View Ben Clark's Biography
The following interview occurred December 11, 2000 between
Genesis Co-Investigator Ben Clark, Lockheed Martin Space Systems-Astronautics
Operations, and Senior Program Associate Jacinta Behne, Mid-continent
Research for Education and Learning.
J.B. You work as a co-investigator on the Genesis mission.
What does this job title mean?
B.C. Co-Investigators are scientists who each have
different contributions to make to the Genesis mission. One
of my research areas has been the composition of planets.
I had the good fortune to have had an instrument on each of
the first lander missions to Mars, the two Viking spacecraft
that touched down on the red planet in 1976. My devices used
a method of measuring energies of x-rays emitted from samples
when bombarded by higher energy x-rays. This technique, called
x-ray fluorescence, is an extremely powerful method of "seeing"
the elements that occur in samples of any type (rocks, powders,
soils--even gases). My measurements found silicon, calcium,
and many other elements in the Martian soil. The iron content
was extremely high, accounting for the rusty red color of
Mars. Even more surprising, however, were the very high contents
of sulfur and chlorine in the soil, indicating that the salts
that are washed by rain into our oceans were still in the
soils of Mars. Obviously, I have a strong interest in the
elements of the solar system. Genesis will measure the elements
that occur in the sun, and from that, the elements that were
present when the sun and planets first formed from a huge
cloud of gas and dust.
Many of the various co-investigators (Co-I's) on Genesis
are renowned scientists in their specialties. Because I spend
most of my time working on the engineering and programmatic
problems of making spacecraft missions work, I don't get to
do as much science as I would like. The principal investigator
and father of Genesis is Professor Don Burnett. Don asked
me to help out on the collection of radioactive elements that
come from the sun. The key leader in this is Co-I Kunihiko
Nishiizumi, and I help wherever I can.
J.B. Within Lockheed Martin, you are the project scientist
who is responsible for the Discovery program. What is the
scope of this work?
B.C. As the Lockheed Martin scientist who is assigned
the responsibility for our proposals for new mission concepts
for NASA's Discovery missions, I spend much of my time working
with scientists from all over the U.S. Many are in universities,
and some work for NASA. All are strongly committed to planetary
explorations and the discoveries that can be made. Because
I have some background in engineering, and work with engineers
on a daily basis, I try to find ways that the scientists can
get the measurements that need to be made, but with the simplest,
lowest cost spacecraft that we can invent. This requires understanding
of the status of scientific knowledge of our solar system,
as well as an appreciation of the challenges and methods that
engineers use to convert these dreams into realities.
J.B. Do you have other responsibilities at Lockheed
Martin? If so, what are they?
B.C. At an aerospace corporation such as Lockheed
Martin, efficiency is paramount. For this reason, I have more
than one assignment. Therefore, I also lead a team of highly
talented engineers who conceive all aspects of new missions
to the planets, including Mars. We also study exciting missions
to comets, asteroids, and the moons of the planets.
J.B. What new science understanding will Genesis provide
and what have you found to be the most fascinating thing about
the Genesis mission?
B.C. Genesis is an extremely fascinating mission when
you realize that we are actually collecting material from
the sun without having to dip down into that fiery inferno
and scoop up the tenuous matter that resides there. Because
the sun "boils off" material, resulting in a stream of ions
commonly called "solar wind," it is possible to collect "sun
matter" without flying all the way to the sun itself. It was
on the Apollo mission to the moon that this concept was first
proven. Aluminum foils exposed to space were shown to collect
solar wind. Professor Burnett then proposed a mission dedicated
to this technique, because the Apollo collections were much
too short (days compared to years). He then justified the
scientific importance of such a mission to NASA. They selected
Genesis! With the Genesis mission, we will for the first time
have "large" samples of the sun back on the Earth for scientists
to study.
J.B. How did your strong physics background prepare
you for the job of co-investigator of the Genesis mission?
B.C. Physics is one of the most powerful and satisfying
of the sciences. Physics provides the foundation of most other
fields of science, since it deals at the most fundamental
levels of matter and energy. Along with mathematics, it provides
a background from which one can work in many different fields
of science. Many aspects of the Genesis mission involve physics,
from the electrical and kinetic properties of the solar wind
ions, to the penetration of these high-velocity ions into
pure metals and other collectors. Even the complex spacecraft
trajectory is mainly an exercise in the physics of motion
in the combined gravitational fields of the Earth and the
sun. Finally, Genesis measures the quantity and types of atoms
in the sun.
J.B. What do you see as the riskiest part of the Genesis
mission?
B.C. Many aspects of the Genesis mission must overcome
unavoidable risks. Besides the launching of rocket and spacecraft,
for Genesis we had to design a capsule that could come back
to earth. This has been done before, but not for a vehicle
of this size and type of ablator protection system. Discovery
is designed for single missions, not a sequence of missions.
That is why it is not possible to try out the reentry system
before doing the mission--it would be too expensive. Additional
things we worry about are the opening and closing of the capsule
and the canister, which contains the collection arrays. Moving
the arrays around without anything getting stuck is crucial
to mission success.
