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By NASA
5 Min Read NASA Tests Drones to Provide Micrometeorology, Aid in Fire Response
Pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs pre-flight checks on the NASA Alta X quadcopter during the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula.<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;font-size: 12pt;font-family: Aptos, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 10pt;font-family: Arial, sans-serif"><span class="msoIns" style="color: teal"><ins cite="mailto:Tabor,%20Abby%20(ARC-DO)" datetime="2025-02-11T16:38"></ins></span></span></p> Credits: NASA/Milan Loiacono In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior.
Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around the world, including the United States, and wind is a major factor. It leads to unexpected and unpredictable fire growth, public threats, and fire fatalities, making micrometeorology a very effective tool to combat fire.
This composite image shows the NASA Alta X quadcopter taking off during one of eight flights it performed for the 2024 FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. Mounted on top of the drone is a unique infrastructure designed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,Virginia, to carry sensors that measure wind speed and direction into the sky. On the ground, UAS pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs final pre-flight checks. NASA/Milan Loiacono The campaign was run by NASA’s FireSense project, focused on addressing challenges in wildland fire management by putting NASA science and technology in the hands of operational agencies.
“Ensuring that the new technology will be easily adoptable by operational agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Weather Service was another primary goal of the campaign,” said Jacqueline Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
The FireSense team chose the Alta X drone because the U.S. Forest Service already has a fleet of the quadcopters and trained drone pilots, which could make integrating the needed sensors – and the accompanying infrastructure – much easier and more cost-effective for the agency.
The UAS pilot in command, Brayden Chamberlain, flashes a “good to go” signal to the command tent, indicating that the NASA Alta X quadcopter is prepped for takeoff. Behind Chamberlain, the custom structure attached to the quadcopter holds a radiosonde (small white box) and an anemometer (hidden from view), which will collect data on wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature, and pressure.NASA/Milan Loiacono The choice of the two sensors for the drone’s payload was also driven by their adoptability.
The first, called a radiosonde, measures wind direction and speed, humidity, temperature, and pressure, and is used daily by the National Weather Service. The other sensor, an anemometer, measures wind speed and direction, and is used at weather stations and airports around the world.
The two sensors mounted on the NASA Alta X quadcopter are a radiosonde (left) and an anemometer (right), which measure wind speed and direction. The FireSense teams hopes that by giving them wings, researchers can enable micrometeorology to better predict fire and smoke behavior. NASA/Milan Loiacono
“Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary,” said Robert McSwain, the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) lead, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.”
Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary. We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.
Robert Mcswain
FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead
Both sensors create datasets that are already familiar to meteorologists worldwide, which opens up the potential applications of the platform.
Current Forecasting Methods: Weather Balloons
Traditionally, global weather forecasting data is gathered by attaching a radiosonde to a weather balloon and releasing it into the air. This system works well for regional weather forecasts. But the rapidly changing environment of wildland fire requires more recurrent, pinpointed forecasts to accurately predict fire behavior. It’s the perfect niche for a drone.
Left: Steven Stratham (right) attaches a radiosonde to the string of a weather balloon as teammates Travis Christopher (left) and Danny Johnson (center) prepare the balloon for launch. This team of three from Salish Kootenai College is one of many college teams across the nation trained to prepare and launch weather balloons.
Right: One of these weather balloons lifts into the sky, with the radiosonde visible at the end of the string. NASA/Milan Loiacono “These drones are not meant to replace the weather balloons,” said Jennifer Fowler, FireSense’s project manager at Langley. “The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.”
The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.
Jennifer Fowler
FireSense Project Manager
Drones Provide Control, Repeat Testing, Sustainability
Drones can be piloted to keep making measurements over a precise location – an on-site forecaster could fly one every couple of hours as conditions change – and gather timely data to help determine how weather will impact the direction and speed of a fire.
Fire crews on the ground may need this information to make quick decisions about where to deploy firefighters and resources, draw fire lines, and protect nearby communities.
A reusable platform, like a drone, also reduces the financial and environmental impact of forecasting flights.
“A weather balloon is going to be a one-off, and the attached sensor won’t be recovered,” Fowler said. “The instrumented drone, on the other hand, can be flown repeatedly.”
