Tales of the Incredible Hoke Robertson

While I was hang-gliding in the Andes last week I was reminded of my recent interaction with NASA. I was down at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena watching as the Mars Curiosity spacecraft was landing. It’s a long story, but a few years ago it occurred to me that any calculations dealing with friction through the thin Mars atmosphere would have to take into account the periodic addition of the dust particles which are regularly mixed in because of the high winds on the planet. I did some quick math and concluded that the failure to include these dust particles in the landing calculations had resulted in the last two crashes of NASA vehicles onto the Red Planet. I sent my calculations to NASA and eventually someone called me all upset and interested in my theory. Well, a few weeks later and a whole lot of inputs and adjustments to the basic Navier-Stokes equations dealing with how gases act under different temperatures and pressures, we came to agreement about what needed to be changed on the Curiosity mission. It took one of their Cray super computers to confirm my calculations, but in the end it all added up. Turns out that although the re-entry parachutes (already designed and constructed) could still be used, NASA would need an additional 3.47 seconds of burn on the thrusters during descent. They were so happy about my suggestions that they made me an honorary member of the team. I even got a neat windbreaker and hat with the NASA and Curiosity logos!

Anyway, sitting in the control room during the descent was a bit exciting and of course nerve-racking. However, everything worked like a charm and they were able to explore the surface of the Red Planet like never before. It’s nice to be a small part of the effort to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations and to boldly go where no man has gone before. I know, I know, but I first coined that phrase in a meeting with a young Gene Roddenberry, which I am told was the spark for his Star Trek show.

By the way, after the boys and girls at the Jet Propulsion Lab agreed with my calculations, I got a visit from some guys who looked like the Men in Black team. They were all hush hush and VERY eager to get me to look at some preliminary stuff dealing with generation 4 stealth technology. Funny how all those late hours studying light refraction under high temperatures paid off; but that's another story for another time. HOKE ROBERTSON