Kobie Boykins

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NASA Mechanical Engineer Kobie Boykins Kobie Boykins.png
NASA Mechanical Engineer Kobie Boykins

Kobie Boykins is a senior mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. [1] [2] [3] [4] In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. [5] He designed the solar array systems for the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and designed the actuators on the Mars rover Curiosity. [1] He is currently the supervisor of the mobility and remote sensing teams for Curiosity. [6] In 2003, he was part of NASA's M-Team, which lectured nationally to students regarding careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. [7] He lectures internationally for National Geographic regarding exploration on Mars. [8] [9]

Contents

Personal life

Boykins attended Omaha Northwest High School and lived in Nebraska until college. Boykins then moved to New York to attend college, [10] at B.S Mechanical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. [11] After Graduation Boykins chose to take a position at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and started working on projects with his selected team. [10] Boykins was offered this opportunity while still studying at R.P.I. After arriving at JPL, Boykins meet Hannah Kim. [11] Boykins and Kim got married and have two children. Boykins loves playing hockey and tries to play the game at least once a week. [10]

Career

After leaving R.P.I Kobie took a career at NASA in their Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on trips from Mars to planet Earth. [10] Kobie Boykins is a senior mechanical engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. [1] [2] [3] [4] Boykins has now been working at NASA for 22 years and enjoys working in the laboratory as of 1996. He worked with his team to design the solar array systems for the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and designed the actuators on the Mars rover Curiosity, [1] the name of both wings. This system generates power so the Mars Rover can operate while on Mars. Two rechargeable batteries are held inside the Mars Exploration Rover; these batteries are power sources for the rover when the sun is not shining. (especially at night time). The rover can generate about 140 watts of power when fully illuminated and need about 100 watts for motion. The solar array system is attached to the rover and looks almost like wings, although they cannot be used for flight they are crucial for the system to function properly. [12]

Kobe Boykins and his team allowed, the solar array system out lived its projected life expectancy by a more than a factor of 20. The Mar rover landed on January 25th2004 which was only supposed to last approximately 90 days but the rover system is still online and adventuring mars to this day. [13] Boykins then had the opportunity to design the actuators on the Mars rover Curiosity. [1] The system is attached to the updated Mars Rover and is used for many research activities. He also is currently the supervisor of the mobility and remote sensing teams for Curiosity . [14] has also been involved in other projects like, projects like Mars Pathfinder mission and the Ocean Surface Topography Mission. [13] As of 2018 Kobie Boykins is still working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on new projects furthering his search in space

Awards

Kobie Boykins achievements all start in 2002. This is when Boykins joined "Marsapalooza", which is a public education tour hoping to raise awareness of the Mars Exploration Project. The project visited 5 different cities across the country and presented himself as a role model to inspire the next generation of explorers. [15] In 2003, he was part of NASA's M-Team, which lectured nationally to students regarding careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. [7] He lectures internationally for National Geographic regarding exploration on Mars. [16] [9] Boykins then joined another teaching program called the JASONProject Expedition; "Mysteries of Earth and Mars". Boykins joined the team in 2006, lecturing to students and teachers worldwide showing his knowledge in his field. [13] In 2013, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. [17]

Related Research Articles

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in 1936 by Caltech researchers, the laboratory is now owned and sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and administrated and managed by the California Institute of Technology.

<i>2001 Mars Odyssey</i> NASA orbiter for geology and hydrology

2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and a thermal imager to detect evidence of past or present water and ice, as well as study the planet's geology and radiation environment. It is hoped that the data Odyssey obtains will help answer the question of whether life existed on Mars and create a risk-assessment of the radiation that future astronauts on Mars might experience. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Curiosity rover, and previously the Mars Exploration Rovers and Phoenix lander, to Earth. The mission was named as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, evoking the name of his and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

<i>Opportunity</i> (rover) NASA Mars rover deployed in 2004

Opportunity, also known as MER-B or MER-1, is a robotic rover that was active on Mars from 2004 until 2018. Opportunity was operational on Mars for 5111 sols. Launched on July 7, 2003, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin, Spirit (MER-A), touched down on the other side of the planet. With a planned 90-sol duration of activity, Spirit functioned until it got stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity was able to stay operational for 5111 sols after landing, maintaining its power and key systems through continual recharging of its batteries using solar power, and hibernating during events such as dust storms to save power. This careful operation allowed Opportunity to operate for 57 times its designed lifespan, exceeding the initial plan by 14 years, 47 days. By June 10, 2018, when it last contacted NASA, the rover had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars Science Laboratory</span> Robotic mission that deployed the Curiosity rover to Mars in 2012

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Theisinger</span> Engineer

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<i>Curiosity</i> (rover) NASA robotic rover exploring the crater Gale on Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Matijevic</span> Croatian-born NASA engineer (1947–2012)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gerdes, Caroline (May 4, 2015). "Explore Mars with JPL engineer Kobie Boykins – National Geographic Society (blogs)". Voices.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Kobie Boykins. "Kobie Boykins's Martian Profile". Mars.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "JASON Expedition: 'Mysteries of Earth and Mars':Jet Propulsion Laboratory". The My Hero Project . August 16, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "NASA - Celebrate Black History Month Virtually: Ask Questions of NASA Engineers". Nasa.gov. February 12, 2010. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Exceptional Achievement M". Yumpu.com. July 23, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ "National Geographic Live! Exploring Mars with NASA Engineer Kobie Boykins - April 27 - Minnesota Public Radio's Fitzgerald Theater". Fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  7. 1 2 NASA.gov
  8. ↑ "National Geographic Events - Kobie Boykins". Events.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Kobie Boykins". www.ntu.edu.sg. Archived from the original on August 1, 2015. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 4 mars.nasa.gov. "Mars planet facts news & images | NASA Mars rover + mission info". mars.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Kobie Boykins". www.facebook.com. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Mars Exploration Rover Mission: The Mission". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  13. 1 2 3 "Events | Nat Geo - Events". events.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  14. ↑ "National Geographic Live! Exploring Mars with NASA Engineer Kobie Boykins - April 27 - Minnesota Public Radio's Fitzgerald Theater". Fitzgeraldtheater.publicradio.org. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  15. ↑ "NASA - What in the world is Marsapalooza?". www.nasa.gov. Gretchen Cook-Anderson: HQ. Retrieved April 16, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  16. ↑ "National Geographic Events - Kobie Boykins". Events.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Exceptional Achievement M". Yumpu.com. July 23, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2016.

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

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