Linda Dawson’s alumni profile was republished in the MIT Technology Review on August 24, 2021 after originally being featured in the Slice of MIT Alumni Magazine to honor the 50th anniversary of her MIT graduation in 1971.
MIT Technology Review: “Rocket Woman”: from space shuttle engineer to space historian
Linda was recently featured in Slice of MIT, an MIT Alumni Association website. Linda graduated from MIT in 1971, and this year marks the Class of ’71 50th anniversary!
Former Space Shuttle Engineer Explores the Politics of Space
Linda (Getch) Dawson ’71 grew up during the height of the space race between the United States and the USSR. She recalls driving with her family from Massachusetts to a New Hampshire observatory to hear the beeping of the Soviet satellite Sputnik as it passed overhead. “It’s funny how your path takes different turns, but I always came back to that first love: aerospace,” she says. Dawson’s path took her from MIT to NASA, then into a second career as a teacher and a writer, earning her the nickname “Rocket Woman” from colleagues and journalists along the way.
Jun 4, 2021 | Catherine Caruso SM ’16 | Slice of MIT
Also posted on Twitter:
Linda is writing a chapter for an upcoming book edited by Asst. Prof. Svitlana Matviyenko of Simon Fraser University School of Communication. Summary: Cyberwar Topologies: In Struggle for a Post-American Internet. Publication expected by the end of 2021.
Cyber related attacks are considered by some to be the biggest threats to space systems. Due to interdependence between civilian and military systems, a cyber-attack on a satellite could adversely affect the integrity of military operations. Cyber assaults are difficult to trace and become a perfect means to create large scale disruptions and possible damage to space systems. If an enemy manages to gain control of the command and control of a satellite, it could possibly “shut down all communications and permanently damage the satellite by expending its propellant supply or damaging its electronics and sensors”. A greater number of space systems are using “more advanced on-board processing, all digital components, software-defined radios, packet-based protocols, and cloud-enabled high-performance computing, the attack surface for cyber-attacks is likely to increase”.3 The most common counter-space cyber threats are unauthorized accesses, spoofing, software threats, data corruption/modification, ground system loss, interception of data and interruptions to precision timing.4
This chapter will present possible cyberwar cases using demonstrated technology along with the devastating impacts that could provide incentives to a war in space.
3. A. Gini, “Cyber Crime from Cyber Space to Outer Space”, Space Safety Magazine, 14 February2014, http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/aerospace-engineering/cyber-security/cyber-crime-cyber-space-outer-space/.
4. Khan, Ahyousha. Cyber ASAT-Capabilities and South Asia. 01 Aug 2020. https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2020/08/01/cyber-asat-capabilities-and-south-asia/
Linda was featured in a UW Tacoma news story as part of publicizing her Yuri’s Night talk at the Musuem of Flight. Excerpt: Read more “UWT feature story: The next chapter”
The first review of Linda’s book, The Politics and Perils of Space Exploration, is now online at the National Space Society.
Her book is simultaneously historical and current, technological and political, domestic and international.
—Loretta Hall
Linda Dawson was among a panel of three experts interviewed by KUOW Weekday host Steve Scher on July 8, 2011. Read more “KUOW interview: The Last Shuttle Launch”