AMES RESEARCH CENTER

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Dr. Wessen is currently the director of the New Opportunities Center (NOC). In this role he leads the NOC Team to help scientists identify new and compelling mission concepts. The NOC is also responsible for helping scientists write engaging mission proposals for NASA. He also is working to help develop the SpinSat Technology Demonstration mission, which will provide variable gravity levels and radiation environments for biological and physical science payloads. The success of this demonstration mission will hopefully lead to a SpinSat Program for routinely launching future SpinSat missions. He is also developing a proposal writing course for Ames scientists to improve the quality of their proposals for NASA. Prior to this, Dr. Wessen held numerous positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.