page_title: List of Puerto Rican scientists and inventors
section_title: Aerospace
hierarchical_section_title: List of Puerto Rican scientists and inventors / Aerospace
caption_attribution_description: English: Pedro Rodriguez
context_page_description: Before Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Conquistadors landed on the island of "Borikén", the Tainos who inhabited the island depended on their astronomical observations for the cultivation of their crops.
  In 1581, Juan Ponce de León II, the grandson of the Conquistador Juan Ponce de León, studied an eclipse and its effects on the island and was able to establish the exact geographical coordinates of San Juan with his observations.
  During the 19th century the economies of many countries in the world suffered from the spread of crop failures. Puerto Rico, whose economy depended heavily on its agriculture, felt the effects of some of the crop diseases. Scientists such as Agustín Stahl, Fermín Tangüis and Fernando López Tuero conducted investigations and experiments in the fields of agriculture, botany, ethnology and zoology. The findings of their investigations helped Puerto Rico's agricultural industry.
  With the advances in medical technologies and the coming of the Space Age of the 20th century, Puerto Ricans have expanded their horizons and have made many contributions in various scientific fields, among them the fields of aerospace and medicine.
context_section_description: Roberto Alemán is an electronics engineer and Aero-Space Technologist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. As Environmental Instruments Director he directs everything that is related to the environmental instruments which the United States provides to the European Space Agency in order to operate the MetOp, a European satellite that provides environmental information to both Europe and the United States.
  Adán Rodríguez-Arroyo is an electronics engineer and Aero-Space Technologist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Rodríguez-Arroyo is the Communications System Lead Engineer for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Mission, to be launched in 2008. He was in charge of the design of the communications systems of the "Global Precipitation Measurement" satellite.
  Anthony M. Busquets is an electronics engineer and Aero-Space Technologist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He is involved in the development and application of multifunction control/display switch technology in 1983 and Development and application of a microprocessor-based I/O system for simulator use in 1984. He is the author and or co-author of over 13 conference papers and NASA formal publications in the areas of cockpit controls and displays, use of stereoscopy in flight displays and pictorial flight displays for situation awareness enhancement.
  Juan R. Cruz is an aerospace engineer and Aero Space Technologist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia who helped design and qualification of the supersonic parachute for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project. Cruz is a senior aerospace engineer in the Exploration Systems Engineering Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center. His responsibilities are focused on research and development of entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems for robotic and human exploration missions.  He was a member of the highly successful Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project that placed two rovers on the surface of Mars in 2004. His contributions to the MER project were centered on the design and qualification of the supersonic parachute. Cruz is also a member of the Phoenix (Mars 2007), Mars Science Laboratory (Mars 2009), and Crew Exploration Vehicle EDL teams. He has undertaken research on advanced missions to Mars, including robotic airplanes, as well as having been a technical reviewer for the Genesis, Huygens, and Stardust missions. Prior to his involvement with exploration programs he conducted research on high-altitude unmanned aircraft.
  Orlando Figueroa is a mechanical engineer, Aero-Space Technologist and the former Director of Solar System Exploration Division and Mars Exploration at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Figueroa headed the cryogenic technology section, played a key role on the Cosmic Background Explorer mission, and managed a Space Shuttle Helium on Orbit Mission.  He is the manager for the Small Explorers (SMEX) project, manager for the Explorers Program, and Director of Systems Technology and Advanced Concept Directorate. He is currently the Director, Applied Engineering & Technology at the NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center (as the "Director of Engineering" he manages the full scope of engineering activities at Goddard).
  Olga D. González-Sanabria is a scientist and inventor. She is the highest ranking Hispanic at NASA Glenn Research Center, and a member of the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. As Director of the Engineering and Technical Services, she is responsible for planning and directing a full range of integrated services including engineering, fabrication, testing, facility management and aircraft services for the Glenn Research Center. She played an instrumental role in the development of the "Long Cycle-Life Nickel-Hydrogen Batteries" which helps enable the International Space Station power system. Among the technical reports which she has authored and or co-authored are:
  1. Effect of NASA advanced designs on thermal behavior of Ni-H2 cells (1987)
  2. Component variations and their effects on bipolar nickel-hydrogen cell performance (1987)
  3. NASA Aer
caption: Pedro Rodriguez
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