A space talk with NASA Solar System Ambassador Bill Hurd

Retired NASA JPL engineer and manager Bill Hurd talks about spacecraft exploration of the outer planets and their moons and recent missions that are investigating moons of Jupiter and Saturn for environments that might be capable of supporting life.

About the speaker
William J. Hurd, Ph.D. retired in 2007 from a 40-year career at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he was an electrical engineer doing research and development, system engineering and technical management on communications between the Earth and spacecraft that explored the planets and outer space. He supported all NASA missions to the planets, specializing in communications systems related to the three 70-meter antennas worldwide which track aircraft in deep space. Hurd did research in deep space communications, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and military systems. When he retired he was a principal system architect in the Interplanetary Network Directorate. He received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for technical and managerial leadership in the receiver-demodulator system that has been used in the Deep Space Network for the last 20 years. Hurd served as Deputy Manager of the Communication Ground Systems section and is the author of 15 journal papers, 25 conference papers and holds six patents. Hurd became a Solar System Ambassador in 2013.