Exploring Mars and Jupiter: the Mars Curiosity Rover and Juno Missions

Daniel Krysak is a real Martian, or as close to one as a man can get on Earth. He operates the Mars Curiosity Rover’s “eyes”—several cameras—on Mars every day. This Zoom Webinar provides a fun in-depth look at the various cameras on board both the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover on Mars, and the Juno mission to Jupiter. Shown are images acquired by both spacecraft throughout their missions, the different functions each camera has and how they are all commanded. Additionally, hear what a typical day of commanding for both spacecraft is like and how ground operations on a rover differ from those of an orbiter.

Daniel Krysak grew up in New York State. He graduated from SUNY Potsdam with degrees in both speech communication and archaeology in 2008. He went on to earn a Masters degree in Planetary Volcanology from the University at Buffalo in 2011. Daniel started working at his current company, Malin Space Science Systems, in early 2012 as part of the MSL Curiosity rover operations team. In 2015, he went further into the solar system by working camera operations on the Juno mission to Jupiter. In addition to operations, he has also written database and ground software for both mission’s cameras as well as Mastcam-Z and WATSON cameras on the 2020 Perseverance rover..

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