ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William BlumeWilliam Blume studied at Purdue University (Lafayette, Indiana), receiving a B.S. (1970, with highest distinction) and an M.S. (1971), both degrees in aerospace engineering. After graduation, he served as a U. S. Air Force officer with assignments for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Systems Command. Employed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1977 to 2015, he held assignments in navigation operations, trajectory analysis, advanced studies, proposal development, and mission planning. He served as a technical group supervisor in the mission design, mission architecture, and systems engineering sections. For his work leading mission design development for the Deep Impact and Epoxi comet missions, he was recognized with the naming of Asteroid 18106 Blume. For the SMAP project, he developed the overall mission plan, aspects of the launch and initial acquisition strategy, the launch contingency plan, and the specific order of events for the commissioning phase, which was successfully completed on schedule.
Co-Author of the following article of the DESCANSO Near Earth Design & Performance Summary Series: