Download It might not work. And therefore is not enhancing the technology or

It might not work. And therefore is not enhancing the technology or benefitting anyone.
It is my duty to protect the people and allow the people to benefit from my work. Earth is running out of
resources. Need to find solution. People will benefit from it.
Engineers shall at all times strive to serve the public interest.
Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
III. Will use his knowledge and skill for the advancement of human welfare.
As the population grows, the rate of expenditure of earth’s resources increases. In other words, the
earth’s resources are becoming scarce. As an engineer it is my duty, according to the National Society of
Professional Engineers, to “hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public” [1]. If I choose
not to follow through with an idea I have that may benefit the safety, health, and welfare of the public,
then am I breaking one of the codes of ethics that, as an engineer, I am sworn to abide by at all times.
The most recent idea that I have had is an idea for improving the reaction wheels on telescopes. This
was brought to my attention after NASA declared the early termination of the Kepler mission due to the
failure of a second reaction wheel. Reaction wheels have a history of failing. They are highly exposed to
the elements and suffer damage from external forces. There has been a recent history of reaction
wheels failing including NASA’s TIMED satellite and Dawn mission [2]. Nothing has been done to fix this
problem. That is where I plan to step in and implement Vibration isolation Platforms. After I fair amount
of research I have come across a hitch in my plan. According to the AIAA code of ethics, an aeronautical
engineer must “use his knowledge and skill for the advancement of human welfare” [3]. If my idea does
not work and I fail to improve the reaction wheels, then I have not advanced the human welfare and I
have failed at my duties as an aeronautical engineer. Before I am able to proceed with my idea, an
ethical question must be answered. Should I do this? What happens if I fail?
If I succeed in improving the reaction wheels on telescopes in space than the public will benefit from it
in the future. The Kepler mission was designed to search for exoplanets in the “goldilocks zone”. The
goldilocks zone is where exoplanets are close enough to their star to have liquid water. These planets
could possibly be earth-like in nature and could serve as possible backups when Earth runs out of
resources. The Kepler mission was very successful in that there have been over 100 confirmed
exoplanets found in the short period that the kepler telescope was looking. The Kepler telescope had an
intended primary mission of 3.5 years. After review of the success in finding exoplanets, NASA decided
to extend the mission until 2016. The failure of two of the four reaction wheels aboard kepler forced an
early termination of the mission because the remaining two wheels were unable to focus the optical
device in order to get a clear image of the target area. This mission was an important mission because
scientists must continue to look for options to solve the problem of the scarcity of earth’s resources.
While my attempt at improving reaction wheels on telescopes cannot benefit Kepler, it is possible to
benefit TESS. TESS is part of NASA’s explorer program and is being led by a team from MIT. TESS will be
very similar to Kepler in that it will search for earth-like planets in the habitable zone [4].
Telescopes in space need three functional reaction wheels to operate. Each reaction wheel rotates on a
different axis at thousands of rotations per minute and is used to make minor adjustments in the focus
of the optical device. These reaction wheels suffer damage over time due to a combination of external
forces and vibrations from the telescope itself. While there is nothing that can be done to dampen the
affects from the external forces without restricting the wheels and their ability to rotate the telescope, it
is possible to lessen the vibrations affecting the wheels and the telescopes. Vibration Isolation Platforms
can be used to dampen these vibrations.
Vibration Isolation Platforms are currently used on ground telescopes to stabilize the vibrations from the
wheels and protect the rest of the telescope. There are a variety of designs for these platforms where
the platform is below the part of the telescope where the optical device is located and it absorbs all
vibrations caused by movement “through the combination of a resilient element (metal mesh, an
elastomer, a steel spring, etc.) and a metallic supporting frame” [5]. The possible problem with trying
this platform on a telescope in space is that the gravitational force of the earth is much smaller in space
and the telescope will also be rotating constantly to keep the optical device focused at the right point in
space. The combination of these two facts means that you cannot place the platform underneath the
main component of the telescope because there is no up or down in space. The direction of the
gravitational force of the earth on the telescope is constantly changing so that the platform cannot be
held in place and rely on gravity to absorb the vibrations because elastic energy is different in space.
This means a new design is necessary in order to include a vibration isolation platform on a space
telescope like Kepler or TESS.
A new design for a platform is a challenging task and causes many new possible problems to arise. As an
engineer this worries me and has caused me to consider whether this project is ethical. Through my
studies as an engineer I have learned to use the resources around me to help solve any problems that I
cannot solve by myself. “It is suggested that engineers should ‘question in practice’ as part of their
‘reflection in practice’” [6]. I have spent many hours reflecting on the possible outcomes of my idea, and
the effects it will have on me, the scientific community, and the general population. I personally believe
that this is a good idea that will benefit everyone in the end. I think that with some help from my
colleagues and lots of work we can successfully implement the vibration isolation platforms on
telescopes starting with TESS and that the result will lead to a quicker search and thus a quicker answer
to the question of what happens when earth runs out of resources.
