# S2E16 Deep Space Exploration, Earth-Like Planet Discoveries, & The Search for Life | Tracy Drain

- Show: [Being an Engineer](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer)
- Published: 2021-04-02
- Length: 55m
- Episode: 16
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t
- Listen: https://teampipeline.us/deep-space-exploration/

## Summary

Tracy Drain, Lead Flight Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), discusses her 20-year career designing and operating robotic spacecraft, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Kepler, and the upcoming Europa Clipper. She explains how her team uses fault trees and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to identify and mitigate risks in complex systems, such as solar array deployment and power management. Drain details how the Kepler mission revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets by detecting Earth-sized planets in habitable zones through transit photometry, and describes the Europa Clipper’s strategy of flying by Jupiter’s moon to search for signs of life in its subsurface ocean. She also reflects on the importance of systems engineering, career development, and maintaining mental fortitude during high-stakes mission reviews like the Critical Design Review.

## Chapters

- [1:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=106) Introduction: Tracy Drain and NASA JPL
- [3:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=183) Fault Trees and FMEA for Risk Mitigation
- [7:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=449) Kepler Mission and Exoplanet Discovery
- [17:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=1023) The Value of Space Exploration and Terraforming
- [22:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=1344) Verification, Validation, and Europa Clipper
- [36:59](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=2219) Systems Engineering and Career Advice
- [45:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t#t=2756) Mental Fortitude and Critical Design Review

## Topics

- [Mechanical engineering](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/mechanical-engineering)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Founder wellbeing](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/founder-wellbeing)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Sustainability & circular products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sustainability-and-circularity)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- NASA (company)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (company)
- Europa Clipper (product)
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (product)
- Kepler (product)
- Juno (product)
- Voyager (product)
- Star Trek (other)
- Star Wars (other)
- Battlestar Galactica (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode Thirty-Seven: Yang Gao](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2023-02-17-episode-thirty-seven-yang-gao) (Robot Talk)
- [Episode 127: Robots exploring other planets - Frances Zhu](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-10-03-episode-127-robots-exploring-other-planets-frances-zhu) (Robot Talk)
- [Ep. 31 | NASA Astronauts Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins Talk Engineering at 17,000 mph](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-09-24-ep-31-nasa-astronauts-victor-glover-and-michael-hopkins-talk-engineering-at-17-0) (Moore's Lobby)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/being-an-engineer/2021-04-02-s2e16-deep-space-exploration-earth-like-planet-discoveries-the-search-for-life-t. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Being an Engineer.