William Yuknis : LRO Lead Engineer William Yuknis is one of the lead engineers for the command and data handling electronics (C&DH). The C&DH system is the brain and communications hub for the LRO spacecraft. All data communications with the science instruments and Earth pass through the C&DH for processing. William has been with NASA's, Goddard Space Flight Center since 1992. He has worked on several previous missions, the most notable being Spartan 201 and Swift. Spartan 201 was a reusable mission that flew on the Space Shuttle and was deployed with the robot arm. Because it is reusable, it can return from space. Now retired, the Spartan 201 spacecraft is on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. William is very proud to be one of the team members that worked on that spacecraft. William has always wanted to work for NASA . "I grew up watching those campy sci-fi shows on television. I have always been fascinated by space and what is waiting for us to discover out there. I enjoy reading science fiction authors who postulate new technology and ideas as well as the consequences and implications. For me, it gives me something to think about, and other times, the ideas and concepts inspire me."

"There is more than one way to achieve your goals, and there is no one right way to do it." - William Yuknis

For his undergraduate study, William went to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering. "They have a fantastic engineering program. Most importantly, for me, they have a program for the deaf at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, which is one of the colleges that comprise RIT. NTID helped me tremendously in attaining my college degree at RIT by providing sign language interpreters and notetakers." After graduating from RIT, William received a masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University through the part time graduate study program at NASA.

The most difficult and challenging aspect for William in his engineering career is not the engineering itself, but communicating with other people. As a deaf individual, it is necessary for him to depend on alternative means of communicating. As an example, for large meetings, he uses a sign language interpreter to help him. When it comes to one-on-one meetings, William depends on his lip reading abilities to communicate.

"My favorite part of my engineering career is when we design things that actually work. In engineering, there is a lot of theory, simulation of theory, and constant debate regarding both. When it comes to the rubber meeting the road, hardware is built and tested. It is immensely rewarding to see the hardware work. At once, it is a validation of design principles, collaboration, and teamwork that went into the design."

 

Moon, Mars and Beyond... "I think that mankind should get off this planet Earth, get out there and explore. Technology and exploration go together, hand-in-hand. New technology is discovered during course of exploration, and new technology enables us to explore. It's sort of like a Yin and Yang kind of thing." - William Yuknis

"What is most exciting about working on LRO? This is the moon that we are talking about! It is a fantastic, once in a lifetime opportunity, to be involved in a space mission of this magnitude. It is an opportunity to help mankind to lead to bigger things after the LRO mission. LRO is a step towards returning the moon and staying there. When NASA did the Apollo mission in the 70's, they basically stopped going back to the moon ever since. LRO is hopefully the start of a new era in space exploration, starting with lunar bases and moving onto missions to Mars. LRO will be taking pictures of future landing sites and to determine the best place to find water, if there is any in sizable quantities. If LRO finds sizable amounts of water on the moon, then it would be possible to use the water for future lunar bases. With water, it would be possible to grow plants on the moon and not have to bring everything from Earth and make the moon a self sustaining place for humans to live there. With a permanent lunar base, one of the things that becomes possible is to build really large space telescopes to study the cosmos, unburdened from the Earth's radio and light pollution. When we establish self sustaining settlements on the Moon and Mars, families will be eventually raised there. Maybe people would be born on these far flung outposts of humanity. People who live most of their lives on these extraterrestrial colonies would be very different from people who are born and raised on Earth. It would be fascinating to see how the differences play out and the impact in terms of outlook and social changes."