  {"id":92730,"date":"2021-05-06T11:28:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T16:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=92730"},"modified":"2021-05-17T10:06:46","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T15:06:46","slug":"alums-childhood-dreams-took-him-all-the-way-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/alums-childhood-dreams-took-him-all-the-way-to-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Alum\u2019s childhood dreams took him all the way to Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Darian Dixon spent his childhood nights staring at the glowing stars and planets adorning the walls and ceiling of his small bedroom. But weighed down by his circumstances on Earth, young Darian wondered if he\u2019d ever get much closer to space than that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a poor Black boy with an uncertain future in a single-parent household, a prime recipe for a \u2018statistic,\u2019\u201d Dixon said. Once, when mother Gloria was between jobs, she called him into her room and sat him down. \u201cShe holds up two pennies and tells me, \u2018Sweetheart, this is all we have now.\u2019 But she also told me this wouldn\u2019t be for long. And come hell or high water, we would find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gloria was right. And today, Dixon\u2019s path has taken him all the way to the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_92732\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92732\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-92732\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/05\/dixon250x300me_and_mother_gloria_year_unknown_edited.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-92732\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A young Darian with his mother, Gloria. (Photo courtesy of Darian Dixon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 2015 51ÁÔÆæ graduate, who will give the commencement address at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s 2021 spring graduation, plays a key role on NASA\u2019s $3 billion Perseverance Rover, which landed on Mars in February. Dixon is Perseverance\u2019s Mastcam-Z data management lead. His duties involve guiding the two Mastcam-Z cameras, which are part of the rover\u2019s array of nearly two dozen cameras. They\u2019re capturing panoramic stills to help scientists learn more about the planet\u2019s atmosphere, landscape and soils. And he teamed with colleagues to quickly ensure Mastcam-Z footage of the inaugural Ingenuity helicopter flight was received back on Earth as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the Perseverance mission isn\u2019t Dixon\u2019s first Martian experience. He&#8217;s also been involved with the previous rover mission, Curiosity. For both missions, Dixon has handled the data storage, coding and programming needed to take thousands of images and transmit them 150 million miles back to Earth. \u201cThere are a lot of ones and zeroes that speak in a language that only the rover understands,\u201d Dixon said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-media-post alignright\" id=\"video_post-92465\"><div class=\"image icon-overlay\"><a class=\"image video-link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DrImceXdNDE?autoplay=1&enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/uwm.edu\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/04\/DARIAN_01_750-300x200.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"Darian Dixon\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/04\/DARIAN_01_750-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/04\/DARIAN_01_750.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><div class=\"icon-large icon-video\"><span class=\"text\">Play Video<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"title\">From Milwaukee to Mars: 51ÁÔÆæ 2021 Commencement Speaker&#8217;s Inspirational Story<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Using their command of coding, Dixon and his team tell the cameras how to point at, focus on and acquire images. Without them, humans would never see what the rovers see, including one of the most famous images taken by Curiosity in late 2019 and known as the \u201cgigapixel.\u201d At 1.8 billion pixels, it\u2019s the highest-resolution picture ever taken on any exoplanetary body. It took four days for the team to write the commands, verify them and instruct the camera to create the image. \u201cIt turned out to be spectacular,\u201d said Dixon, who lives with his wife in southern California. \u201cWe pulled it off without a hitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dixon\u2019s interplanetary journey began in earnest at 51ÁÔÆæ, and his connection to 51ÁÔÆæ started long before began he earned his bachelor\u2019s degree in geosciences there. He grew up near the campus and his mother attended 51ÁÔÆæ. In fact, some of his earliest memories are of being with Gloria in the 51ÁÔÆæ Student Union.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_92734\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92734\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-92734\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/05\/dixon300x200-Mastcam-Z_Flight_Cameras.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-92734\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mastcam-Z cameras Dixon helps guide (Photo courtesy of Malin Space Science Systems)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Along the way, Gloria inspired and encouraged him to dream and believe despite their many challenges. She\u2019s now community giving manager at the Washington state corporate offices of BECU, the country\u2019s largest nonfederal credit union. \u201cWatching her climb to where she is has been an integral part of my journey and my motivation,\u201d Darian Dixon said.<\/p>\n<p>With support from Gloria and his \u201camazing stepfather,\u201d Troy Hubbard, Dixon enrolled at Dominican University in Chicago, then transferred to 51ÁÔÆæ. Although he wanted to find a field that would lead to a space-related career, he initially majored in political science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was terrified of taking classes that I thought would be too difficult or a career path that would be too hard,\u201d Dixon said. But eventually, he found the courage to pursue his first love, as well as support at 51ÁÔÆæ to do just that. \u201cA week after I decided I wanted to go into geology and into the space industry, I was in Professor\u2019s Lindsay McHenry\u2019s office talking to her about my interest in Mars and planetary geology.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_92733\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92733\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-92733\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2021\/05\/dixon250x300uwm_regalia_commencement_recording.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-92733\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Darian Dixon graduated from 51ÁÔÆæ in 2015 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in geosciences. (Photo courtesy of Darian Dixon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He worked alongside faculty members on undergraduate research projects, graduated from 51ÁÔÆæ and later earned a master\u2019s degree in planetary geology at Western Washington University. Next stop: Mars.<\/p>\n<p>Working with the Mars rovers means adjusting his sleeping and waking cycles to Mars time, which is 40 minutes a day longer than Earth time. The effects, he said, are like a permanent case of jet lag, but the rewards are well worth it. When asked about the value of space exploration, he can list all of the products and knowledge the work has produced. But for him, it comes down to the sense of possibility that began when a little boy stared at those sparkling stars on his bedroom walls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re exploring the final frontier. It\u2019s something that fills our hearts with awe and wonder,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can put a price on that. You just get to look up and be happy that you are part of something that is much bigger than humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why he\u2019s passionate about inspiring other students to follow their dreams, too, especially students of color. He encourages them to pursue careers in the STEM-related fields of science, technology, engineering and math. He\u2019s chatted with 51ÁÔÆæ students during Geek Week and will share his story with new 51ÁÔÆæ graduates at the 2021 Spring Commencement.<\/p>\n<p>He knows that they, like him, can start with two cents, reach for the stars and capture a planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a boy, Darian Dixon was fascinated by the stars and planets, but could hardly imagine it as more than a dream. Now, he plays an important role in mankind\u2019s exploration there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":835,"featured_media":92731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[],"section":[125,122],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[167,158],"class_list":["post-92730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","section-alumni","section-campus-community","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-alumni-association","uwmnews-feed-letters-science"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alum\u2019s childhood dreams took him all the way to Mars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a boy, Darian Dixon was fascinated by the stars and planets, but could hardly imagine it as more than a dream. 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