NASA's Moonlighting Photographer

Moonlighting as a wedding photographer on the weekends led Jeremy Myers into a career of developing imagery systems for NASA, including becoming the lead engineer to help develop a camera that astronauts will use to take photos on the moon.

Myers was working at NASA in machine design, maintainability, and reliability when the Space Shuttle Columbia accident occurred in 2003. NASA began doing imagery analysis to find out what went wrong.

"Me being the way I am, I came in with recommendations when my colleagues were trying to do analysis on the imagery of the accident," said Myers, who had shot weddings for 15 years. "My passion for cameras and my engineering background led me to be reassigned to work imagery full time after that point."

Myers joined NASA after graduating from UT in 2001. He first interacted with a representative from the agency during a job fair at UT.

"They said I could come down and just visit sometime, which I did," Myers said. "I never heard from them again until they just called one day with a job offer. It came out of nowhere."

Myers started in machine design, human factors, and maintainability/reliability. During this time, he developed the maintenance procedures for the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) used on the International Space Station (ISS). He also designed telescope tubes for scientific payloads used for X-ray observations for NASA's Scientific Balloon Program.

"I can't say those areas were my passion. But at NASA, one thing someone told me once was you will find your place where your passions lie," Myers said. "You'll eventually get there because there's so much interesting work in the agency. And that proved to be the case for me."

Passion for Imagery

Once he began working in the imagery field, Myers discovered his true calling. He helped develop the Enhanced Launch Vehicle Imaging System (ELVIS) which was mandated by Congress to be placed on the Space Shuttle after the Columbia accident. Since that time, he has developed camera systems for various launch vehicles. As the lead engineer and project manager for the Flight Imaging Launch Monitoring Real-time System (FILMRS) team, Myers also developed the imagery system for Artemis 1, which included six externally mounted cameras that were affixed to the Space Launch System core stage to get photos on launch day from the vehicle rather than from cameras on the ground.

"It was a challenge to develop because the environments for these cameras on rockets are so difficult," Myers said. "One of the longtime employees there stated that it was the second worst environment any piece of avionics had been tested to since the Apollo program. It sounds easy at first, but it's kind of like trying to survive a bomb and give a nice picture of it."

Myers is currently the engineering lead for NASA's Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC), which is being developed by NASA's Artemis imagery team with input from international space agencies.

NASA aims to land humans on the moon with the launch of its Artemis III mission. Being able to photograph the lunar landscape will be key for documenting scientific discoveries during future missions to the moon.

HULC is a modern camera with specialized capabilities to manage the extreme lighting conditions and temperatures unique to the moon. According to NASA, the design consists of a modified Nikon Z9 camera and Nikkor lenses, NASA's thermal blanket, which will protect the camera from dust and extreme temperatures, and a custom grip with modified buttons developed by NASA engineers for easier handling by suited crewmembers wearing protective gloves during a moonwalk. It will be the first mirrorless handheld camera used on the moon.

"The lunar camera will be one of many tools the crewmembers will need to use on the moon, so it should be easy to use," Myers said. "The human factor is a big factor for this design, because you want the camera to be intuitive and not taxing on the crew. So even things I worked early in my career has become full circle."

Teaching the Next Generation

Myers and his team have secured four patents and are in the process of submitting three more. He credits the late Frank Speckhart, a professor of mechanical engineering at UT, for helping him learn about the patent process. His entire education at UT was vital for his current profession.

"One reason I chose mechanical engineering is I like to know a little bit about everything," Myers said. "That's one beauty of the imagery world–we get to work with a lot of projects, solve a lot of problems, and interact with a lot of people. It has been fun."

Along with his work at NASA, Myers has been an instructor with the International Space University (ISU) for the last five years. The six-week space studies program has taken Myers to locations such as Brazil and Portugal to help educate the next generation of space professionals and industry leaders.

Myers hopes to return to UT again to share his insight. He encourages students to apply for NASA internship program. He's always happy to provide advice, using his own journey as an example of what is possible.

"Whatever you choose to do in life, make sure you're happy doing it. Because if you're not happy, the rest won't matter," he said. "Secondly, don't let anybody tell you no. My whole career, even at NASA, I've been told no many times. My mentality is, don't be rude, but if you know it's the right thing for yourself and everybody around you will benefit as well, don't give up."

Provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville