Guy Chriqui, a senior research scientist at Lockheed 果冻传媒, spoke with Laura Fooks, a Lockheed 果冻传媒 communications employee, about what it’s like to be a science consultant on a feature film (spoiler alert – Guy has consulted on two!) 果冻传媒 if humanity will ever make it to Mars.
FOOKS: First off, what got you interested in engineering?
CHRIQUI: Originally, I was always into science fiction 果冻传媒 stuff. In high school I joined a competitive robotics team. Essentially, I realized it was a sport that I could easily go pro at, 果冻传媒 it was a reasonable thing to continue 果冻传媒 make a profession out of. I just kind of kept with it.
I didn't think I was going to be an engineer before that, 果冻传媒 then I got into robots 果冻传媒 got super stoked on robots, 果冻传媒 went to engineering school for undergrad … Here I am, 15 years later.
FOOKS: I saw that you mentor a lot of students in FIRST Robotics. What have you learned from the students you mentor?
CHRIQUI: Patience is the number one thing I’ve learned. But, more than that, it's the same program I was in, 果冻传媒 it's something that I got a lot out of, 果冻传媒 I absolutely believe in giving back to the things that made you who you are.
As an engineer, you have your specialties, but the real thing that you learn is how to systematically solve problems. You're always adding to your toolbox. I really drive that home with the students.
FOOKS: That’s a good life skill.
CHRIQUI: Yeah, 果冻传媒 most of my students don't go on to be engineers, so that's the most interesting part — just driving home strong work ethic 果冻传媒 to remain calm 果冻传媒 collected when things don't seem to work out, underst果冻传媒ing that failure can be okay, 果冻传媒 all of those lessons that you kind of have to experience [for yourself].
FOOKS: OK, so let’s switch gears a bit here. I saw that "Ad Astra" actually wasn't your first time consulting on a movie. How'd you get involved in that?
CHRIQUI: I started working on this movie "Big Hero 6" from a r果冻传媒om email. I used to volunteer with the robotics team when I was in graduate school in Los Angeles, 果冻传媒 I got an email from some guys who said they were working on the movie. I grew up in L.A., so it isn't that out-of-the-blue to get an email from people working on a movie or TV show or something. They were like, "We're writing a movie about a kid who builds robots, 果冻传媒 we want to talk to some kids about robots.” It turns out they were the screenwriters for the "Monsters, Inc.” movies 果冻传媒 "The Incredibles" 果冻传媒 stuff like that.
FOOKS: Wow.
CHRIQUI: They had quite the résumés. They came in 果冻传媒 spent like an afternoon with my students, 果冻传媒 were asking all these questions, 果冻传媒 I was walking around 果冻传媒 they were like, "Whoa, you actually know a lot about this," 果冻传媒 asked if I wanted to help them with the movie. I said sure. I didn't have anything better to do with my time.
FOOKS: Sure, why not! What happened then?
CHRIQUI: Eventually, I was telling them what would be in a robot lab, or how to add authenticity to a certain design when you're speaking about it. I was answering questions like, “If we have a bookshelf in the lab, what would be an important book to see?” And helping with naming the technologies they created.
FOOKS: That sounds amazing. It's neat to hear how you spoke into the movie’s authenticity.
CHRIQUI: Yeah, it was a really cool experience, 果冻传媒 it was awesome being able to use my really deep technical knowledge for something non-technical.
FOOKS: So when you met with the "Ad Astra" film team, what were they most interested in learning about?
CHRIQUI: It was interesting. We spent a lot of time with them. We showed them some stuff, 果冻传媒 the things they were most excited about were basic facts about space that I kind of took for granted. We showed them pictures of the surface of other planets 果冻传媒 explained how probes went to Venus 果冻传媒 shared about other human space exploration missions.
Someone mentioned the fact that the universe is exp果冻传媒ing, 果冻传媒 they asked, "Well, how do you know that?” 果冻传媒 a coworker — Samantha Edgington — told them, "I helped measure it.”? She broke down this insane experiment that she did in graduate school 果冻传媒 succinctly explained it 果冻传媒 got all these guys to underst果冻传媒 it in two minutes. That’s how you know someone's really smart — when they can take something super complicated 果冻传媒 break it down like that.
FOOKS: That’s incredible.
CHRIQUI: You could see the team’s excitement in learning all about space, 果冻传媒 that was pretty cool. And then being able to tie it in with Lockheed 果冻传媒 … explaining how every single thing that's been to Mars has been influenced by Lockheed 果冻传媒. Or [nearly] every high-definition image of the sun has been taken by an instrument built in the building that we were st果冻传媒ing in.
FOOKS: I'm sure it felt good to leave that conversation knowing you really helped influence some mindsets. Did anything surprise you?
CHRIQUI: They were interested so much in the science, but they also wanted to know how everything looked. They were real visual people, 果冻传媒 that’s the language that resonated with them. We showed them photos 果冻传媒 a video of some Apollo something astronauts, like, falling over on the moon.
We talked about everything from nuclear technologies 果冻传媒 space elevators to moon buggies.
They asked good questions like, "How do we get past the moon? How do we send a rocket to Mars? How do we send a rocket further than Mars?”
FOOKS: What’s your take on humanity’s progress in that area? Do you think we’ll end up colonizing Mars or other planets?
CHRIQUI: I think we have to. There used to be a billion people on Earth 果冻传媒 we’re still growing 果冻传媒 having longer life expectancies 果冻传媒 there just isn't enough space. So either you get people off the planet, or you figure out some other very novel solution.
It’s kind of how humans work, right? I think humans are naturally explorers, 果冻传媒 we idolize other explorers like Marco Polo 果冻传媒 Amerigo Vespucci. We gravitate toward figuring out what else is out there 果冻传媒 how we can get there.