J.B. What does your everyday work life look like?
B.C. My daily work involves a lot of teamwork and
lots of communication. This means that much of the time I
find myself in meetings, or on the telephone, or creating
e-mail messages, or responding to e-mails from other people.
To develop and fly a space mission requires the efforts of
several hundred engineers and scientists, each with their
own contributions to make. The greatest challenge of all is
the person-to-person communications to make sure that everyone
is aware of the latest results and the designs.
J.B. How does someone prepare to be a chief scientist
of flight systems? Is there college preparatory work that
serves to help in achieving this role?
B.C. In my position of Chief Scientist of flight systems
at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, I have found that my broad-based
education in physics, chemistry, and biology has been invaluable.
Education does not stop with school. Even after college, there
are always new discoveries, plus many new techniques and methods
of investigation being developed. When I was in college, the
laser had just been invented and was mainly a laboratory curiosity.
Who would have thought that it would figure so prominently
in future technologies, from lightning-fast high bandwidth
telecommunications to laser printers? Who would have guessed
that Mars would be such a constantly surprising planet, or
that Europa would harbor an ocean? Who would think that you
could find out the chemical composition of the sun by exposing
silicon plates in space?
In other words, an incurable curiosity and delight in discovery
is what drives scientists to work hard and long at their jobs.
An interest in finding out about the world and how it works
is the best qualification. Keeping current means going to
scientific meetings, reading papers, and getting to know many
different scientists to find out their priorities for future
study.
J.B. What career path led you to your current scope
of work at Lockheed Martin Corporation?
B.C. In college, I was in the Air Force ROTC. After
obtaining a master's degree in physics, I went on active duty
for three years. The Air Force assigned me to a group who
was studying the radiation hazards of space flight to humans.
It was here that I gained an interest in biology as well as
physics. After completing my tour, I went to Columbia University
to work for my Ph.D. in biophysics. My thesis involved designing
a special x-ray source that could target the DNA in cells.
After school, I went to work for an aerospace company. During
this time, the Viking mission to Mars was being prepared,
and scientists were asked if they had good ideas for experiments.
My proposal was to use the x-ray fluorescence technique to
measure the composition of Martian soil. Soon after joining
Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin Corporation, my experiment
was selected for Viking. As a result, I was in the unique
position of being the first person to know what Martian soil
was made of.
From my experience in designing experiments, and as a result
of working with many other scientists, I am in a position
that is often useful when our aerospace engineering teams
work on new planetary science projects. I particularly try
to help the scientists get all the results they need, but
without unnecessary or low-payoff complications. Likewise,
I try to get the engineers to understand the purposes of the
science measurements and even to contribute to better science
through ideas they come up with for improvements.
J.B. Have there been surprises in your education and
career history?
B.C. As you can see from my previous answer, my path
was not predictable. Sometimes I wish I had stayed in more
fundamental biophysics, where I may have been able to make
a contribution to human health in the fields of molecular
biological research and the development of new treatments.
J.B. What is your family life like? What leisure time
activities to you do for fun?
B.C. Even though my profession is very demanding,
taking lots of time for work and study, as well as business
travel, I have a really excellent family life. My wife and
I have been married now for 35 years, and have raised two
fine children. Since she is from another country, it enabled
me to learn another country's language, heritage, and differing
outlooks on life. We travel there often and also to other
interesting countries, where we can explore beautiful landscapes
and the monumental accomplishments that people all over the
world have achieved. We like to walk. We like to talk to people
to learn about their culture, and how they enjoy life. Special
activities I have enjoyed include playing tennis, watching
football (and playing it when I was younger), and scuba diving.
My wife and I also like to keep healthy through good eating
habits and taking opportunities for being active, including
swimming and health club exercise. I don't read many novels,
but do enjoy books about the nature of life.
J.B. What advice can you offer to young scientists
and engineers?
B.C. My advice is to learn your subjects, but most
importantly learn how to apply the knowledge you gain. The
brain is more than just a storehouse of information. Over
the years, it should become a rich repository of knowledge
and experience, which can be applied to many different situations.
It is desirable to gain a mixture of experiences between doing
one or a few things very well, to trying to get at least a
little experience in many different things. Don't avoid challenges.
See how far you can go. Then look for help. When you need
it, there is far more help available than you might imagine.
Build your skills. Learn how to make things and how to test
them out. I remember being strongly encouraged by my father
to study both typing and public speaking--two skills I didn't
expect to need in science or engineering. Little did I realize
back then how these fields would become so dependent on having
skills at the computer keyboard or in making presentations.
Another skill to cultivate is writing. You won't get far if
you cannot compose well. You will need it for writing the
proposals that will get you future work, for putting together
good reports and presentations, and for arguing the points
that you believe in.
J.B. Are there keys to success that you would like
to share?
B.C. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.
But hard work and dedication can make up for many weak areas
or shortcomings. In fact, you only rarely see someone who
has reached success without having had to strive for it diligently
over a long period of time.
Read more interviews
with Genesis team members that tell you about their lives,
their jobs, and about the important role they play in the
Genesis mission.
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