A San Francisco Native, but Southern California raised, John Cardone has experienced the westernmost land of Promise that so many of us only dream about.   Such a geographic setting is perfect for a man who is passionate about natural beauty, backpacking, and trekking into the wilderness alone to enjoy the quiet that only solitude can provide.  Living now in Grenada, CA (less than 40 miles from the California/Oregon border), he and his wife, Darla, operate Forward Farms breeding and raising registered Dutch Warmblood (KWPN) horses.  They also raise registered, grass fed, Angus heifers.

John has only been raising horses since 2005.  The strong housing market allowed the Cardones to move up to Grenada and begin that venture.  Prior to this, John worked with JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in Pasadena as part of the Electro-Mechanical Engineering Group.   JPL happened to send a recruiter to John’s College, Cal-State Northridge, where he was majoring in Mechanical Engineering.  Having experience as an Associate Engineer while in college was a great bonus.  Samples of work in hand, he met with a recruiter who later hired him to JPL where he would spend 22 years.

John moved into design because he found it to be more exciting than project management.  He enjoys the “hands-on, actually-doing-the-work” feel of being a designer.  Within JPL he was an integral part of three Mars Rover projects.  Space constraints and bulky insulation complicated the design of the electrical components.  The Mars Pathfinder Rover which landed on July 4, 1997 contained John’s first very complex board.  He was convinced that rigid-flex was the best way to handle the difficulties presented by the various constraints.  The result was a 30 Layer Rigid-Flex board with a long flex finger that could travel outside to the various instruments.

Each new Rover has included significant improvements and John has been right there effecting change and development.  The MER (Mars Exploration Rover) was sent to Mars with the understanding that 90 days of operation would be a success.  However, the new designs and improvements made over the initial rover have made it such that the Rover has been working for over 5 years.

John’s work left an impression on his Co-Workers at JPL and he was asked, even after leaving JPL, to be a part of the new Mars Rover project set to launch in 2011.  He is still designing and continues to seek out various contracting opportunities.  Feel free to take a look at JMC Design Services’ website.  Hosted on HotPCB is also current copy of his resume.

If you are interested in being a Featured Designer, be sure to read the Background article and get in touch with Liam.