ARES planetary scientist dons flippers and scuba gear for an underwater adventure
2017-06-15
The Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center regularly deals with rocks—extraterrestrial rocks, specifically. But on June 18, it may have to expand its collection to include rock stars when Trevor Graff, one of ARES’ own and a planetary scientist for Jacobs, splashes down for a 10-day aquatic excursion with the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 22 expedition. This will be the first time that an ARES team member is also an aquanaut.
“As a scuba enthusiast and dive instructor, I was always interested in being involved in NEEMO,” Graff said. “So it was kind of like this perfect marriage between my love of space and everything we do here at JSC, but also my passion of scuba diving.”
NEEMO 22 will focus on both exploration spacewalks and objectives related to the International Space Station (ISS) and deep space missions. As an analog for future planetary science concepts and strategies, marine science also will be performed in collaboration with Florida International University’s Marine Science Department.
Graff will join NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, commander for the undersea mission, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Pedro Duque and research scientist Dom D’Agostino from the University of South Florida and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The four will sojourn below the ocean’s surface near Key Largo, Florida, where they will reside in the Aquarius laboratory—the only underwater sea lab on the globe—for an underwater training stint.
With NEEMO, Graff will be able to blend his love for aquatics and passion for geology.
“I’m not a marine scientist,” Graff said. “I’m a geologist, but missions like this largely allow NASA to better understand how we can conduct science operations on other planetary surfaces. The marine science we conduct during NEEMO acts as a great proxy for evaluating a number of tools, techniques and technologies we envision for planetary surface science. We will go out on EVAs [Extravehicular Activities, or spacewalks] from Aquarius, where we’re measuring and collecting coral samples for authentic marine science that our partners at Florida International University use in their research, and they’re publishing papers on the results.”
NEEMO 22 aquanauts will tackle an array of experiments and human research related to long-duration space travel.
“As NEEMO lead scientist [on-site at Johnson] during previous missions, I mostly focused on the exterior objectives—everything they do out on EVA—but there’s so much that goes on inside that habitat [related to] ISS,” Graff said. “As a crew member this year, it’s been a real learning curve for me to see the other side of it, and see how much the crew has to absorb in a very short period in order to pull off a mission like that.”
When Graff was asked to be part of the NEEMO crew late last year, he dove at the opportunity.
“It’s kind of like the ultimate pinnacle,” Graff said, even though that “pinnacle” will be decidedly the opposite of high. More like low … and submerged. “Just the dive experience itself is amazing, but to then go out and do the science that I’ve been organizing for the past few years … it’s going to be really cool.”
Graff used a hidden talent of his (that won’t be so hidden anymore)—graphic art—to design the NEEMO 22 mission patch.
“I geek out on graphics and history,” Graff said. His patch design was a tribute to the 1960s U.S. Navy aquatic program, SEALAB, which was commanded by Scott Carpenter, one of NASA’s original seven astronauts. In addition to being a space pioneer, Carpenter was also one of the first-ever aquanauts. Now there have been 51 astronaut-aquanauts—those who have both flown in space and lived under the ocean.
For Graff, long before the ocean beckoned, Mars came first.
“I’ve been involved in the Mars robotic missions ever since Spirit and Opportunity landed,” Graff said. “I was at Arizona State at the time and got the chance to be at JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory), operating one of the instruments on the rovers.”
Life interceded, though, as it usually does. Graff deployed with the U.S. Army, of which he’s been a part of for more than 16 years, and never thought he’d work with the rovers again.
“When they landed, [they] were only supposed to last 90 days max,” Graff said.
However, when he returned from deployment, the little rovers were still trucking along on Mars. It was almost destined, then, that Graff continued sending commands to the robotic scouts for the next five years while employed with Arizona State University.
Graff, who has a bachelor’s degree in geology and Earth sciences and a master’s degree in geological sciences with a planetary concentration, first experienced the Johnson lab he still manages today during his junior year as an undergraduate.
