?
“In July, we were at the Houston Space Center and in the pool where the real astronauts practice ahead of their spacewalks at the space station. I tested a camera system I had helped to build and which the divers will use. It was unbelievable to be there and work side by side with eminent space scientists!”
Anneli Björkman