As my role suggests I am responsible for directing the project to deliver the CAS instrument on the LISA Mission to ESA. Part of my role is to be the lead interface with ESA, acting as Teledyne Space Imaging’s single point of contact that connects, and collaborates, with ESA. This way there's a clear route of communication for everything.
Then, within Teledyne, it’s my responsibility to ensure that we, and our subcontractors, put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together so that we can deliver a final solution to ESA as the Prime Contractor. For Teledyne Space Imaging, this isn't just about supplying the specialist detector; we also need to integrate our solution with all of the other components being supplied for the wider project. This is very much a team effort and hence collaboration and teamwork are a key part of my role, ensuring we are doing the right things at the right time.
Tell us a bit about Project LISA and Teledyne Space Imaging’s involvement?
LISA is an ESA-led mission to establish the first space base observatory that is dedicated to studying gravitational waves or ripples in the fabric of space-time, comprising three satellites in an equilateral triangle with each side 2.5 million kilometers long.
In terms of Teledyne Space Imaging’s part, we are the Prime Contractor for the supply of the Constellation Acquisition System part of the mission payload.
The CAS identifies the presence of the laser beam incoming from a remote spacecraft into its Field of View (FoV) and measures the direction in its reference frame. It also identifies the presence of stars in its field of view and measures direction in its reference frame.
Our role in the mission is to ensure the information captured from these laser beams is controlled and then directed to the on-board computer to provide key information to the spacecraft to manage the parameters of the mission.
The CAS system includes our detectors and control electronics combined with the optical system and algorithms to provide a fully integrated system solution. It’s the next step of development Teledyne Space Imaging has been working on to leverage our capabilities to work on larger aspects of space missions.
What are the timescales for Project LISA and your part in it?
The mission is scheduled to launch in 2035. For us at Teledyne Space Imaging the CAS Project runs from 2024 to 2030. Our contract was formally awarded in November 2024. In 2025 our key deliverable will be a representative Engineering Model that will be used by NASA to integrate their development of the overall system. Then we move onto doing the detailed design and qualification activities through from 2025 to 2028, culminating in shipping the system through 2028 to 2030. My role is to support the combined team to deliver the Project against these timescales.
How many people from Teledyne Space Imaging are going to be working on this project?
We have a team of around 30 people who will be directly working on a significant proportion of this work. However, these activities touch across the Teledyne Space Imaging and wider Teledyne business both here in Chelmsford and across our other support sites in Europe. A key part of this project will also be managing the complex supply chain required to deliver this Project, hence many hundreds of people throughout the business will have some involvement.
What do you enjoy most about your work on Project LISA?
It is a really exciting project and the opportunity to work on this flagship space mission is what drew me to Teledyne Space Imaging. I have always enjoyed running projects from the development stage right through to final delivery. Central to the success is collaborative working. People will deliver this project, and people matter. It’s a great team and I look forward to embracing the challenges and opportunities to come.
From a personal point of view, when I was growing up I watched TV documentaries and programmes about space. Now, I get to actually work on something that's going to be physically in space, looking at black holes and gravitational waves - it almost beggars belief! While I may be in the latter stages of my career, I am still aware of the importance of pushing at the boundaries of what we need to do next. How we can leverage new technology and new ways of working to provide the foundation for those who are coming up behind us.
How do you encourage young people to consider a career in space?
The space industry is just as wide and broad reaching as any other, and I would actively encourage young people to consider the fact that there are plenty of opportunities to succeed and grow at companies like Teledyne – and you don't even have to be a rocket scientist to get started!
