Online from Jupiter 97

Dave Bates

AACS Uplink/Analysis engineer

My name is Dave Bates and I work on project Galileo at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Galileo is the name of a spacecraft that is going to Jupiter to study it, and I work on a team that flies it out there. We're in charge of pointing its cameras, steering it around, and stuff like that.

I like my job a lot. I get to work with a lot of nice people, and I rarely get bored. I get to use computers all day, and there is always some interesting problem to figure out.

I am 25 years old and I graduated from USC with a bachelor's degree in Aerospace engineering. I liked science and I was good at math when I was in school, so I decided to try engineering in college because I thought they got to use a lot of high-tech stuff. I chose Aerospace engineering because it had the coolest sounding name.

I think the best way to prepare for a job like mine is to do well in school. I think it's best to try to understand what is taught, rather than trying to memorize it for a grade. I'm glad I went to school, and I'm glad I work here at JPL.