By Kat Kugler

Engineers Libby Moore, Olivia Riess and Madina Arman all started their Northrop Grumman careers as interns before being hired on full time a few years ago to work on the Aura satellite. For the past 20 years, a team at Northrop Grumman’s Space Park site in Redondo Beach, California, has supported the satellite’s operations and maintenance, enabling its scientific achievements — and now these three engineers are helping write its next chapter.

Along with the Aqua satellite, Aura is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System of satellites that monitors climate systems and their interactions through long-term global observations. The Aura program studies the chemical dynamics of the atmosphere over all geographic areas and seasonal climates, providing data to identify and assess the roots of global change. Northrop Grumman built the Aura satellite, which hosts four scientific instruments providing imagery, analysis and spectrometry of Earth’s atmosphere.

“I love knowing that what I do has a positive impact on the Earth and humanity as a whole,” Libby said.

Decades of Data

Libby, Olivia and Madina appreciate the impact their work on Aura has on the world and are proud their contributions provide crucial data for decision makers. When the world learned of the hole in the Antarctic ozone, international leaders agreed to limit the effects of manmade chemical resources. The data acquired from Aura and other NASA Earth science missions has helped determine that the ozone hole is shrinking.

“Knowledge is power and being able to contribute to that knowledge is really a great experience,” Olivia said.

The three women were only around 5 years old when Aura was launched on July 15, 2004. Now, in their 20s, they’re joining a program that’s been developing their whole lives, where they benefit from decades of knowledge from experienced engineers.

Legacy programs such as Aqua and Aura are good opportunities for senior and junior engineers to collaborate and apply new ways of doing things to longstanding missions.

For example, they all contributed to developing updated methods to determine the loss of critical solar array strings. These methods are key to determining the power of availability of the spacecraft.

“It’s great to start off on Aura and Aqua because these programs have decades of history but we’re coming in with fresh eyes,” Olivia said. “I’m learning, but I’m also contributing and being able to do that at the start of my career is phenomenal.”  

Growing With Aura

Olivia, Libby and Madina said they feel empowered to work on a team that fosters connections and encourages curiosity. 

“When I started, I was worried that I’d be shy or afraid to ask questions, but everyone’s just so willing to help that I felt incredibly comfortable from the start,” Madina said. “That willingness to listen is something that I carry forward with new hires or interns. I tell them it’s OK to ask questions. In fact, it’s encouraged!”

Olivia, who said she was drawn to engineering by the beauty of discovery, noted that women have always made significant contributions to aerospace, and she was excited to join this team at Northrop Grumman, which has a long history of female engineers.

“Working with women at the forefront of their field is a really fun experience,” Olivia said. “And the supportive networks you build are crucial. Surrounding yourself with people who can tell you what’s worked for them means you can try different things and see what works for you.” 

All three said Space Park and the EOS program have been excellent career steppingstones.

“It’s important to remember that you are here for a reason, and you belong here,” Libby said.