Brian Cooper, the Mars rover controller

             In the film “The Martian,” Matt Damon stars as a biologist who is left on Mars by his crewmembers.  Although this seems like science fiction, Brian Cooper, robotic engineer for Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says this is closer to reality than many would believe.

            As part of the team that helped build the software, which makes it possible to control the Mars Exploration Rover, Cooper is much closer to visiting Mars than most other people on planet Earth.

            Cooper first fell in love with sci-fi as a child when he watched the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”  His love for sci-fi was cemented when at the age of eight he watched the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

            “I was inspired by the landing,” said Cooper. “I was into thinking about the future as a child and the landing was about the future.”

            Cooper’s father was stationed in Turkey at the time Cooper was born, but the family moved to California while he was still young. Right out of high school Cooper joined the Air Force for four years. He was stationed in El Segundo, California and this is how he found JPL.

            “The military paid for my education, but I was not thrilled to be there for 20 years,” Cooper said.

            Cooper attended U.C. Irvine for his Bachelor of Arts degree, and then completed his master’s degree in computer engineering at University of Southern California.

            JPL is a NASA center but it is unique because the government does not run it. Cooper is not a government employee, but rather an employee of California Institute of Technology.

            “I am actually on faculty,” Cooper said.

            Cooper has worked for JPL for over 30 years and has driven the rovers on Mars over the last 18 years. He started with Sojourner, which made him the first person to drive a rover on another planet. Sojourner was the first successful landing of a Mars rover in 1997.

            Cooper controls the day-to-day operation of the current rover Curiosity. He schedules the route which the rover will take each day.

            Cooper wrote the software to control it and according to him, it looks like a computer game graphic. It helps to see what a pretend rover would do before building the commands for the real one.

            “It is my biggest life accomplishment,” Cooper said.

            Cooper’s wife, Lynne Cooper, works with him at JPL. According to Lynne Cooper they are a multi-nerd family. It was a surrealistic time for her being “Mrs. Rover Driver” in those days of Sojourner.

            “I remember watching the news where we were talking on our phones while a camera crew was broadcasting and he was in the background waving and signaling to me at home,” Lynne Cooper said. “I am extremely proud of Brian’s accomplishments.”

            Cooper believes one day they will have a manned space station on Mars. NASA has had a plan for it in the last 20 years.

            “It is a huge endeavor and needs national support and funding,” said Cooper. “These things change every four years or so depending on the government at the time.”

            Elon Musk, the CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation and architect of Tesla Motors, has the goal of getting people on Mars according to Cooper. SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, according to their website.

            “The government could take another 20 years, but with people like Musk it could be sooner,” Cooper said.

            Another project in the works for Cooper is a rover for planned to explore Europa. It is believed that there is a liquid substance, which could be an ocean.

            “We are currently looking at Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons,” said Cooper “There is a layer of ice, which could possibly have life form.”

            His colleagues, especially Jeng Yen, a Mars rover driver, admire Cooper. According to Yen, Cooper is a good leader.

            "Brian has shielded us over the years from the negative politics found at work so we could focus on just writing great software, said Yen. “And he has a great sense of humor.”

            Cooper said that when people find out he drives the rover on Mars, they often ask him if Mars is really red.

            “We get a lot of pictures in black and white, but hopefully that will change with the next rover,” Cooper said.

            The pictures JPL receive are sometimes false color because they filter red, green and blue, but it sometimes skips a color.

            “It is pretty normal looking, except it has a tinge of orange and reddish dust everywhere,” Cooper said.

            According to Cooper, the dust is from the iron in the soil, which has rusted out. They have drilled a lot on Mars and the pattern is always grey in its unrested state. It’s the lack of oxygen that causes the red color.

            Cooper loves watching Sci-fi films in his free time. Although Sci-fi is enjoying a high at the moment with films like “The Martian” and “Star Wars” about to hit the cinema, Cooper still loves the classic film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

            “2001 is dated now, my daughter thought it was too slow and it is a bit outdated. I like modern films Interstellar,” Cooper said.

            Cooper loves the physics concepts of travelling faster than the speed of light, which is the theme in Interstellar. He also loves novels based on dystopian futures. His favorite novel is Ender’s Game, also sci-fi. As for “The Martian,” he loves it, but it is too close to what he does at work, so it is “a bit mundane.”

            Cooper enjoys other activities outside of sci-fi. He loves building things with his hands, going on hikes with his wife and daughter and going on driving trips. According to Lynne Cooper, he never gets lost because she is his navigator at work and on the road.

            “He’s an original who has done an amazing job and has a real talent for sharing the awesomeness of his role with others,” Lynne Cooper said. “Being married to Brian has been one great adventure.”

            At this time we do not have a manned station on Mars, but one day, not far, far away in another galaxy it might be possible. Cooper is hoping to make it a reality for future generations.