Bianca Rhym

Meet Bianca M. Rhym from NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Currently serving as the Research & Technology, Studies & Strategic Investments Manager for Gateway Deep Space Logistics (DSL), Bianca and the DSL team are orchestrating a symphony of innovation to propel humanity towards the lunar vicinity and into deep space. The Gateway will be an outpost orbiting the Moon that provides vital support for human explorers of the lunar vicinity, as well as a staging point for deep space exploration. It is a critical component of NASA's Artemis campaign, a NASA-led collaborative effort with commercial and international partners, to return humanity to the lunar surface and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.

Prior to her current cosmic quest, Bianca relished her role as a Utilization Engineer and Electrical Power Systems (EPS) Subject Matter Expert for DSL. In that capacity, she used her expertise to explore opportunities to utilize space assets and systems to support cargo and science experiment payloads as they transit to and from space, while in orbit, and upon return to Earth. During that timeframe, she was also moonlighting with work for the Human Landing System program, contributing to the development of integration, testing, and verification frameworks essential for the Artemis campaign’s human lunar return to the surface of the Moon.

Additionally, Bianca contributes her expertise to support KSC's stakeholder representation in NASA’s Moon to Mars architecture concept development and reviews. The Moon to Mars architecture represents the hardware and operations needed for human missions to the Moon and Mars, and how they function together as a system of systems. In this process, big picture strategic objectives are decomposed into implementable pieces of the larger architecture puzzle.

With a background in Electrical Engineering, ground processing, testing, and verification for hardware, cargo, and external science payloads, Bianca has provided critical support for the International Space Station (ISS) as an ISS payload testing EPS lead, ensuring success, functionality, and reliability. Furthermore, Bianca has played a role in Commercial Resupply Service launch and recovery operations to and from the ISS, ensuring the smooth processing and handover, transport to the launch pad, and spacecraft integration of ISS-bound cargo and science payloads.

Bianca's contributions to KSC span the spaceport, ground systems, operations, research, technology, development, and strategic projects and initiatives … out into the galaxy! With her curiosity, passion for exploration, and drive to push the boundaries of human endeavor, from Earth / Moon / Mars supply chain logistics and helping to manifest a deep space exploration business case for terrestrial industry; efforts to return humans to the lunar surface, Moon exploration, and Mars-forward endeavors; Bianca is a key player in enabling humanity to boldly go where no man has gone before – and having the time of her life while doing it!