The NASA Alta X quadcopter sits in a field in Missoula, outfitted with a special structure to carry a radiosonde (sensor on the left) and an anemometer (sensor on the right) into the air. This structure was engineered at NASA’s Langley Research Center to ensure the sensors are far enough from the rotors to avoid interfering with the data collected, but without compromising the stability of the drone.NASA/Milan Loiacono
The Missoula Campaign
Before such technology can be sent out to a fire, it needs to be tested. That’s what the FireSense team did this summer.
Smoke from the nearby Miller Peak Fire drifts by the air control tower at Missoula Airport on August 29, 2024. Miller Peak was one of several fires burning in and around Missoula that month, creating a smokey environment which, combined with the mountainous terrain, made the area an ideal location to test FireSense’s new micrometeorology technology.NASA/Milan Loiacono McSwain described the conditions in Missoula as an “alignment of stars” for the research: the complex mountain terrain produces erratic, historically unpredictable winds, and the sparsity of monitoring instruments on the ground makes weather forecasting very difficult. During the three-day campaign, several fires burned nearby, which allowed researchers to test how the drones performed in smokey conditions.
A drone team out of NASA Langley conducted eight data-collection flights in Missoula. Before each drone flight, student teams from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, launched a weather balloon carrying the same type of radiometer.
Left: Weather balloon teams from University of Idaho and Salish Kootenai College prepare a weather balloon for launch on the second day of the FireSense campaign in Missoula.
Right: NASA Langley drone crew members Todd Ferrante (left) and Brayden Chamberlain (right) calibrate the internal sensors of the NASA Alta X quadcopter before its first test flight on Aug. 27, 2024. Once those data sets were created, they needed to be transformed into a usable format. Meteorologists are used to the numbers, but incident commanders on an active fire need to see the data in a form that allows them to quickly understand which conditions are changing, and how. That’s where data visualization partners come in. For the Missoula campaign, teams from MITRE, NVIDIA, and Esri joined NASA in the field.
An early data visualization from the Esri team shows the flight paths of weather balloons launched on the first day of the FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. The paths are color-coded by wind speed, from purple (low wind) to bright yellow (high wind).NASA/Milan Loiacono Measurements from both the balloon and the drone platforms were immediately sent to the on-site data teams. The MITRE team, together with NVIDIA, tested high-resolution artificial intelligence meteorological models, while the Esri team created comprehensive visualizations of flight paths, temperatures, and wind speed and direction. These visual representations of the data make conclusions more immediately apparent to non-meteorologists.
What’s Next?
Development of drone capabilities for fire monitoring didn’t begin in Missoula, and it won’t end there.
“This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing,” said McSwain. “We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.”
This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing. We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.
Robert Mcswain
FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead
The NASA Alta X and its sensor payload will head to Alabama and Florida in spring 2025, incorporating improvements identified in Montana. There, the team will perform another technology demonstration with wildland fire managers from a different region.
To view more photos from the FireSense campaign visit: https://nasa.gov/firesense
The FireSense project is led by NASA Headquarters in Washington and sits within the Wildland Fires program, with the project office based at NASA Ames. The goal of FireSense is to transition Earth science and technological capabilities to operational wildland fire management agencies, to address challenges in U.S. wildland fire management before, during, and after a fire.
About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
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Last Updated Feb 13, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Research Center Earth Science Earth Science Division General Wildfires Wildland Fire Management Explore More
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By NASA
5 Min Read Webb Maps Full Picture of How Phoenix Galaxy Cluster Forms Stars
Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Credits:
NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) Discovery proves decades-old theory of galaxy feeding cycle.
Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have finally solved the mystery of how a massive galaxy cluster is forming stars at such a high rate. The confirmation from Webb builds on more than a decade of studies using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, as well as several ground-based observatories.
The Phoenix cluster, a grouping of galaxies bound together by gravity 5.8 billion light-years from Earth, has been a target of interest for astronomers due to a few unique properties. In particular, ones that are surprising: a suspected extreme cooling of gas and a furious star formation rate despite a roughly 10 billion solar mass supermassive black hole at its core. In other observed galaxy clusters, the central supermassive black hole powers energetic particles and radiation that prevents gas from cooling enough to form stars. Researchers have been studying gas flows within this cluster to try to understand how it is driving such extreme star formation.
