Rocket scientist

Last November Dr George Schmidt was made manager of NASA’s Propulsion Research Centre — the kind of job that would turn many engineers green with envy. Based at the Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, Schmidt leads the organisation’s R&D into advanced propulsion technology that will power future missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Following work for companies including Boeing, Schmidt joined NASA in 1989 to work on the development of propulsion systems and hardware. After holding a number of posts, he served as programme executive for Nuclear Power Systems at the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Before being appointed to his current role he led the development of radioisotope-based nuclear power flight systems and advanced power conversion technologies for NASA’s Project Prometheus, developing propulsion systems for exploration throughout the solar system.

If the most recent US budget proposals are agreed, Schmidt may have considerably more money to work with than his predecessors. For 2006 President Bush has requested $16.5bn (around £9bn) for NASA, a 2.4 per cent increase over the previous year. Of this $858m (£457m) has been set aside for robotic missions to Mars and the Moon. However, the challenges facing his department are numerous, and Schmidt knows he must spend his windfall wisely.