Seeing Stars

STUDENT LIFE When Jason Achilles Mezilis saw the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover land safely, he admits, with a laugh, that he SEEING STARS JASON ACHILLES MEZILIS FINDS SECOND CAREER IN SPACE CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI • COLLEGE TIMES professional musician. It’s something I’ve just wanted to do.” Mezilis has been a professional musician since high school. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he toured as a solo instrumentalist under the name Jason Achilles, accompanied by “cried like a little bitch.” drummer Forrest Mitchell. He had reason to, He also runs his Downtown LA though. boutique analog recording studio,

The Studio City, California, Organic Audio Recorders, and is musician worked with NASA’s Jet working with Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Roses) on his forthcoming solo album. to perfect Mars 2020 Perseverance “People had a hard time remembering Rover’s microphone used to record my last name,” says Mezilis, who loves sounds inside the 28-mile-wide (45 The Rogue Bar in Phoenix. “I would just kilometers) Jezero Crater. get blank stares.

“Music was always a dream,” Mezilis “But music and science are my says. “It was an attainable dream. everything. For me, it’s personally Space is rad, but I didn’t think it would been wonderful. One of the cool ever be a real thing. The last number things about working with NASA is of years, though, I thought, ‘Maybe it Perseverance had to land that day. can be a thing.’” This was beyond the programs of the

Encouraged by ASU professor Jim world. NASA pulled this off and made Bell, Mezilis made both of his dreams it work just incredibly.” come true. Mezilis is set to release a new EP

“Jim Bell was one of my main guys later this spring, which was launched who said, ‘Don’t worry. You can do with the release of the single “RTL this,’” Mezilis says. “Weirdly enough, (Ready To Launch)” in December. The he was right.” second single, “Eurotrash,” debuted

Mezilis connected with NASA February 26 across all streaming by banging on doors and rattling platforms. cages, he says with a laugh. He broke He rolls his two loves into talks through after pitching David Gruel with students in grades kindergarten (assembly, test and launch operations through sixth grade students. manager for Mars Perseverance at “I’ve been a big nerd about space JPL) his concepts for informing a since I was a kid,” he says. “I like going working audio selection, largely based and talking to kids about this stuff. on his work as an audio engineer for I’ve been doing Zoom classes with the past decade. third graders ever since this thing

“When I was hired as a consultant landed. I’ve had a lot of requests to for JPL in 2017, I had to incorporate talk to kids about this stuff. I try to tie because they couldn’t hire me as an in the music aspect of things. Rocket individual,” Mezilis says. “I had to start science is an unreachable goal to kids. a company, Zandef Deksit Inc. Since Music is already something that’s then, we’ve been developing an idea already part of their lives. That might for this selfi e cam for rocket landings. seem crazy, but this is something It’s this Lunar ExoCam.” you’re doing already.”

Mezilis landed a $650,000 grant The whole experience has been a from NASA’s Flight Opportunities thrill for Mezilis. But there is a “but.” program to develop that. The grant His name is nowhere on the NASA calls for him to work with an website. educational institution, so he chose “If you go on the NASA website, my ASU. Once Lunar ExoCam hits the name’s not associated with anything surface, it can visualize a landing anywhere. I have no idea if history as if the viewer was standing there recognized the involvement or not. watching it. It’s pretty (expletive) cool to me. I

Besides ASU, the Lunar ExoCam would love to be attached to this,” he project also includes contributions says. “We did play a relevant role in it. from Honeybee Robotics, Ecliptic I don’t think it’s undeserved.” CT Enterprises Corp. and Masten Space Systems. Jason Achilles Mezilis

“I didn’t go to school for this type of jasonachilles.comwork or study it,” Mezilis says. “I’m a