Juan R. Cruz

Juan R. Cruz

Dr. Juan R. Cruz, Ph.D., is a Puerto Rican scientist who played an instrumental role in the design and development of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) parachute.

Early years

Cruz, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, holds a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, and an S.B. from MIT, both in aerospace engineering. During his years at MIT he was involved with the Monarch and Daedalus human powered airplane teams. [http://web.mit.edu/museum/about/news/rover.html MIT MUSEUM PRESS RELEASE] ]

Mars Exploration Rover Mission

The MER-A rover, "Spirit", was launched on June 10, 2003 at 17:59 UTC, and MER-B, "Opportunity", on July 7, 2003. "Spirit" landed in Gusev crater on January 4, 2004 and "Opportunity" landed in the Meridiani Planum on the opposite side of Mars from "Spirit", on January 25, 2004.

Cruz was among the scientists from Langley who helped develop the parachute which helped slow the spacecraft during entry, descent and landing.

According to Cruz:

"There are challenges to testing these parachutes because we can not test it at exactly the right conditions. Earth's atmosphere is the one we have to work with and the Martian atmosphere is very different, so you have to make adjustments in how you test the parachute. Another issue is the wind tunnel models we used in our tests were ten percent scale models, about five feet in diameter".
[ [http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/news_rels/2003/03-039.pdf NASA News] ]

Cruz is also a member of the Phoenix (Mars 2007), Mars Science Laboratory (Mars 2009), and Crew Exploration Vehicle EDL teams. He has undertaken research on advanced missions to Mars, including robotic airplanes, as well as having been a technical reviewer for the Genesis, Huygens, and Stardust missions. Prior to his involvement with exploration programs he conducted research on high-altitude unmanned aircraft. [http://web.mit.edu/museum/about/news/rover.html MIT MUSEUM PRESS RELEASE] ]

See also

* List of famous Puerto Ricans
*Puerto Rican scientists and inventors

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Juan-Carlos Cruz — Infobox Chef name = Juan Carlos Cruz caption = birthdate = birthplace = deathdate = deathplace = style = education = California Culinary Academy ratings = restaurants = prevrests = television = awards = website = http://www.pastrydude.comJuan… …   Wikipedia

  • Juan Dela Cruz Band — History= Up In ArmsThe original Juan Dela Cruz Band, consisting of Wally Gonzalez (guitar), Sandy Tagarro (bass guitar), Edmund Fortuno (drums), Bing Labrador (organ), and Alex Cruz (saxophones flute), was formed in 1970. ( Source:… …   Wikipedia

  • Juan dela Cruz Palaris — Juan de la Cruz, also known as Palaris, (8 January 1733 – 26 February 1765) was a Pangasinan leader in the province of Pangasinan in the Philippines who led a revolt against Spain during the 18th century. The uprising is known as the Palaris… …   Wikipedia

  • Castillo de San Juan (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Castillo de San Juan Bautista El Castillo de San Juan Bautista en el término municipal de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, isla de Tenerife (Canarias …   Wikipedia Español

  • Juan Cruz — es el nombre de las siguientes personas: Juan Cruz, director de cine español; Juan Cruz, periodista español. Juan Cruz Cruz, Filósofo y gastrónomo. Juan Cruz, beisbolista dominicano. Véase también Juan, desambiguación. Cruz, desambiguación …   Wikipedia Español

  • Juan Cruz (beisbolista) — Juan Cruz Agente Libre Lanzador Nacimiento: 25 de octubre de 1978 (33 años) Bonao, Monseñor Nouel …   Wikipedia Español

  • Juan Cruz (baseball) — Infobox MLB player width = 150px name = Juan Cruz team = Arizona Diamondbacks number = 37 position = Pitcher birthdate = birth date and age|1980|10|15 birthplace = Bonao, Dominican Republic bats = Right throws = Right debutdate = August 21… …   Wikipedia

  • Juan de la Cruz (banda) — En este artículo sobre música se detectaron los siguientes problemas: Necesita ser wikificado conforme a las convenciones de estilo de Wikipedia. Carece de fuentes o referencias que aparezcan en una fuente acreditada. Parece ser una traducción… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Cruz — Para otros usos de este término, véase Cruz (desambiguación). Tipos de cruces. Una cruz (latín: crux) es una figura geométrica que consiste en dos líneas o barras que se cruzan en un ángulo recto, de tal forma que una de ellas (o las dos) queda… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Cruz — For other uses, see Cruz (disambiguation). Cruz Family name The Christian Cross …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”