Engineer for Robotics

A humble, life-long “klutz” eventually managed multiple successful NASA missions to planets using robotic explorers his team designed. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Peter Theisinger (PT) was born in Fresno, California. His father was an electrical engineer who worked in the aerospace industry. His mother was a teacher.

CHILDHOOD

Growing up in California, PT assembled model airplanes, tinkered with electronic hobby kits and operated a ham radio set. But when it came to building anything bigger than a bread box, even as an adult, he recalled, “I was never mechanical, never tried to fix my car. I’m a klutz.”

EDUCATION

PT earned a Bachelor’s degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology. As he recalled, “In those days, if you were at the top end of your high school class, you tended to see math and physics and chemistry as exciting topics.”

INTERNSHIP

While in college, PT spent a summer working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where it is managed for NASA (National Aeronautical and Space Agency) by Caltech. He was ‘hooked” by the interplay of engineering, science and creativity. That sense of wonder never waned.

FIRST ADULT JOB MAY BE A FOREVER CAREER

Following college graduation, PT jumped at a job offer from the lab where he had worked as an intern. Starting as an entry-level aerospace engineer, PT went on to serve as Manager of the spacecraft system engineering section and Director for engineering and science. 

Editor’s note – While the NASA engineers and scientists were focused on their different tasks, all were dedicated to the nation’s interest in exploring space for a combination of important reasons including understanding the interrelationship of all the planets, their history and how any discoveries could impact ongoing and future life on Earth. An additional reason was in the background but not unimportant: being the first to successfully deal with outer space issues should mean that earth-bound evil-doers would not be able to control that vast area for nefarious purposes. 

Belying PT’s modesty about his ‘klutz’ level mechanical skills, he oversaw projects for NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab that landed three jalopy-like robotic contraptions weighing a combined 2,700 pounds, on the surface of Mars (and later on other planets), hundreds of millions of miles from Earth.

The rovers, as they were called, searched successfully in freezing deserts and mineral deposits for geological clues to whether the planet’s environment had supported water in ancient times and was therefore potentially conducive to life. They uncovered evidence of ancient hot springs that could have provided ideal habitats for microbial life billions of years ago. 

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVES MAY DIFFER

“Scientists and engineers come at this sort of thing somewhat differently,” said a planetary scientist. “The scientists, if they think about it purely from the standpoint of the science, are interested in learning what happened on Mars. Scientists are seekers of truth. Engineers, on the other hand, have to make it work. They’ve got to actually build something that will do a specific job and not fail.”

“Intuitively and instinctively, PT realized that our mission was engineering in the cause of science.” 

CHALLENGE – PRIOR MISSION FAILURES

Work on the Mars Exploration Rover program followed two embarrassing, failed attempts by other engineering / science teams to explore the planet – glitches blamed on a “faster, better, cheaper” mantra at NASA that was stretched too far. 

A mix-up between metric and imperial units caused the first exploration attempt to be ripped apart in the atmosphere. A little more than two months later, the second attempted landing device vanished as it was landing. An investigation found that its engines had probably shut off too early, causing it to plummet to its destruction. 

As the project manager responsible for developing the robotic rover program, PT supervised a team of engineers and scientists who completed in 27 months a project that could easily have taken nearly five years. 

When ready, the twin rovers – one named Spirit and the other, Opportunity – were ready to descend to Mars’s forbidding terrain. Spirit’s destination was a crater that scientists believed may once have contained water. Opportunity was headed for a plain on the other side of the planet that satellite studies suggested might contain gray hematite, a mineral often associated with the presence of water. 

Spirit nearly crash-landed, just days after engineers back on Earth discovered a potentially fatal flaw in the electronic timing mechanisms that would inflate airbags and fire rockets to cushion the landing. Hours before touchdown, PT’s team suggested switching the system on about 40 minutes earlier than planned, which had been designed to conserve its limited fuel supply. That was risky to attempt – millions of miles away – with so little time but the engineers argued it was essential to avoid what might otherwise be certain mission doom. 

PT told them that he would back them up if they were unanimous. They were, and the plan worked. He later summed up the lab’s ethos (spirit of a culture or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations) in his book, Going to Mars: “You will be forgiven for being unlucky but you will not be forgiven for being stupid.”

The rover missions were scheduled to last only 90 days but due to their ability to continue functioning effectively, those missions were extended for several more years. 

The success of PT and his team restored luster to NASA’s planetary exploration program. 

ONE SUCCESSFUL MISSION MAY LEAD TO ANOTHER AND ANOTHER

PT’s combined vision of engineering and science went well beyond Mars – quite literally. He also worked on the Mariner mission to Venus, the Mariner orbiter mission to Mars and the Voyager mission to the solar system’s outer planets plus the Galileo mission to Jupiter. 

EARLY CAREER EXCITEMENT MAY BE A LASTING REWARD

When U.S. astronauts unveiled the first full-color mosaic picture of one of Jupiter’s moons at a news conference, PT recalled “the entire audience just gasped – a very audible gasp. And I said to myself at the time, I know why I do this. The psychic return is phenomenally high, and we are addicted to it.”

CAREER SATISFACTION

PT was hailed by a colleague as “a titan of the Mars program.” 

Pt and a colleague, Richard Cook, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were included in Time Magazine’s 2013 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world for their work on one of the space missions. PT also received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. 

Nice accomplishments for a life-long klutz!

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This career story was based on an obituary written by Sam Roberts, published by The New York Times on August 4, 2024 plus internet research.