“Working at JSC that summer opened my eyes,” Graff said. “In 2007, I had an opportunity here and couldn’t pass it up. I’ve worked my way up from a lab manager and Mars research scientist to the Jacobs chief scientist role that I now have.”
He’s has been front and center during analog missions such as Desert Research and Technology Studies and soon-to-be NEEMO, but also with various robotic missions—currently Curiosity—as it trawls the Red Planet. Be it red dust or water molecules, Graff is immersed in all aspects of the science, which has allowed him to integrate many areas at Johnson to better execute its missions. READy, or Relevant Environments for Analysis and Development, is a partial brainchild of his that has pulled together Johnson’s portfolio of planning, EVA, science and partnerships.
“I’ve been involved in mission simulations, testing and analog stuff for a long time,” Graff said. “And READy is the holistic program to all of this.”
READy couples mission readiness through integration and testing of technologies, systems, operations and science in relevant environments—be they terrestrial, aquatic or simply a laboratory setting. By identifying and developing the best systems, innovations and operational approaches, READy will ultimately lead to mission readiness and success, reduce the risk, increase the scientific return and improve the affordability of NASA programs and missions.
And if Graff didn’t have enough going on, he and the ARES team also will help train the new class of astronaut candidates just announced at Johnson on June 7.
ARES specializes in geological science training for astronauts, using classroom and field instruction to develop their observation, data collection and independent reasoning skills for planetary exploration. These recruits will be using their newfound skills way beyond low-Earth orbit, and Graff will help train them to harvest samples like seasoned field geologists before they undertake otherworldly missions with NASA.
“It’s the history of ARES,” Graff said of his home base. “It’s largely how ARES started—training the Apollo astronauts. When the lunar samples came back, astromaterials curation began, and ARES research grew out of curation. It’s fun to go back into the history.”
Whether learning about history or making history, Graff will be in uncharted waters of his own with NEEMO 22 during the latter part of June. After its conclusion, instead of asking him “What’s next?”—it may just be more fitting to ask him, “What’s left?”
But it’s a good problem to have.
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
“As a scuba enthusiast and dive instructor, I was always interested in being involved in NEEMO,” Graff said. “So it was kind of like this perfect marriage between my love of space and everything we do here at JSC, but also my passion of scuba diving.”
NEEMO 22 will focus on both exploration spacewalks and objectives related to the International Space Station (ISS) and deep space missions. As an analog for future planetary science concepts and strategies, marine science also will be performed in collaboration with Florida International University’s Marine Science Department.
Graff will join NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, commander for the undersea mission, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Pedro Duque and research scientist Dom D’Agostino from the University of South Florida and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The four will sojourn below the ocean’s surface near Key Largo, Florida, where they will reside in the Aquarius laboratory—the only underwater sea lab on the globe—for an underwater training stint.
With NEEMO, Graff will be able to blend his love for aquatics and passion for geology.
“I’m not a marine scientist,” Graff said. “I’m a geologist, but missions like this largely allow NASA to better understand how we can conduct science operations on other planetary surfaces. The marine science we conduct during NEEMO acts as a great proxy for evaluating a number of tools, techniques and technologies we envision for planetary surface science. We will go out on EVAs [Extravehicular Activities, or spacewalks] from Aquarius, where we’re measuring and collecting coral samples for authentic marine science that our partners at Florida International University use in their research, and they’re publishing papers on the results.”
NEEMO 22 aquanauts will tackle an array of experiments and human research related to long-duration space travel.
“As NEEMO lead scientist [on-site at Johnson] during previous missions, I mostly focused on the exterior objectives—everything they do out on EVA—but there’s so much that goes on inside that habitat [related to] ISS,” Graff said. “As a crew member this year, it’s been a real learning curve for me to see the other side of it, and see how much the crew has to absorb in a very short period in order to pull off a mission like that.”
When Graff was asked to be part of the NEEMO crew late last year, he dove at the opportunity.
