From his first years, Adeena cute (BS ’97, physical; BS ’97, astronomy) has always seen space in its future. It started with “Star Wars”.
“I have memories to watch the first Star Wars film with R2-D2 and C-3PO when I was about six years old and I really connected with the robots, wanting to know how we make a reality,” she recalls. “For a while, I thought I was going to grow up and have my own business that would make humanoid robots, but the twist was that we were going to live and work on the moon. I could even imagine my corner office and the view of the moon by the window.
For Mignogna, this limitless imagination and its childhood fascination for space and science launched two successful and very different careers, one in aerospace as a mission architect at Northrop Grumman, in the development of software and systems for satellites, and the other as an editor of science fiction, stories of robots, ornids and ends of gallery in its many popular books. For Mignogna, the science of space and science fiction proved to be a perfect combination.
“I think that as a bit like a circular thing – the fiction of science nourishes our imagination, which may inspire us to do things in science. And science nourishes science fiction, ”said Mignogna. “Working in the space industry is something that I have always wanted to do, and I always wanted to write too, so I’m glad I really do it.”
Science attracted
The daughter of an engineer, Mignogna has always been attracted to science and technology.
“I am my father’s daughter,” she said. “My father brought computers to home and I learned to program in Basic, so it was always obvious that I was always going to do something stimulating.”
Inspired by the real missions of the NASA space shuttle and the Magellan deep space and popular spatial dramas like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, Mignogna’s interest in aerospace has turned into a complete career plan. While she was preparing to start the University of the University of Maryland in the early 90s, she began to go to two majors.
“At the beginning, I thought I may specialize in astronomy because I liked the exploration of space and space,” recalls Mignogna. “But my physics teacher in high school had graduation in physics, and he had done a lot of different things. He had worked at Grumman at the time of Apollo, he had done astronomy work, and so I said to myself: “Okay, if I specialize in physics, I could do space stuff, I could do everything.” So in the end, I specialized in both. »»
Surprisingly – at least for her – in UMD, Mignogna discovered that she loved physics.
“What do I like in physics?” It is very fundamental in the way everything works, “she explained. “I used to tease my friends at the university who specialized in other sciences than in the end, they all studied other branches of physics – as mathematics are just the tool we use to describe physics and chemistry is a ramification of atomic physics and thermodynamics. And even if I laughed, I probably think that there is real, and that may be why I love physics so much. “”
Practical with satellites
During her second year, Mignogna acquired her first practical experience with aerospace technology.
“I ended up finding a job in the Space physics groupAnd they built an instrumentation for satellites, “said Mignogna. “I learned about this at the right time when they were looking for students for a new mission, and I worked on this mission of the first day until we put the instrument back to the Goddard Space Flight Center (from NASA), which was very cool.”
Working in this very practical laboratory by assembling and sometimes going up the scientific instruments that would end up flying in space, Mignogna realized that it was on the right track.
“I touched the space flight equipment. I touched things that went in space, ”she recalls. “It was really exciting.”
For Mignogna, work side by side with UMD space scientists and obtain practical training in skills such as the editorial staff of CAD gave her the tools she needed to get her first job at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Mignogna finally landed at the Orbital Sciences Corporation, which later became part of Northrop Grumman. During the next 16 years – winning her computer master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology along the way – she has expanded her expertise in spacecraft and her systems and has become a leader in the Satellite Engineering Program in Northrop.
“On the software side, I worked on our control and control software. We have a software suite that controls satellites, and what I liked is that it gave me an exhibition and an overview of so many different types of satellites, “said Mignogna. “With systems engineering, I am able to go through what we call the full life cycle of the mission. When NASA says: “Hey, we need a satellite that will do X, Y, Z”, as a systems engineer, we are those who decompose this, and I am in a way the person from end to end in this process. The group to which I am closely associated today is responsible for Cygnus, which is one of the replenishment capsules at the international space station. »»
From science to science fiction
Over the years, when Mignogna’s career has reached new heights, she also worked as a science fiction editor, a creative effort that started when she was in high school.
“My father was a fan of Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, so I knew they were engineers and scientists who also wrote science fiction, and that was something I always wanted to do,” said Mignogna. “At the beginning, I did not think I could write novels, I thought I could only do news. But around 2009, I understood that I could, and I have been doing it since. »»
With titles like “Crazy Foolish Robots” and “Robots, Robots Everywhere”, the Mignogna robot Galaxy series combines science fiction with humor, philosophy and, of course, robots. His latest book “Lunar Logic” takes place on the moon, in 100 years.
“There are humanoid robots, built and made on the moon, and they live on the moon. And they know nothing about humans or why they are there, ”said Mignogna. “And then small things happen and they start to wonder what’s going on and why they are there and finally they understand everything.”
In the science fiction worlds of Mignogna, the only limit is her own imagination, which makes her so pleasant as a writer.
“In my science fiction work, it is in my own way or the highway,” she said. “I can write what I want, and I can do it as I want, and there is a certain satisfaction on this subject.”
For Mignogna, the writing of science fiction also offers the opportunity to advance another mission – to interest more people and enthusiastic about science. In regular appearances during science fiction conferences and other rallies, Mignogna shares his passion for Stem, in the hope of inspiring the next generation of scientists – and everyone.
“All this technology that we have today comes from generations on generations of fundamental sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics,” she explained, “so if we want to do more things, we need people to enter these fields. “”
As a person who has always seen the importance of science in her own life, it is a message that she is committed to sharing.
“You don’t have to understand everything about science, but you can appreciate it,” noted Mignogna. “My hope may be that if I can just connect with a few people indirectly or directly, I can make a difference.”