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Original air date:
11.14.07
Powering a Manned Mission to Mars and Beyond
Like a lot of kids growing up during the dawn of the space age, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz dreamed of humanity exploring and inhabiting space. Unlike most of those kids, however, Chang-Diaz has spent his adult life making those dreams a reality.
Born in 1950 in San Jose, Costa Rica, Chang-Diaz immigrated to the United States in 1968 with a very definitive set of goals. In a 2003 Discover Magazine interview, Chang-Diaz remembers telling his friends and family in Costa Rica that he “was going to go to the United States to become a rocket scientist and an astronaut.”
In his first year in the United States, he learned English and completed his high school education in Hartford, Connecticut. From there Chang-Diaz went on to study mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut. He continued his education at MIT, where he began working on the United States’ controlled fusion program. Chang-Diaz received his Ph.D. in applied plasma physics in 1977. Later that year, Chang-Diaz became a U.S. citizen.
Upon completing his work at MIT, Chang-Diaz accepted a position with the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory where scientists work on solving scientific and technical problems deemed of “national significance” to the United States. While there, he worked on the research and development of plasmas and fusion technology. He also decided to put his hat in the ring for spaceflight and applied to the space shuttle program. In 1980 NASA selected Chang-Diaz as an astronaut candidate. He went on to earn his wings in August of the following year, becoming the first naturalized citizen to earn the job of astronaut.
While at NASA, Chang-Diaz participated in seven missions, which tied the record of most space flights held by Jerry L. Ross. During that period, he also served as a visiting scientist with the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he led the plasma propulsion research which was designed for human missions to Mars.
In 1993, Chang-Diaz accepted the directorship of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, where he continued his development of plasma propulsion systems. He left NASA for the private sector in 2005 to pursue a career as a space entrepreneur.
Chang-Diaz now serves as Chairman and CEO of the Ad Astra Rocket Company, a private firm that specializes in advanced plasma rockets. A recent project is Ad Astra’s Variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rocket (VASIMIR), an electro thermal thruster for space propulsion and a leading candidate to be the next generation in-space engines. While it is not suited to launching payloads from earth due to its low thrust to weight ratio, it does offer significant speed and fuel economy advantages when operating in a vacuum. That is to say, it won’t send rockets into space, but it will be the engine that gets them to Mars once they’ve left the earth’s atmosphere. Chang-Diaz’s motivation comes from his experiences with space flight. As he noted in a Technology Review interview earlier this year, “space is a vast void, and you're really going to have to travel fast if you're going to have any chance of surviving.”
In addition to his duties at Ad Astra, Chang-Diaz serves as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Rice University and the University of Houston, where he is teaching the next generation of rocket scientists to make the dream of human space travel a reality.
23 Posts
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11.23.07 2:12 PM PST
Rebecca
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11.23.07 2:11 PM PST
Rebecca
serously raw
11.25.07 3:06 PM PST
sophia picado
hello my name is sophia i'm from costa rica but now i live in the florida .i am 12 yers old, and when i grow up i wanto be an astronaut,and i will like to have franklin chang's e-mail.please
1.26.08 3:07 PM PST
Marcel Hernandez-Jara
Hello,
My name is Marcel, and I am from Costa Rica, but I am currently living in North Carolina.
I just turned 11 and I would like to become a scientist/astrounaut and make a difference in this world.
I would like to have Franklin Chang's email please, he is a great example for the children in my country.
Thank you.
Marcel H.J
2.4.08 10:28 AM PST
ricardo rush
This was an awesome interview. Can you please tell me how to email or phone Dr Chang-Diaz?
Thank you
3.11.08 12:58 PM PDT
Lilliana
I am from Costa Rica, but I live in N.J.
I want to have Dr. Franklin Chang email.
Thanks
4.12.08 2:41 PM PDT
Susan Adams
I live near Liberia in Costa Rica and would like to visit the facility with a fifth grade science teacher friend from Texas in June.Am very interested in the uses of the plasma fuel as a polution free waist disposal tool. Also would like a copy of his book. Thanks!
11.27.08 10:49 AM PST
Johanan vega
Hola vivo en Costa Rica soy un joven de 25 años, mecanico de presicion tuve un accidente llendo a mi trabajo y quede un poco lesionado pero quiero seguir adelante y se que usted me puede ayudar si algun dia llegas a leer este mensage te pediria por favor mandarme un mensage grasis.
12.20.08 10:57 AM PST
george scaglione
dear dr. chang-diaz,i missed a program on the science channel last night which had to do with you and your ideas for plasma drive - thanks to google however i was able to fill the gap and get the information. very exciting dr and i wish you all the very best! is there a news letter or something i could get on line or subscribe to? any information you could send me would be very very much appreciated! i have also in the past followed the progress of nasas breakthrough propulsion physics pro ject and more recently the commercial firm space x. anything you could tell me would be very much appreciated.thank you sir and very respectfully george
2.11.09 12:40 PM PST
alex gonzalez
i already turn 13 and i am going to be an astronaut like frank chang diaz and i might take place for him so every could remember him
3.13.09 6:35 PM PDT
Edgar Cruz
Franklin Chang se ha convertido en todo un simbolo de lo que se puede lograr con esfuerzo y dedicacion. Pertenezco a toda una generacion que deseabamos superarnos viendo el ejemplo en Franklin. Me encantaría tener su correo y sería un honor para mi conocer algun dia la facilidad en liberia
Gracias
4.9.09 5:40 PM PDT
jocelyn
hola!!!!!! soy tica, pero actualmente vivo en Los Angeles y soy una gran fan the franklin chang, el es un gran ejemplo de como podemos triunfar si queremos!!!!!!
4.15.09 8:48 PM PDT
GINA
HOLA . SOY TICA TAMBIEN Y FRANKLIN CHANG ES NUESTRO MAS GRANDE EJEMPLO. FELICIDADES FRANKLIN TU HAS LLENADO NUESTRA PEQUENA TIERRA COSTA RICA DE GRAN HONRA Y ORGULLO.
5.22.09 1:00 PM PDT
MARIA
HI
7.14.09 8:04 PM PDT
Stephen Forness
Very interesting program. I'm a retired structures engineer. I worked 31 years for McDonnell Douglas/Boeing. I worked with composites and fatige and fracture on almost every military aircraft developed in St. Louis. I was the manufacturing manager on X-37. My hobby is astronomy (Meade LX-90 12"). If you need any help please contact me at the email address. I'm seriously interested in the technology you are developing. Thanks for your inovative work and fine program. We need more people like you to interest young people in science. Sincerely yours.
7.16.09 10:13 AM PDT
jennifer
This was a very interesing story. I look forward to watching this technology evolve!
7.17.09 4:11 AM PDT
Linda
Just saw Nova Science show. Am planning to use Mr. Franklin Chang-Diaz's story to motivate the Burmese unaccompanied minor refugee children that I am working with to help their English.
7.21.09 7:49 PM PDT
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10.10.09 2:27 AM PDT
Pharmk886
Very nice site!
10.13.09 12:58 AM PDT
Nicolas
Maybe VASIMIR can be used to function existing and new power stations?
10.22.09 4:51 PM PDT
Pharmd529
Very nice site!
10.25.09 2:25 PM PDT
Ilianet tapanes
Helo my name is Ilianet Tapanes and want to becaose a astronaut.I would realy like to have franklin chang diaz email please!
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