TEAM: JOBS
Administrative Support
It takes a lot of work to make a project like this feasable. There is all sorts of documentation and red tape that must be slogged through before any noticable progress can be made. That's where the administrative support comes in; helping to make sure that everything that needs to be done, gets done. Hats off to these people; they have to do some of the unpleasant work without getting a lot of the credit.
Concept and Design
Someone has to come up with the idea and roughly what they want to do. That's where concept and design comes in. What is it you want to do and what kind of ways can you go about it?
Detector Development
The Detector is the part of the Student Dust Counter that actually detects the particles. This kind of thing doesn't create itself. Someone has to come up with the idea and how to make it work. The detector development people had to do a lot of work to get a detector that does what they want it to do, and does it efficiently.
Electrical Engineering
Given there is a central processor, there needs to be electrical engineers. These people build and test the circuitboards and electrical connections on the instrument. They make sure that a certain voltage is not exceeded and that every circuit has its backups if needed and that it will work as it should. A tough job, given the radiation that floods space, but definitely rewarding!
Fabrication and Assembly
Having a plan is all well and good, but it comes to nothing if you can't actually build the instrument. The fabrication and assembly people machine and acquire all the parts needed. They stick everything together and make sure it's all where it needs to be. They make sure there are no loose fits or parts that are too tight. Everything has to fit just right for it to all work out.
Mechanical Engineering
Some parts on instruments move or open. The mechanical engineers have to make sure that if it moves, it will move right and will do it at the right time with no problems. They figure out how the dust collector will be able to start collecting dust at the right time. This job can be really hard because there is no way of knowing if you've done things right until it's time for the device to actually do its thing. And if it fails, there are no repairmen in space, so you better hope it works right the first time!
Principal Investigator
The Principal Investigator is perhaps one of the most important of the jobs. This person is in charge. They help put forward the ideas, help see them through, help convince the right people that their idea is good, help design, help test, help launch, and help interpret data after everything is said and done. A hefty job to be sure, but as PI, you're in charge.
Project Management
Everything must be overseen and the right people need to be hired for the right jobs. The project managers make sure everyone is working on what they should be working on and that if new people need to be hired, they can be. They keep 2 people from accidentally doing the same job and help set up meetings and conferences.
Public Relations
So who lets the public know what's going on? This is the job of the PR person. The mission does little good if no one knows about it or cares. And if something goes wrong, its up to the PR person to let the public know in the best possible way. However, this goes for success, too. When something goes right, the PR person steps in and knows exactly how to tell everyone to get the maximum impact.
Quality Assurance
Everything has to be working properly, and it's up to the QA people to see that that happens. The software must be bug-free and the hardware must have passed checklists of requirements to make sure everything is good to go. The QA people put in endless hours testing and re-testing to make sure everything is as it should be.
Science
Ah, science. These are the people who help answer the question, "so what is it exactly we're trying to learn?". Sometimes, things like this can become pretty complex and occasionally you lose sight of your goal: To learn. The science people keep us on track so that we don't get distracted by the fun of just building and launching a scientific instrument.
Software Development
Once data starts coming back from the spacecraft, you have to know what to do with it and how to interpret and store it. This is where the Software Development people come into play. Large amounts of software must be written for any space mission, so that the data can be retrieved, stored, and used. This is a hefty job, with many long days of coding and writing very specific software.
System Engineering
There is engineering that must be done on a comprehensive level. How do you make everything work in concert with everything else? It's a daunting task and sometimes hard to do. The system engineer had to make sure that everything is able to communicate properly with everything else.
Thermal Engineering
Space is a pretty harsh environment. The heat of the Sun bakes whatever it hits directly and whatever is in shadow is exposed to almost absolute zero. The thermal engineer's job is to see to it that the instrument can withstand such extremes in temperature. The instrument has to be able to withstand the heat without melting or warping, and must withstand the cold so it doesn't freeze or crack.
Webmaster
The webmaster is the one who has created the website you are now viewing. This job is all about educating the public and trying to make the mission both interesting and understandable. While not technically exceedingly challenging, the webmaster has to know a little about everything concerning the mission.