The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Caltech researchers, the laboratory is now owned and sponsored by NASA and administered and managed by the California Institute of Technology.
Robert Zubrin is an American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He is also an advocate for U.S. space superiority, writing that "in the 21st century, victory on land, sea or in the air will go to the power that controls space" and that "if we desire peace on Earth, we need to prepare for war in space."
Geoffrey Alan Landis is an American aerospace engineer and author, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics. He holds nine patents, primarily in the field of improvements to solar cells and photovoltaic devices and has given presentations and commentary on the possibilities for interstellar travel and construction of bases on the Moon, Mars, and Venus.
Stephen Kern "Steve" Robinson is an American former NASA astronaut.
Gregory Errol Chamitoff is a Canadian-born American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He has been to space twice, spending 6 months aboard the ISS across Expedition 17 and 18 in 2008, and another 15 days as part of STS-134 in 2011. STS-134 was the last of Space Shuttle Endeavour which delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and completed the US Orbital Segment.
Robert David Braun is an American aerospace engineer and academic. He has served as the dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, the David and Andrew Lewis Professor of Space Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the NASA Chief Technologist. Currently, Dr. Braun is the Space Sector Head at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
Yvonne Madelaine Brill was a Canadian American rocket and jet propulsion engineer. She is responsible for inventing the Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster (EHT/Resistojet), a fuel-efficient rocket thruster that keeps today’s satellites in orbit, and holds a patent for its invention. During her career she was involved in a broad range of national space programs in the United States, including NASA and the International Maritime Satellite Organization.
Aprille Joy Ericsson is an American aerospace engineer currently serving as the assistant secretary of defense for science and technology. Ericsson is the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
Olivier L. de Weck is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has authored and co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the INCOSE and a Fellow of the AIAA. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. From 2013-2018 de Weck served as the Editor-in-Chief for Systems Engineering, the leading journal of INCOSE. He is best known for contributions to the fields of Systems Engineering, Design optimization, and Space Logistics, where together with colleagues from JPL he coined the term Interplanetary Supply Chain. More recently he has become active in the field of Remote Sensing.
David A. Spencer is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Vestigo Aerospace, Inc. As an aerospace engineer, Spencer designs and operates planetary space science missions, and develops space technology.
David W. Miller is an American aerospace engineer who is the current Jerome Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 2015. He is currently on a leave of absence from MIT to be a VP and the Chief Technology Officer to The Aerospace Corporation. He has worked on multiple NASA projects and served as NASA Chief Technologist.
Farah Alibay is a Canadian systems engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has worked on the InSight, Mars Cube One, and Mars 2020 missions.
Kavya K. Manyapu is an Indian–American aerospace engineer and scientist. She currently works at NASA in the Extravehicular Branch for Lunar Exploration missions within the Flight Operations Directorate at JSC. She was part of the Boeing team that developed the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for nearly 10 years. She developed a novel technology for self-cleaning space suits that uses carbon nanotubes to repel dust for use in future lunar and Mars missions.
Swati Mohan is an Indian-American aerospace engineer and was the Guidance and Controls Operations Lead on the NASA Mars 2020 mission.
Allen "Al" Chen is an American aerospace engineer. He was the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Operations Lead on the Mars Science Laboratory mission and the EDL Lead for the Mars 2020 mission.
Julie Wertz Chen is an American aerospace engineer. She has been a systems engineer for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP), Cassini, and InSight Mars missions. She is currently working on the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
David Y. Oh is an American spacecraft systems engineer and expert in electric propulsion. Dr. Oh currently works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as the NASA Psyche mission chief engineer. Prior to this role he served as the Project Systems Engineering Manager for Psyche. He was also the cross-cutting phase lead and lead flight director for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission and was recognized in popular media for living on Mars time with his family during the month following the landing of the Curiosity rover.
Maya Nasr is a Lebanese postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University. She previously received her BS'18, MS'21, and PhD'23 in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research areas include aerospace engineering and international space law, policy, and politics.
Lana Murphy Couch (1941–2007) was an American aeronautical engineer who headed the National Aero-Space Plane program at the Langley Research Center of NASA.
Professor Kerri L. Cahoy is an electrical and aerospace engineer and a professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. She is also the co-founder of laser communications firm SpaceRake. Cahoy is the leader of the Space Telecommunications, Astronomy and Radiation Laboratory (STAR) at MIT, and she is most well known for her research in studying planetary atmospheres and exoplanet atmospheres along with her technology demonstration work on nanosatellites.
