Biography:

Michael A. Comberiate is currently a Systems Manager for NASA, working at the Goddard Space Flight Center since 1969. As a design engineer with a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Maryland University, 1971, he has designed electronics for numerous satellite projects. Some of the projects he has contributed to have reached the moon and beyond.

Since 1984, he has initiated over 120 Special Projects http://mediastream.ndc.nasa.gov/COOLSPACE/spioffice/albums/spioffice_menu.htmlhttp://coolspace.gsfc.nasa.gov, involving interagency cooperation to produce quick response results, where no means is readily available and resources are limited. On the recommendation of the National Science Foundation, the US Geological Survey named the “Comberiate Glacier” for one of 15 historic milestones, which applied NASA-unique technologies to Antarctica and remote regions.

“NASA Mike” has been recognized internationally as a leader with outstanding, innovative ideas and a clear vision, who can outline doable steps towards accomplishing it, muster the necessary resources, and get the job done in spite of all the obstacles. In the mid-1990s, he was the innovator and expediter of a unique Hi-tech Educational Outreach program called, “Exploring Technology with Satellite Imagery”, which enabled schools across the USA to receive raw, realtime satellite imagery data of the weather directly from the satellites and to post-process it on PCs.  Those satellite weather loops you now see routinely on the nightly news were first done on a PC in this program.  Another of his programs was called, "You Be The Scientist", sponsored by NASA's EOS Aqua Project. In this program students and teachers would meet his NASA teams in the field and participate in their research for a short time. This was one way NASA hoped to inspire the next generation of explorers to get into technical careers, “as only NASA can”. In April, 2003 Mike took 25 professors and college students to the North Pole to collect science data on the thinning Sea Ice.  The project helped calibrate satellite data to better estimate the volume of sea ice below the waterline, so scientists could better monitor the effects of Global Warming.  From 2004 until 2011 he created and ran a novel Robotics and Engineering Boot Camp program at NASA-GSFC. Hundreds of college engineering grads and undergrads developed marketable skills doing real NASA jobs in large multi-discipline teams that emulated the workplace.

Among his other interests Mike has been a house builder and a Master level Martial Artist. He has taught martial arts since 1968 and holds a 5th degree black belt. Fighting in national championships and house building were both responsible for developing in him a strong "can do" spirit. These challenging pursuits teach you that you can recover from mistakes and that you can do more than you might think if you have persistence. He is also quite a traveler, having been around the world dozens of times including to the South Pole seven times and to the North Pole four times. He has lectured on every continent including both Poles.

Mike was born into a continuous line of Catholics dating back at least as far as the first millennium. Never satisfied with minimal explanations for his faith, he questioned everything and eventually found that the Bible had more answers in it than most Christians realize. Applying his engineering and scientific background to understanding this ancient text, he has worked relentlessly with many theologians and technologists since 1988. In that time, they have been able to unravel some long-standing mysteries in a logical way that a rocket scientist could accept. "God must be logical," he says, "and there is one overriding truth, which He sees very clearly. He says, “When I pray, I ask God to share it with me, so I might know Him better. I take God on His word, that I will find Him when I seek Him with all my heart. This relentless search for understanding, if nothing else, has brought me closer to God."  In 2011, he finally put some of his key understandings in a book entitled, “How a Rocket Scientist Can Believe in God”.

Since 1984 people all over the world have sent post cards to “NasaMike 20777 USA”, but now with the terrorist activities we encourage you to just reach him by email. Please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com

Mike picked up this handle, “nasamike”, at the South Pole in December, 1984 and it has stuck ever since. We use it on this website because it is so well known internationally, but we stress that this is a personal website and the US government agency NASA does not endorse nor comment on the material contained in it.

October 26, 2001, Updated October 14, 2011

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