White Sands Missile Range Hall of Fame

Moises Pedroza was born in Santa Rita, NM, in 1940.

Moises came to White Sands in 1968 after graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. One of his first assignments was with the Electronic Trajectory Measurement Branch. The branch provided launch support for such high-performance missiles as the SAM-D that eventually became the Patriot.

During the first test flight of SAM-D, a good missile was erroneously terminated. Moises stepped in and was instrumental in developing simulation software for the Electronic Skyscreen System, a system used by the missile flight safety people. The software allowed for the correct placement of the system’s antenna fields so flight safety received accurate data and no more unnecessary destruct actions were taken on expensive programs like Patriot.

Moises’ work on interferometer systems was recognized outside White Sands. In his nomination package Arturo Dominguez said, “Moe was instrumental in research, designing, developing, modernization and operating much of the telemetry equipment” at White Sands and that he was recognized on a “national scale” as the authority.

This skill and dedication greatly benefited White Sands by making sure the range always provided quality data at a reasonable price. When interferometer systems were being retired because of operational costs, Moises engineered a way to cut those costs in half.

In another case, he made numerous design contributions that gave the Transportable Telemetry Acquisition System an automatic track mode. This allowed the system to operate in remote areas.

In addition to Moises’ technical skill, he was known and appreciated for efforts to educate incoming engineers, technicians and operators. He is often described as an “unselfish mentor.”

William Tincup, President of Systems Engineering & Management Company, said Moises “was truly a pioneer in the telemetry field, and led the WSMR range modernization program with innovative and effective telemetry tracking and data reception techniques that will be the “standard” by which all flight test facilities in the U.S. inventory will be measured against.”

Moises died in 2005. His wife Cecilia lives in El Paso.