Tag: First Mode
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First Mode chief scientist Elizabeth Frank spans the spectrum from Earth’s depths to deep space
First Mode’s chief scientist, Elizabeth Frank, holds her favorite type of meteorite, a pallasite. (First Mode Photo) Lots of tech startups have a chief executive officer and a chief technology officer, and some have a chief operating officer and a chief financial officer as well. But how many have a chief scientist? First Mode, for one. The…
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Going, going … goniometer! First Mode delivers measuring gizmo for Mars mission
First Mode President Chris Voorhees and engineers Brian Geddes and Sophia Kim check out the newly completed goniometer before shipping it to Western Washington University. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) The 3-foot-wide contraption that was built in First Mode’s Seattle workshop looks like something from a science-fiction movie, complete with spinning cogwheels and a flashing…
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How the pandemic is changing the protocol for NASA’s Mars landing — and how to watch it happen
First Mode senior systems engineer Mallory Lefland is part of the team that will be monitoring the entry, descent and landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. (NASA Photo / Bobak Ferdowsi) Veteran spacecraft engineer Chris Voorhees has witnessed six Mars landings in the course of his career, and…
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First Mode wins $1.8M contract to build hardware for Psyche mission to asteroid
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Psyche spacecraft at the asteroid Psyche. The Deep Space Optical Communication demonstrator is pointing out from the bottom panel of the spacecraft in this configuration. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU Illustration) Seattle-based First Mode has been awarded a $1.8 million subcontract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to build flight hardware…
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NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover mission serves as ultimate test for working from home (planet)
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Perseverance rover using the PIXL X-ray instrument to analyze rock on Mars. (NASA / JPL Illustration) The launch of NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover marks the start of a seven-month-long journey involving tens of millions of miles of travel — but it also marks the end of an eight-year-long journey involving…
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First Mode joins Arizona State’s team to flesh out a plan for a marathon moon rover
This artist’s conception provides a rough idea of what the Intrepid moon rover would look like. (ASU / First Mode Graphic) Seattle-based First Mode is working with Arizona State University and other partners to draw up a concept for a rover that could travel more than 1,100 miles across the moon’s surface over a four-year…
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First Mode and Western Washington Univ. win NASA’s nod to make Mars geology tool
A goniometer is a tool that either measures an angle or helps position an object at a very precise angle for measurement. (First Mode Illustration / Peter Illsley) Seattle’s First Mode team and Western Washington University say they’ve won a NASA contract to advance the technology for sizing up rocks on Mars. The project, funded under…
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First Mode celebrates first steps in space exploration – and looks ahead to the moon
First Mode’s president and chief engineer, Chris Voorhees, shows off the employee-owned company’s digs near Seattle’s Pike Place Market. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) One year after engineers from the Planetary Resources asteroid mining company peeled off to form their own employee-owned startup, known as First Mode, they can point to the profitable work they’ve…
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Planetary Resources’ veteran engineers launch First Mode to target wider frontiers
A wide-angle view provides an unusual perspective of First Mode’s new lab space on Western Avenue in Seattle. Click on the image for a 360-degree view. (First Mode Photo) Planetary Resources was assimilated into the ConsenSys blockchain venture months ago, but a troop of engineers who used to work for the asteroid mining company is…