Episode Details

Joe Cassady is Executive Director of Space Programs in the Washington DC Operations for Aerojet Rocketdyne. Joe and the AR team help to plan human missions to the Moon and Mars, helping to develop the strategy and architectures for future space and launch systems.

Joe and Beth met at the NASA Stennis Space Center and the NASA Michoud Assembly Center in New Orleans for the NASA Artemis Day celebration. Together, Beth and Joe geek out about rocket engines and what it takes to get us to the Moon and Mars and beyond. They discuss the different types of rockets, types of propulsion systems, how building rocket engines is a kind of architecture, and working to shorten the transit time of getting to the places we want to go in space. Learn what the GREEN RUN test is coming up, and why it's another HUGE milestone in our journey toward our return to the moon. What surprises people most when it comes to rocket engines? Find out all this and more on this episode with Joe!

Beth's favorite quote from Joe on the podcast: "Literally, tens of thousands of people and hundreds of companies are involved- many are small companies that are our suppliers…they're the real lifeblood of things like this and they are very proud of it. Being able to go out, and go across the country and say to people, 'The road to Mars and the road back to the Moon starts here, in your town. You're part of this'. It's really exciting.

More great stuff from Joe:

"We're able to use what we learned on the Space Shuttle Program- some of the very engines themselves on a fleet of orbiters that flew three of the RS-25s that gave us an inventory of engines! Rather than keeping them on the orbiters that went to museums, they removed the flight engines and we'll be using them for the first few Artemis missions! We went back an equipped them with a new brain, and electronic controller…it's really neat to see them be available to the nation to get us on this path in an accelerated way.

"I'm looking forward to the day we put those boots back on the Moon, and I'm really really looking forward to seeing the first steps taken on the surface of Mars."

About Joe Cassady is Aerojet Rocketdyne's Executive Director for Space in the company's Washington Operations. He is responsible for strategy and capture activities related to many of the company's NASA programs, including: the Space Launch System (SLS);the propulsion system for the Orion deep space capsule; Commercial Crew propulsion and power systems; advanced electric propulsion; International Space System (ISS) power system, as well as AFRL and DARPA programs. He also is involved with research activities for next-generation space technology, including additive manufacturing, advanced materials, non-toxic propellants, modular propulsion for small satellites, and nuclear propulsion and power technology efforts.

Joseph Cassady joined Aerojet in 1985 and was appointed to his present position in June 2013. Previously, he served in various Engineering and Business Development positions related to advanced propulsion for missiles and spacecraft. He began his career at the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory at Edwards AFB, where he performed research into the acceleration mechanisms of Magneto Plasma Dynamic (MPD) thrusters as part of an AFOSR graduate program. After graduation, Joseph Cassady continued his research at the AFRPL, where he helped to create the in-house Electric Propulsion Laboratory (EPL). He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Purdue University. He is the recipient of several technical awards from Aerojet Rocketdyne and outside organizations. Joseph Cassady has authored or co-authored more than 50 papers dealing with mission design, space architectures, a