Image A: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA Annotated)
Spectroscopic data collected from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is overlayed on an image of the Phoenix cluster that combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope. Webb’s powerful sensitivity in the mid-infrared detected the cooling gas that leads to a furious rate of star formation in this massive galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT), M. Reefe (MIT), J. Olmsted (STScI) “We can compare our previous studies of the Phoenix cluster, which found differing cooling rates at different temperatures, to a ski slope,” said Michael McDonald of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, principal investigator of the program. “The Phoenix cluster has the largest reservoir of hot, cooling gas of any galaxy cluster — analogous to having the busiest chair lift, bringing the most skiers to the top of the mountain. However, not all of those skiers were making it down the mountain, meaning not all the gas was cooling to low temperatures. If you had a ski slope where there were significantly more people getting off the ski lift at the top than were arriving at the bottom, that would be a problem!”
To date, in the Phoenix cluster, the numbers weren’t adding up, and researchers were missing a piece of the process. Webb has now found those proverbial skiers at the middle of the mountain, in that it has tracked and mapped the missing cooling gas that will ultimately feed star formation. Most importantly, this intermediary warm gas was found within cavities tracing the very hot gas, a searing 18 million degrees Fahrenheit, and the already cooled gas around 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The team studied the cluster’s core in more detail than ever before with the Medium-Resolution Spectrometer on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). This tool allows researchers to take two-dimenstional spectroscopic data from a region of the sky, during one set of observations.
“Previous studies only measured gas at the extreme cold and hot ends of the temperature distribution throughout the center of the cluster,” added McDonald. “We were limited — it was not possible to detect the ‘warm’ gas that we were looking for. With Webb, we could do this for the first time.”
Image B: Phoenix Cluster (Hubble, Chandra, VLA)
This image of the Phoenix cluster combines data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Very Large Array radio telescope. X-rays from Chandra depict extremely hot gas in purple. Optical light data from Hubble show galaxies in yellow, and filaments of cooler gas where stars are forming in light blue. Outburst generated jets, represented in red, are seen in radio waves by the VLA radio telescope. NASA, CXC, NRAO, ESA, M. McDonald (MIT). A Quirk of Nature
Webb’s capability to detect this specific temperature of cooling gas, around 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is in part due to its instrumental capabilities. However, the researchers are getting a little help from nature, as well.
This oddity involves two very different ionized atoms, neon and oxygen, created in similar environments. At these temperatures, the emission from oxygen is 100 times brighter but is only visible in ultraviolet. Even though the neon is much fainter, it glows in the infrared, which allowed the researchers to take advantage of Webb’s advanced instruments.
“In the mid-infrared wavelengths detected by Webb, the neon VI signature was absolutely booming,” explained Michael Reefe, also of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead author on the paper published in Nature. “Even though this emission is usually more difficult to detect, Webb’s sensitivity in the mid-infrared cuts through all of the noise.”
The team now hopes to employ this technique to study more typical galaxy clusters. While the Phoenix cluster is unique in many ways, this proof of concept is an important step towards learning about how other galaxy clusters form stars.The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
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Media Contacts
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hannah Braun hbraun@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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By NASA
Dr. Stephanie Getty, director of NASA Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division, talks about NASA’s DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission with Dr. Kate Calvin, the agency’s chief scientist.Credits: Courtesy of Stephanie Getty Name: Dr. Stephanie Getty
Title: Director of the Solar System Exploration Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate and Deputy Principal Investigator of the DAVINCI Mission
Formal Job Classification: Planetary scientist
Organization: Solar System Exploration Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate (Code 690)
Dr. Stephanie Getty, director of NASA Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division, poses with a full-scale engineering unit of NASA’s DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) descent sphere.Credits: Courtesy of Stephanie Getty What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
As the Director of the Solar System Exploration Division, I work from a place of management to support our division’s scientists. As the deputy principal investigator of the DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission, I work with the principal investigator to lead the team in implementing this mission to study the atmosphere of Venus.
I love that I get to work from a place of advocacy in support of my truly excellent, talented colleagues. I get to think strategically to make the most of opportunities and do my best to overcome difficulties for the best possible future for our teams. It’s also a fun challenge that no two days are ever the same!
Why did you become a planetary scientist?
