This month, we’re pleased to highlight father-and-son Founding Circle members James and Justin Jameson.

James & Justin Jameson’s Bio:

 

James is Chairman and/or major shareholder of companies in aerospace, agriculture, publishing, book distribution and real estate. These companies include Glenair, Inc., LIDCO, Inc., the Luxembourg Cambridge Holding Group, Rancho Los Lagos, and Speak Mandarin Co., Ltd.

His son Justin serves in Business Development at Northrop Grumman Corporation. Previously he served as an Industrial Engineer and Project Manager for Northrop Grumman. They joined the Sentinel Mission’s Founding Circle in October 2014.

We caught up with Justin and James a few weeks ago to find out more about them.

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The Interview:

 

You are our first father-son donors, so we thought it would be interesting for our friends to hear what inspired you to support the Sentinel Mission. First of all, we’d like to know how you learned about the Sentinel Mission?

 James:  I was at a lecture with a distinguished audience given by Ed Lu in Northern California with my son, Justin, and the message seemed compelling.

Justin: We followed up with some of our own research to get our own understanding of the Sentinel Mission and its goals. Through this, we came to clearly understand the realistic impact that the Sentinel Mission can have on the world.

What inspired you to become Founding Circle members?

 James:  Justin and I are both engaged directly in aspects of space technology.  He is engaged through Northrop Grumman, and I am engaged through the partial ownership of a company that supplies electrical interconnect systems to both launch and engine prime contractors. Hence, we both had an interest in space.  As I look at some of the best ways to serve the interests of humanity, becoming a member of the Sentinel Mission Founding Circle seemed self-evident.

Justin: Additionally, we realized that such a global mission will have a hard time being funded through the current political systems and required private intervention in order to ensure that the Sentinel Mission is a success and that all of humanity can reap the benefits of this success.

What aspect of the Sentinel Mission do you find the most exciting? Feel free to elaborate on more than one.

James:  The mission of the Sentinel Mission captures almost everyone’s imagination. The Chelyabinsk meteor explosion in 2013 (partially captured on film) moved the threat from science fiction and/or the history books to present day reality.  To be a part of a non-governmental team working on the real threat of large scale asteroid impacts through mapping and deflection is not only worthy, but very exciting.

Justin: In addition to that, what I find to be an exciting part of the Sentinel Mission is the fact that a small team of smart and driven individuals can create something so important and valuable to the whole world. It’s an example that should be taken up for many issues that the world will face in the future.

How would you describe the importance of the Sentinel Space Telescope to your friends and colleagues?

James:  Most people do not focus on the threat. Like climate change, it takes decades to change a thought process or a culture.  Slowly, however, people will start to understand this threat, as facts, probabilities and real examples of impacts are put on the table.  People also prioritize the many threats to their existence. As I address the issue with friends, skeptics start to become believers. The next step is to have them prioritize this particular threat.  Again, it will take time.

Justin: There is a lot of coverage of the latest conquests in space – Curiosity Rover on Mars, and especially the Rosetta and Philae craft that actually landed on a comet. The Sentinel Mission is similar to these in that it is also trying to discover more about the universe that we live in, but with a mission to ensure that we continue to live in this universe as long as we can.

Photo courtesy of John and Justin Jameson.