Andrew Alan Rader is a Canadian author and aerospace engineer. Rader was the Season 2 winner of the

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

series, ''

Canada's Greatest Know-It-All Canada's Greatest Know-It-All is a reality series that debuted January 30, 2012, on Discovery Channel (Canada). In the series, ten competitors claim to be "know-it-alls" and compete in a series of challenges. The challengers depend upon practical ...

''. Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Rader now works for SpaceX as a Mission Manager in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Education

Rader attended

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

from 1999 until 2005, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in aerospace engineering there. He spent the following four years studying aeronautics and astronautics engineering at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, specializing in long-duration spaceflight, and receiving his Ph.D. in 2009.

Career

Rader worked as a research engineer at Canada's

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

from 2003 to 2005. After moving to the US, he worked as a research engineer at

from 2005 to 2010. After graduating from MIT, Rader worked as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer at COM DEV from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, Rader moved to Los Angeles to take a job at SpaceX where he now holds the position of Mission Manager. Rader was a candidate for the

Canadian Astronaut Corps The Canadian Astronaut Corps is a unit of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has four active members, able to serve on the International Spac ...

in 2009 and 2017. He wrote about the experience in an article for '' Motherboard'' called "What It's Like to Be in the Running to Be an Astronaut." He was also in consideration for a one-way mission to Mars as part of the

Mars One Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...

project in 2014.

Natalie Angier Natalie Angier /ænˈdʒɪər/ (born February 16, 1958 in the The Bronx, Bronx, New York City) is an American nonfiction writer and a science journalist for ''The New York Times''. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting in 1991 ...

interviewed him about the process for a ''New York Times'' story entitled ''A One-Way Trip to Mars? Many Would Sign Up''.
A One-Way Trip to Mars? Many Would Sign Up
'

Books

Rader self-published his first five books via successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter. His first book to be released by a major publisher is the non-fiction chronicle of human exploration, ''Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take us to the Stars'', released by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

on November 12, 2019. His non-fiction books for adults include: * 2019 - ''Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take us to the Stars'' * 2014 - '' Leaving Earth: Why One-way to Mars Makes Sense'' He is also the author of a series of science books for children: * 2015 - ''Epic Space Adventure'', successfully funded via Kickstarter on November 30, 2015 * 2016 - ''Mars Rover Rescue'', successfully funded via Kickstarter on November 30, 2016 * 2017 - ''Rocket Science'', successfully funded via Kickstarter on December 5, 2017 * 2018 - ''Europa Excursion'', successfully funded via Kickstarter on December 8, 2018

Selected research publications

*Rader, A., Newland, F., and Ross, A. (2011)
''An Iterative Subsystem-Generated Approach to Populating a Satellite Constellation Tradespace.''

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of t ...

Space 2011, Long Beach, CA, September 2011. * Rader, A., Oman, C., and Merfeld, D. (2011).
Perceived tilt and translation perception during variable-radius swing motion with congruent or conflicting visual and vestibular cues.
' ''

Experimental Brain Research ''Experimental Brain Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in neuroscience. The journal was established in 1966 and is published by Springer Science+Business Media. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the jo ...

''. Vol. 210: 173-184.
Expanded PhD Thesis Version
*Rader, A., Ross, A., and Rhodes, D. (2010)
''A Methodological Comparison of Monte Carlo Methods and Epoch-Era Analysis for System Assessment in Uncertain Environments''.
4th Annual

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

Systems Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2010. * Rader, A., Oman, C., and Merfeld, D. (2009).
Motion Perception During Variable-Radius Swing Motion in Darkness.
'

Journal of Neurophysiology The ''Journal of Neurophysiology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1938. It is published by the American Physiological Society with Jan "Nino" Ramirez as its editor-in-chief. Ramirez is the Director for the Center fo ...

Vol. 102. No. 4., 2232-2244 *Cummings, M.L., Tsonis, C., and Rader, A. (2008).
The Impact of Multi-layered Data-blocks on Controller Performance.
' Air Traffic Control Quarterly (ATCA). Vol. 16, No. 2. *Rader, A., Newman, D., and Carr, C. (2007).
Loping: A strategy for reduced gravity human locomotion?
' Proceedings from the 37th

International Conference on Environmental Systems The International Conference on Environmental Systems, or ICES (known prior to 1990 as the Intersociety Conference on Environmental Systems), is an annual technical conference focusing on human spaceflight technology and space human factors. Sess ...

(ICES) *Rader, A., Afagh, F., Yousefi-Koma, A. and Zimcik, D. G. (2007).
Optimization of Piezoelectric Actuator Configuration on a Flexible Fin for Vibration Control using Genetic Algorithms.
' Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures. Vol. 18: 1015 - 1033.
Expanded Masters Thesis Version
*Rader, A., Yousefi-Koma, A., Afagh, F., and Zimcik, D. (2005).
Optimization of selective piezoelectric actuator configuration on a flexible fin using a genetic algorithm.
' Proceedings from the 12th Annual

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials. *Rader, A., Afagh, F., Yousefi-Koma, A., and Zimcik, D. (2004). ''Optimization of piezoelectric actuator configuration using a genetic algorithm for three-dimensional surface fitting of the frequency response function.'' Proceedings from the 15th Annual ICAST Conference on Adaptive Structure and Technologies. *Rader, A., Clements, G., and Langlois, R. (2002). ''Dynamics of a Quarter-Car Suspension.'' Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Laboratory Manual.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rader, Amdrew Living people Writers from Los Angeles Writers from Ottawa MIT School of Engineering alumni SpaceX people Canadian children's writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Carleton University alumni Aerospace engineers Canadian game designers Year of birth missing (living people)