In school, I had a lot of interests and space was always one of them. I also loved reading, writing, math, biology, and chemistry. Being a planetary scientist touches on all of these.
My dad inspired me become a scientist because he loved his telescope and photography including of celestial bodies. We watched Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” often.
I grew up in southeastern Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. I have a B.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the University of Florida.
How did you come to Goddard?
“My goal is to provide a supportive environment for our incredibly talented science community in the Division to thrive, to push discovery forward and improve the understanding of our solar system,” said Dr. Stephanie Getty, director of NASA Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division. “It’s a priority to encourage effective and open communication.”Credits: Courtesy of Stephanie Getty I had a post-doctoral fellowship in the physics department at the University of Maryland, and a local connection and a suggestion from my advisor led me to Goddard in 2004.
What is most important to you as director of the Solar System Exploration Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate?
My goal is to provide a supportive environment for our incredibly talented science community in the Division to thrive, to push discovery forward and improve the understanding of our solar system. It’s a priority to encourage effective and open communication. I really try to value the whole person, recognizing that each of us is three-dimensional, with full personal lives. The people create the culture that allows our scientists to thrive and explore.
What are your goals as deputy principal investigator of the DAVINCI mission?
DAVINCI’s goal is to fill long-standing gaps about Venus, including whether it looked more like Earth in the past. Our energetic team brings together science, engineering, technology, project management, and business acumen to build a multi-element spacecraft that will explore Venus above the clouds, and during an hour-long descent through the atmosphere into the searingly hot and high pressure deep layers of the atmosphere near the surface. We hope to launch in June 2029.
What is your proudest accomplishment at Goddard?
I am pleased and proud to be deputy principal investigator on a major mission proposal that now gets to fly. It is an enormous privilege to be entrusted as part of the leadership team to bring the first probe mission back to Venus in over four decades.
What makes Goddard’s culture effective?
Goddard’s culture is at its best when we collectively appreciate how each member of the organization works towards solving our problems. The scientists appreciate the hard, detailed work that the engineers do to make designs. The engineers and project managers are energized by the fundamental science questions that underlie everything we do. And we have brilliant support staff that keeps our team organized and focused.
“Curiosity is a defining characteristic of a good scientist, never losing a sense of wonder,” says Dr. Stephanie Getty, director of NASA Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division. “When I can, I try to make time to pause to reflect on how beautiful and special our own planet is.”Credits: Courtesy of Stephanie Getty What goes through your mind when you think about which fundamental science question to address and how?
A lot of the research I have done, including my mission work, has been inspired by the question of how life originates, how life originated on Earth, and whether there are or have been other environments in the solar system that could have ever supported life. These questions are profound to any human being. My job allows me to work with incredibly talented teams to make scientific progress on these questions.
It is really humbling.
Who inspired you?
My 10th grade English teacher encouraged us to connect with the natural world and to write down our experiences. Exploring the manifestations of nature connects with the way I approach my small piece of exploring the solar system. I really love the writing parts of my job, crafting the narrative around the science we do and why it is important.
As a mentor, what is the most important lesson you give?
A successful career should reflect both your passion and natural abilities. Know yourself. What feels rewarding to you is important. Learn how to be honest with yourself and let yourself be driven by curiosity.
Our modern lives can be very noisy at work and at home. It can be hard to filter through what is and is not important. Leaving space to connect with the things that satisfy your curiosity can be one way to make the most of the interconnectivity and complexity of life.
Curiosity not only connects us to the natural world, but also to each other. Curiosity is a defining characteristic of a good scientist, never losing a sense of wonder.
I’m looking out my window as we talk. When I can, I try to make time to pause to reflect on how beautiful and special our own planet is.
What are your hobbies?
I love hiking with my kids. Walking through the woods puts me in the moment and clears my mind better than anything else. It gives my brain a chance to relax. Nature gives perspective, it reminds me that I am part of something bigger. Walking in the woods gives me a chance to pause, for example, to notice an interesting rock formation, or watch a spider spinning an impressive web, or spot a frog trying to camouflage itself in a pond, and doing this with my children is my favorite pastime.
Where is your favorite place in the world?
