Gregory Jarvis - Career

Career

While pursuing his masters degree at Northeastern, Jarvis worked at Raytheon in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he was involved in circuit design on the SAM-D missile. In July 1969, he entered active duty in the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to the Space Division in El Segundo, California. As a Communications Payload Engineer, in the Satellite Communications Program Office, he worked on advanced tactical communications satellites. He was involved in the concept formulation, source selection, and early design phase of the FLTSATCOM communications payload. After being honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1973, with the rank of Captain, he joined the Hughes Aircraft Company's Space and Communications group, where he worked as a Communications Subsystem Engineer on the MARISAT Program.

In 1975, Jarvis became the MARISAT F-3 Spacecraft Test and Integration Manager. In 1976, the MARISAT F-3 was placed in geosynchronous orbit. Jarvis became a member of the Systems Applications Laboratory in 1976, and was involved in the concept definition for advanced UHF and SHF communications for the strategic forces. Joining the Advanced Program Laboratory in 1978, he began working on the concept formulation and subsequent proposal for the SYNCON IV/LEASAT Program. In 1979, Jarvis became the Power/Thermal/Harness Subsystem Engineer on the LEASAT Program. In 1981, he became the Spacecraft Bus System Engineering and in 1982, the Assistant Spacecraft System Engineering Manager. He was the Test and Integration Manager for the F-1, F-2, and F-3 spacecraft and the cradle in 1983, where he worked until the shipment of the F-1 spacecraft and cradle to Cape Kennedy for integration into the Space Shuttle. Both the F-1 and F-2 LEASAT spacecraft successfully achieved their geosynchronous positions. Jarvis was working on advanced satellite designs in the Systems Application Laboratory when he was selected as a payload specialist candidate in July 1984.