July 2008 IssuE
The Summit Series
Houston, We Have a Winner
Laura Lucier, P.Eng., parlayed her childhood fascination with astronauts and aerospace into a demanding career in robotics in Houston. The lead robotics flight controller is the winner of the Early Accomplishment Award and many other accolades. Next up, astronaut?
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WOMAN OF SPACE |
BY FRANCINE MAXWELL
The PEGG
When other little girls were asking their parents for a pony, Laura Lucier, P.Eng., was begging hers to take her to science centres and aerospace museums. What started as a childhood fascination has since blossomed into a full-blown aerospace career.
“I’ve known since I was six that I loved anything to do with aircraft or outer space. I wanted to be an astronaut, or maybe a pilot. I wanted to fly,” says Ms. Lucier, the recipient of the APEGGA Early Accomplishment Summit Award this year.
The young 30-something has achieved more in her career so far than some do in a lifetime. To date she has collected trophies that include three NASA awards and two Canadian Space Agency awards. She was featured in the MacLean’s magazine Top 30 Under 30 list, and the University of Calgary Alumni Association selected her as a Graduate of the Last Decade.
A McGill as well as a U of C grad, she says that engineering was the clear choice early in her academic career. If she wanted to get into space, there were a limited number of paths to take.
“Although people from all backgrounds work in the space program, to be an astronaut, you have to be a doctor, a scientist or an engineer. I knew that
engineering was the choice for me. I like to figure out how things work,” Ms. Lucier says. “Of course, astronaut opportunities are few and far between, but Canadians are key players in the aerospace arena in many other ways.”
A self-professed “geer geek,” Ms. Lucier is something of an expert in robotics and works at NASA in Houston on behalf of the Canadian Space Agency. A flight controller, she spends many of her work hours training to be an expert in the robotic systems employed by the International Space Station. The job is highly specialized and niche oriented. But Ms. Lucier says she wouldn’t change a thing about it.
“What I do is sometimes hard to explain, but here’s the easiest comparison.
If you’ve seen the movie Apollo 13, you have a sense of the number of engineers working in Mission Control to ensure that everything goes smoothly, and you also have an appreciation for how stressful it can be. That’s what I do, and I love it. To be part of something that’s so much bigger than you is awe inspiring.
- Laura Lucier, P.Eng
A Trainer of Astronauts
Among her many responsibilities, Ms. Lucier trains astronauts to use the robotics systems by employing methods and procedures she’s developed. She then monitors both the crew and the system’s performance during operations.
Everything astronauts will do in space is rehearsed and planned. It’s an undertaking that is often begun up to three years before the actual mission.
Ms. Lucier is also the training coordinator for her group, which is responsible for developing the curriculum for robotic flight controller training and for setting the standards for robotics flight controller certification.
Although difficult, her work has its rewards.
“Sometimes I get to command the system from the ground. That’s always a thrill — to fire off a command and see a robot 300 kilometres above you moving in response.”
Her biggest and also what she calls “most exciting” project is working on the H-II Transfer Vehicle, or HTV. Built by Japan’s space agency, HTV is designed as an unmanned workhorse, carrying supplies to the International Space Station as needed.
What makes the vehicle so special isn’t what it is being designed for — but how it’s going to fly. “The H-II Transfer Vehicle is a spacecraft that is unmanned and will be controlled by Japan on the ground. Once in space it will come in to hover about 10 metres away from the space station,” Ms. Lucier explains.
“That’s quite a feat, to have two spacecraft in such close proximity. We will then use the Canadarm2 to reach out and capture it, dock it, and then transfer supplies.”
With a distance of less than the length of a semi-trailer to separate two highly intricate spacecraft, everything has to go extremely well and almost exactly to plan. That’s why Ms. Lucier’s team has been working on the project for over two years — for a launch planned for 2009 or 2010.
A Mentor of Young Women
Her Houston assignment makes her the first Canadian female to work as a lead robotics flight controller, so Ms. Lucier also makes the effort to be a role model for other young women. Involved with SCIberMENTOR, an e-mail mentoring program aimed at Alberta females aged 11 to 18, Ms. Lucier offers leadership and advice to encourage interest in science and engineering.
“It’s a real pleasure for me to interact with these girls. We share the same enthusiasm for science,” Ms. Lucier says.
When her mind isn’t on robots, space or mentoring, Ms. Lucier keeps busy with her after-hours activities. As you may have gathered, a couch potato she isn’t.
Ms. Lucier is an instrument-rated commercial pilot and a scuba diver. She enjoys camping and has recently taken up home improvement as a hobby as well. Apparently, there’s nothing like a little retiling and painting to relax after a day of directing astronauts.
A Canadian in Space?
Great job. Great personal life. What more could Ms. Lucier wish for?
While she’s happy with her world and has no immediate plans to change it, there is one more thing she wants to try.
“The Canadian Space Agency just put out a call for new astronaut recruits. I didn’t hesitate to toss my hat in the ring for that job. It’s just one of thousands in the ring, but it’s worth a shot.”
Ms. Lucier may just get to fly her own spaceship yet.