NASA snaps engineering grad up and away

When Ryerson graduate Adrian Tang (’08) began his master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, he thought he might make a better cellphone. Then, the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology he continued to develop as a PhD student at UCLA piqued the interest of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). Why work in the cellphone industry when America’s space agency comes calling?

Now working on radar and spectroscopy, Tang has designed a spectrometer for a JPL project designed to detect signs of life in underground oceans on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. Covered by sheets of ice hundreds of kilometres thick, these subsurface oceans are a challenge for scientists looking for evidence of organic materials. Tang’s technology needs to withstand extreme radiation and temperatures to be useful in space exploration – while also being small, lightweight, highly sensitive and requiring little energy for operation.

Tang recently explained to The Eyeopener (external link)  why he loves the challenge of NASA projects: “You’re the first one to do all of it. There’s no papers or literature to look at because it’s all new. It’s much more exciting than just making another iPhone.”