Advancing the man kind

I can't believe it's been more than a week since I last posted. Lots has happened since then. The day after my last post, representatives from the European Space Agency (ESA) came to Dublin to discuss the progress of our project. Our project, you ask? To advance the man kind. Ok, that's a bit far fetched but seriously, this is what our little Irish project will eventually do - advance the man kind. It is hard for most people in the world to see the big picture, whether it be global warming, world politics, global economy or millions of other things that are affected by seemingly unimportant everyday activities such as driving to work, reading the news and buying an iPhone. It is hard for people to see the end effect of anything that happens in their life, including their job. The end effect of my job is advancing the man kind. I am proud of that and although difficult, I use it to motivate myself to do my job well. Let me explain what I mean.

I thought about this and I think anyone doing this kind of work must do it if they want to do their job well. I work for an Irish company that produces flight test equipment. Basically, our electronic hardware gathers sensor data such as temperature, pressure, strain, etc., converts it to digital signals and sends the data to another piece of electronic equipment that either records the data or transmits it to the ground electronic equipment that records the data. Our equipment is usually used on test flights of prototype aircraft and the sensor data helps the manufacturers analyze the design of the aircraft. This analysis helps improve the design so that the aircrafts are safer, more efficient, stronger, etc.

ESA looked at our equipment and thought that it could be used to gather similar kind of sensor data ... on the International Space Station (ISS). So we got a contract to develop a new system to be used in one of the numerous experiment racks on the Space Station that are used for various experiments. Most of the time experiments are projects like our own that have some sort of electronic equipment gathering sensor data. Well, our system would do that FOR the individual experiments therefore allowing organizations creating the experiments to use more of their time developing the actual experiment instead of developing the data gathering system.

So our system will eventually fly on the ISS, specifically the Columbus module, and will be used to gather sensor information from various experiments inside of the Columbus module. How does that help advance the man kind? Well, the experiments that fly on the ISS help scientists, doctors, engineers, etc. solve problems such as developing new materials, finding cures to diseases, understanding the world climate, understanding the universe, and millions of other issues that will eventually help us, humans, become stronger, healthier, smarter, more efficient, more aware of our actions, improve our world, become better people. And that is how my job and our project will help the man kind.

Damn it feels good to be ... an engineer.