Any campsite at dusk with a fire going and eating s’mores with my family.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Feb 10, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
“People are excited and happy about working at Goddard,” said optics engineer Margaret Dominguez. “Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too.”Credits: Courtesy of Margaret Dominguez Name: Margaret Dominguez
Formal Job Classification: Optical engineer
Organization: Code 551, Optics Branch, Instrument Systems and Technology Division, Engineering Directorate
What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?
I build space telescopes. I am currently working on building one of the components for the Wide Field Instrument for the Roman Space Telescope. The component is called “Grism.” A grism is a combination of a grating and a prism.
What is unique about your childhood?
I went to high school in Tecamachalco in Puebla, Mexico, which is inland and south of Mexico City. My father raised pigs, chickens, rabbits, and cows. I am the oldest of four girls and two still live on the farm.
Why did you become a physicist?
I was always curious and had a lot of questions and thought that physics helped me answer some of these questions. I was good at math and loved it. When I told my dad I wanted to study physics, he said that I would be able to answer any question in the universe. He thought it was very cool.
What is your educational background? How an internship help you come to Goddard?
I went to the Universidad de las Americas Puebla college in Puebla and got an undergraduate degree in physics. I was very active in extracurricular activities and helped organize a physics conference. We invited Dr. Johnathan Gardner, a Goddard astronomer, who came to speak at the conference. Afterwards I spoke with him and he asked me if I was interested in doing an internship at NASA. I said I had not considered it and would be interested in applying. I applied that same spring of 2008 and got a summer internship in the Optics Branch, where I am still working today.
My branch head at Goddard was a University of Arizona alumnus. He suggested that I apply to the University of Arizona for their excellent optics program. I did, and the university gave me a full fellowship for a master’s and a Ph.D. in optical sciences.
In 2014, I began working full time at Goddard while completing my Ph.D. I graduated in May 2019.
What makes Goddard special?
Goddard has a university campus feel. It’s a place where you can work and also just hang out and socialize. Goddard has many clubs, a gym, cafeterias, and a health clinic.
People are really nice here. They are often excited and happy about working at Goddard. Most people are willing to put in the extra effort if needed. It makes work stimulating and exciting. Management really cares and the employees feel that too.
What are some of the major projects you have worked on?
Early on, I did a little bit of work on Hubble and later on, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Since 2014, I have exclusively been working on Roman. We are building the grism, a slitless spectrograph, which will measure galaxy redshifts to study dark energy.
Presently we are building different grism prototypes. We work with outside vendors to build these prototypes. When we make a prototype, we test it for months. After, we use the results to build an improved prototype. We just finished making the third prototype. We are going to build a flight instrument of which the grism is a component.
What is it like to work in the clean room?
It’s exciting – it likely means I am working on flight hardware. However, because clean rooms must be kept at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit, it can feel chilly in there!
Who are your mentors? What are the most important lessons they have taught you?
Ray Ohl, the head of the Optics Branch, is a mentor to me. He is always encouraging me to get outside my comfort zone. He presents other opportunities to me so that I can grow and listens to my feedback.
Cathy Marx, one of the Roman optical leads, is also a mentor to me. She created a support network for me and is a sounding board for troubleshooting any kind of work-related issues.
What is your role a member of the Hispanic Advisory Committee (HACE)?
I joined HACE in 2010 while I was an intern. It’s a great opportunity to network with other Hispanics and gives us a platform to celebrate specific events like Hispanic Heritage Month. I really enjoy participating in HACE’s events.
What outreach do you do? Why is doing outreach so important to you?
I do educational outreach to teach people about optics. I mainly collaborate with elementary and middle schools.
I think we need more future engineers and scientists. I want to help recruit them. I specifically focus on recruiting minorities and Hispanics. I can make a special connection with women and Hispanics.
Who is your science hero?
It would probably be Marie Curie. She’s the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes and she had to overcome a lot of challenges to achieve that.
What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.
Disciplined. Organized. Diligent. Passionate. Curious. Family-oriented.
Is there something surprising about your hobbies outside of work that people do not generally know?
I am a certified Jazzercise instructor – I normally teach two to three times a week. I can even teach virtually if need be. It is an hour-long exercise class combining strength training and cardio through choreographed dancing. We also use weights and mats.
I also enjoy going for walks with my husband, James Corsetti, who is also an engineer in the Optics Branch.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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