In this podcast episode, host Gary Jordan discusses the increasing demand for data from space missions and NASA's efforts to develop advanced communication capabilities for future lunar and deep space exploration. The conversation with Greg Heckler, deputy program manager for capability development at NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program, covers the challenges of supporting missions like Artemis II and the need for improved infrastructure to handle vast amounts of data. Heckler shares his personal journey into aerospace engineering and reflects on influential educators who shaped his path.
The Future of Deep Space Communications. I'm Gary Jordan, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast we bring in the experts- scientists, engineers, and astronauts all to let you know what's going on in the world of human space flight and more.
How great was the Artemis II mission? I'm still riding the wave of excitement about the mission, myself. The crew captured stunning images of the Earth and Moon and shared what life was like for four individuals, sharing 330 cubic feet over ten days, we got peeks inside the spacecraft and connected with people around the globe through still photos live stream video and interactive events between the crew and people of Earth as well as the International Space Station.
For all of these fantastic images to reach us and be shared throughout the mission, we were relying on the current space communications infrastructure. This includes assets that supported the Near Space Network and Deep Space Network, traditional radio communications networks that are shared with other users. These assets have been used for decades and help to support missions from low Earth orbit to the farthest stretches of our solar system.
During Artemis, we in Public Affairs are responsible for distributing the live streams, the videos and still photos publicly, and we were among the dozens of disciplines hungry for data. Engineers, scientists and flight controllers were all wanting data as quickly as possible, and rightfully so. Data helps to resolve technical issues, provide context for scientific observation and gives insight for flight controllers to make real time operational decisions.
And if you can send more data to the ground, that's less that you have to store on board. So naturally, we're all saying more, more, more. The demand for data delivered quickly is insatiable. Developing the infrastructure for how to get more data and establish overall better and more diverse capabilities is a complicated task.
Thankfully, we have teams in NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program or SCaN looking at capabilities development, which happens to have his own branch of the organization. Greg Heckler serves as the deputy program manager for capability development, and already has the future of deep space communications on his mind.
We were able to catch some of his time to speak with us on Houston We Have a Podcast to share the efforts underway to support humanity's return to the lunar surface with that, let's hear from Greg Heckler on what we're exploring to support these future endeavors. It's awesome to be here.
I know it's drizzling outside, but always try to take the opportunities come down to Johnson and connect what we do in the Space Comm and Nav network to the real users, right? The astronauts. Yeah, yeah. So I've worked at NASA Headquarters for about seven years.
I often call myself a Goddard baby. I started at NASA Goddard and there in Maryland as an intern, way too long ago, and so have always been working for NASA one way or another my entire career. Wow. How early did it start?
Let's, let's learn a little bit about Greg. Where did you always want to pursue space as a kid? Yeah, no. So I was always probably an engineer, science, you know, math nerd. You know, grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and then moved to Indianapolis when I was 12, right.
In Indianapolis, had the opportunity. I went to math science magnet schools. Had a lot of good teachers in Indianapolis public school systems, hey, I have to give a call out. There's one, one teacher, Dr Blatchley.
He was, he was a PhD physics, right? Had a PhD in physics. His wife was the doctor, but he chose to work at inner city school. And, you know, I think that was his public service.
And so not only me, but a lot of my friends I still have today. Dr Blatchley kind of molded us into what we are, which are law engineers, but also some physicists, mathematicians. I have to give a shout out for him and what he did for us. Very cool.
In that, in that regard, math, physics, you ended up pursuing aerospace engineering, did everybody or kind of they took that and went their own path, whatever they were passionateabout, yeah, yeah. So coming out of high school, we, you know, in Indiana, you either go to IU or Purdue, right? If you're going to be an engineer, of course, you go to Purdue. So there, my entire like cohort basically ended up at Purdue.
Lot of engineers. We all kind of chose different disciplines, and actually chose aerospace because it seemed to be the hardest and most interesting, right? Not a strong pull. I was never someone who, like, I have to be at NASA, but just found aerospace engineering very interesting, and jump into it, and through a lot of people I met ended up at NASA Goddard as an intern right after my after my sophomore year in college.
Yeah, actually started in, actually navigation. Okay, so, when I was a freshman at Purdue, there's Dr James Garrison, who became my graduate adviso
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