“It’s kind of like the ultimate pinnacle,” Graff said, even though that “pinnacle” will be decidedly the opposite of high. More like low … and submerged. “Just the dive experience itself is amazing, but to then go out and do the science that I’ve been organizing for the past few years … it’s going to be really cool.”
Graff used a hidden talent of his (that won’t be so hidden anymore)—graphic art—to design the NEEMO 22 mission patch.
“I geek out on graphics and history,” Graff said. His patch design was a tribute to the 1960s U.S. Navy aquatic program, SEALAB, which was commanded by Scott Carpenter, one of NASA’s original seven astronauts. In addition to being a space pioneer, Carpenter was also one of the first-ever aquanauts. Now there have been 51 astronaut-aquanauts—those who have both flown in space and lived under the ocean.
For Graff, long before the ocean beckoned, Mars came first.
“I’ve been involved in the Mars robotic missions ever since Spirit and Opportunity landed,” Graff said. “I was at Arizona State at the time and got the chance to be at JPL (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory), operating one of the instruments on the rovers.”
Life interceded, though, as it usually does. Graff deployed with the U.S. Army, of which he’s been a part of for more than 16 years, and never thought he’d work with the rovers again.
“When they landed, [they] were only supposed to last 90 days max,” Graff said.
However, when he returned from deployment, the little rovers were still trucking along on Mars. It was almost destined, then, that Graff continued sending commands to the robotic scouts for the next five years while employed with Arizona State University.
Graff, who has a bachelor’s degree in geology and Earth sciences and a master’s degree in geological sciences with a planetary concentration, first experienced the Johnson lab he still manages today during his junior year as an undergraduate.
“Working at JSC that summer opened my eyes,” Graff said. “In 2007, I had an opportunity here and couldn’t pass it up. I’ve worked my way up from a lab manager and Mars research scientist to the Jacobs chief scientist role that I now have.”
He’s has been front and center during analog missions such as Desert Research and Technology Studies and soon-to-be NEEMO, but also with various robotic missions—currently Curiosity—as it trawls the Red Planet. Be it red dust or water molecules, Graff is immersed in all aspects of the science, which has allowed him to integrate many areas at Johnson to better execute its missions. READy, or Relevant Environments for Analysis and Development, is a partial brainchild of his that has pulled together Johnson’s portfolio of planning, EVA, science and partnerships.
“I’ve been involved in mission simulations, testing and analog stuff for a long time,” Graff said. “And READy is the holistic program to all of this.”
READy couples mission readiness through integration and testing of technologies, systems, operations and science in relevant environments—be they terrestrial, aquatic or simply a laboratory setting. By identifying and developing the best systems, innovations and operational approaches, READy will ultimately lead to mission readiness and success, reduce the risk, increase the scientific return and improve the affordability of NASA programs and missions.
And if Graff didn’t have enough going on, he and the ARES team also will help train the new class of astronaut candidates just announced at Johnson on June 7.
ARES specializes in geological science training for astronauts, using classroom and field instruction to develop their observation, data collection and independent reasoning skills for planetary exploration. These recruits will be using their newfound skills way beyond low-Earth orbit, and Graff will help train them to harvest samples like seasoned field geologists before they undertake otherworldly missions with NASA.
“It’s the history of ARES,” Graff said of his home base. “It’s largely how ARES started—training the Apollo astronauts. When the lunar samples came back, astromaterials curation began, and ARES research grew out of curation. It’s fun to go back into the history.”
Whether learning about history or making history, Graff will be in uncharted waters of his own with NEEMO 22 during the latter part of June. After its conclusion, instead of asking him “What’s next?”—it may just be more fitting to ask him, “What’s left?”
But it’s a good problem to have.
Catherine Ragin Williams
NASA Johnson Space Center
Trevor Graff, a planetary scientist for Jacobs within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center and NEEMO 22 crew member. Image Credit: NASA
Graff scuba dives while training for NEEMO 22. Image Credit: NASA
Graff participates in a training dive at Aquarius on June 15. Image Credit: NASA
The NEEMO 22 patch, which Graff designed. Image Credit: NASA