The scientific community has shown great interest in what was considered one of NASA’s most
successful missions, and many were disappointed when the Kepler mission was terminated. NASA
officials have “admitted that they were saddened by the malfunction, which may bring to an end a
planet-hunting mission that, although it already has lived up to its promise and then some, could
potentially have continued for a number of years [7]. Other scientists agree that kepler had gone
beyond the expectations of most scientists with over 3500 planet candidates and 156 confirmed planets.
[8].
It is quite difficult to get a consensus on how the general public feels about an issue like this. A large part
of the world is completely unaware of what goes on in space. They are simply aware of what goes on in
their everyday lives. They only care about something when it directly affects them. That is why I believe
that the general public would support my idea in the end. If we do not fix the reaction wheels and
NASA’s progress is slowed down because they need to continue building new telescopes then the earth
might run low or even run out of certain necessary resources and then everyone’s everyday life.
Another issue that I believe must be considered for it will have an impact on a large number of people is
the effect of building new telescopes and their effect on the economy. One of the main things that the
general public is constantly concerned with money. They want their money and they want everything
else to be cheap. Nobody wants to see money being wasted. If NASA continues to make multiple
telescopes for the same purpose because the first one fails before the objective is completed, then
some people might believe that NASA is wasting money and then the general public might get angry that
money is being wasted instead of being used to benefit them somehow. Telescopes are not cheap to
build. There is a lot of time and effort gone into designing and building a telescope. For example, The
James Webb Space Telescope is expected to cost $8.7 billion dollars with an expected mission length of
8-10 years [9]. If the reaction wheels fail, forcing the JWST to retire early, then NASA is forced to decide
whether to abort the mission and move on, or spend another $ 9 billion dollars designing another
telescope. What happens if the mission is so important that they do not have a choice but to design
another telescope? What happens if the mission is time sensitive?
The failure of the reaction wheels is a serious problem in my mind and needs to be fixed. I still must ask
myself not as a human being who is affected by the results of the failures, not as a scientist fascinated
by the findings, but as an engineer, restricted by the codes of ethics and forced to serve the people.
When faced with a hard challenge, I find it best to sit down and do something familiar and enjoyable. A
personal favorite is to watch the movie Inception. While at first glance it appears to be just another
action movie, as you continue to watch it under close eye you can begin to notice the underlying
themes. Inception is about following your dreams, creating your own life, and doing the impossible. I
was able to connect this back to my problem at hand. I want to do the impossible, I want to change a
piece of equipment on an object that will be sent into deep space where very little is known. I also an
unable to test this equipment effectively because it will face many things out in space and not all of
them can be recreated on earth. There are also a handful of unexpected possibilities that could also
effect this equipment and its ability to succeed. I am tasked with the impossible, much like Mr. Cobb in
Inception. I must, like Mr. Cobb, overcome the obstacle and create my own life and defy the odds. I, as
one character puts it, “mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger” [10].
As I continue to debate the ethical decision I must make, I force myself to continue to think about the
reason these telescopes are being sent into space in the first place. The missions that NASA and other
space programs work on around the world are designed to learn more about the universe to improve
the life on Earth. Scientists are not just exploring the Universe to learn new things; much like historians
do not just study history to learn new things, they study the past to learn for the future. Scientists study
the universe to learn about how the earth was created and what other creations lie outside Earth’s
atmosphere in order to grasp a better understanding of how things work so we can use it to our
advantage of improving life on Earth. The Kepler mission in particular was a very important mission that
must be continued by TESS and possibly more telescopes because the search for earth-like planets is
becoming more of a pressing issue. It takes several years to design and build a telescope, and the more
time NASA spends building new telescopes because of reaction wheel failures, the less time they have
searching for habitable planets. The earth has a limited amount of resources. As the resources become
scarce, the problem becomes bigger. The earth is set on a course to surpass its carrying capacity. A
solution must be found before it is too late, and that solution will be found in the stars by a telescope
like Kepler. It is up to engineers to improve this technology so that NASA may continue to search for a
solution before Earth’s resources are exhausted and the entire population is affected.
As I approach my final decision on the matter I must ask the opinions of my colleagues and those
directly involved in the process with me for “engineers are not a singularity inside engineering; they
exist and operate as a part of a complex network of mutual relationships between many other people,
organizations and groups” [11]. I am not the only one who will be affected by this. There is a
complicated web of people who must also be willing to work with me on this project and they
themselves have their own code of ethics to abide by. As an engineer I cannot be thinking solely about
myself, but also about those around me who will be effected both in the short and long run by my
decision to either, follow through with my idea and attempt to implement vibration isolation platforms
on telescopes in space, or to make the tough decision and let my idea go. In the end, a decision must be
made, but not before a long thought out process where every aspect is taken into careful consideration,
because once you do something like this, you can’t go back.
5. http://www.pier-tech.com/vibration_isolation_telescope_mount.htm
6 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11948-009-9188-4/fulltext.html
8. kepler.nasa.gov
11 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11948-011-9293-z