Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Announce New Partnership to Pursue Joint Science, Technology and Engineering Goals

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) are announcing a new partnership that will leverage Draper’s expertise in spacecraft systems engineering, research and development with SAO’s deep sophistication in space science mission planning, space instrument execution and analysis. This new partnership will strengthen both organizations as they pursue new joint science and technology space programs.

“As space missions become more complex and costs grow exponentially, the number of mission opportunities is shrinking, making it difficult to sustain the space community’s industrial base,” said John West, a senior manager in human space exploration and operations at Draper. “By focusing on core strengths, we will each build and maintain superior leadership capability in our niche. Then, through strategic teaming with other leading organizations, we bring together the complete and robust set of capabilities to achieve brand new accomplishments and missions. That’s the idea behind the Draper-Smithsonian partnership.”

During the past decade, Draper and SAO have collaborated on a variety of successful space missions. Most recently, the two organizations developed a solar-wind sensing technology for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft—the first mission that will fly into the sun’s upper atmosphere and “touch” the sun. The new partnership will enable strategic sharing of technology and closer collaboration in the definition and execution of new programs.

SAO’s Roger Brissenden, who is the Deputy Director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, added: “This partnership leverages SAO’s and Draper’s complementary skills and capacities, allowing us to pursue increasingly complex and challenging scientific programs. Through these programs, the SAO-Draper partnership will address some of the most exciting and important questions in astrophysics and space science today, and is poised to tackle those that emerge in the future.”

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution. It is joined with the Harvard College Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA is organized into six research divisions, and with a staff of more than 300 research scientists, forms the largest astrophysical institution in the world. CfA scientists study the origin, content, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe over an extensive range of research areas. SAO operates telescopes or facilities in Arizona, Hawaii, and Massachusetts, as well as the space-based missions of Chandra, Hinode-XRT, and IRIS. SAO uses its extensive engineering capabilities, including thermal, mechanical, opto-mechanical, structural, systems, optical systems engineering, and optical systems assembly, integration and testing, to make important contributions to the development and application of instrumentation, technology and science operations for space missions.

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sao

Released July 12, 2017

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; More details in following caption
Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory have collaborated on a variety of successful space missions, most recently a solar-wind sensing technology for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.
Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory have collaborated on a variety of successful space missions, most recently a solar-wind sensing technology for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.
Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory have collaborated on a variety of successful space missions, most recently a solar-wind sensing technology for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft.