Sanj Sivapiragasam
Title: Principal Systems Engineer
Education: Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
How did you get into space?
In July 1979, 10 years after humans first set foot on the moon, NASA’s Skylab space station reentered the earth’s atmosphere. There was enough uncertainty about where it would reenter that there was a small chance it could crash near the island of Sri Lanka, where I lived at the time. I remember standing outside staring at the sky in the direction from where it was supposed to come, around the time when they said it would reenter. Alas, it didn’t fall near Sri Lanka and I didn’t actually see anything except on TV later on. However, after that experience, the whole idea of sending something into space fascinated me and I’ve been hooked on space since then.
Favorite planet?
Does it really rain diamonds within the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune?! Hmmm… ?
Actually, my real answer is the earth, of course; the earth rise image taken from the moon is one of my all-time favorite photos. It puts things in perspective. We really need to take care of our mother earth!
Hobbies outside of work?
I like to go to various outdoorsy places with my wife Nina and our two dogs Gabby and Louis. I also enjoy playing tennis and learning about anything and everything (that’s why I ask a lot of questions!). I used to also play volleyball and cricket, but gave those up after the three sports cumulatively took a toll on my shoulder, resulting in my needing surgery.
Bio
As a fresh out, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to work at a very small space company called Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), where I was ‘baptized by fire’ and got hands-on experience in designing, building, launching and operating various space systems, rocket planes and boosters. I gradually moved into systems engineering because I enjoyed bringing things together, to make them work, focusing on the outcomes. I am grateful for this fortuitous career path because it has given me the experience to be able to go deep into specific design disciplines, but also the perspective to understand the bigger picture, even at the strategic vision level.
I later moved into the role I am in now; working for government organizations, acquiring and deploying space and ground systems of various kinds and designing future space architectures. In this capacity, I’ve had the privilege of working on various innovative programs that include DARPA’s Orbital Express program, the first ever on orbit demonstration of various aspects of autonomous proximity operations, rendezvous and capture and satellite servicing. I have since worked at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in various space program offices, in the systems engineering directorate and in the Survivability Assurance Office, which is where I am now.
