Team

Bio:

Mike helped the Navigation team doing requirements, V&V, testing and implemented the wiki infrastructure. He develops automation tools for ops and supports the team during preparations for TAG. He is doing the same work for the Lucy mission and other projects, reapplying and improving what was done on OSIRIS-REx.

Mike loves learning new stuff, crafting beautiful code, enjoying good wine & food with his wife, music, ripping around racetracks and all things aviation & space. He has flown gliders and competition aerobatics.

Mike received his B.Eng. (MechE) at the Technical University of Nova Scotia and did his graduate work in Aero/Astro at MIT. After working on launch systems Research &Development at Lockheed Martin for several years, he joined KinetX. Mike has worked on a wide variety of things including Iridium, missile defense, satellite ground systems, and with the space navigation group. He also supported the CMMI-Dev and AS9100 quality systems.

Bio:

Christian joined the team as the Camera Suite Lead Optical Engineer. Christian was then promoted to his current Deputy Instrument Scientist role where he provides operational support for OCAMS and serves as an OSIRIS-REx Co-Investigator. Before OREx, Christian was an Optical Research Engineer and later Laboratory Manager at UArizona’s Steward Observatory. He then became a founding partner at TeraVision Inc. In addition to his OSIRS-REx work, Christian is designing several cameras to explore Jupiter’s moons and investigating the use of optical polarization to search for biosignatures in the solar system. Christian holds seven NASA Group Achievement Awards and Medals. Christian received a BSc. in Space Sciences & Astronomy and Astrophysics from the Florida Institute of Technology and a PhD in Optical Sciences from UArizona. In his spare time, Christian enjoys photography, bread baking and flying as an FAA Licensed Commercial Pilot. Asteroid 2005SH214 was renamed 129312 Drouetdaubigny in Christian’s honor.

Bio:

Marcos works as a System engineer on OSIRIS-REx and as a multi-mission real-time operator for a variety of NASA missions. He has experience working as an orbit analyst on the AEHF launch team and as a structural dynamics intern at NASA Langley. Marcos received his Aerospace Engineering bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and is completing a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado. Outside of work, Marcos enjoys hiking, kayaking and playing guitar.

Bio:

Angelica began her career at Lockheed Martin Space as a college intern, then transitioned to full time as a GNC engineer supporting InSight and OSIRIS-REx mission operations. She has also supported in various proposal efforts within Deep Space Exploration. Angelica has a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science in Controls and Dynamics from the University of California, San Diego. In her free time, she loves to play volleyball, hike, and spend time at church!

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Bio:

Dr. Jason Dworkin has a Ph.D. in biochemistry and does analytical chemistry of soluble organic compounds. He serves as OSIRIS-REx Project Scientist and Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at Goddard Space Flight Center. His objective is to assess the organic species available for the origin and early evolution of life with a focus is on understanding the extraterrestrial input and origin of molecules relevant for astrobiology. This objective has been to study increasingly documented and constrained systems, from plausibly early Earth chemistry, chemistry of astrophysically relevant laboratory ices, to organic and chiral analysis of meteorites. The pinnacle is to study pristine samples returned from asteroid Bennu. As such, he is dedicated to enabling the collection and return of organic-rich samples, how to protect that material from terrestrial contamination, and how to realistically maximize the science return from OSIRIS-REx.

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Tony Ferro joined the OSIRIS-REx team in 2011 as the Science Processing and Operations Center (SPOC) IT Lead. Prior to joining OREx, Tony worked on archiving spectroscopic data on the International Halley Watch project at Arizona State University (ASU). Tony has also worked on other missions at UArizona in IT: first on the Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS Instrument Team then the Phoenix Mars Lander. Tony earned a BA in Physics from Cornell University in 1985 and an MS in Physics from ASU in 1995. In his free time, Tony enjoys animation and all things pop culture.

Bio:

Austin began working at Lockheed Martin in 2003 as a member of the Observatory Engineering Team for the Spitzer Space Telescope. Since then he has performed various roles within both the Systems and Electrical engineering disciplines for multiple spacecraft projects including Phoenix, Mars Science Laboratory Aeroshell, Juno, GRAIL, and MAVEN. Austin began working on OSIRIS-REx in 2013 as the card lead for the Power Drive and Distribution Backplane. He transitioned to the role of Electrical Systems Engineer during the spacecraft assembly, test and integration phase and finally the Electrical Power system lead for launch and mission operations. Austin has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his wife and two children as well as mountain biking and hiking.

Bio:

Mark has worked on a variety launch vehicle, spacecraft, and general engineering projects, dedicating the second half of his career to the of interplanetary missions in the LM Deep Space Exploration group. He has specialized in spacecraft flight operations, mission design, and test for multiple mission most notably the Spitzer Space Telescope and OSIRIS-REx

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Mike Fitzgibbon has worked with UArizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) since he joined in 1983 as a student. Mike earned a BS in Physics from UArizona in just three years. Within LPL, Mike has worked on instruments for various spaceflight missions, from Voyager's EUVS and Shuttle payloads for AIS/GLO1-6/UVSTAR1-2 to MPL's TEGA, Odyssey's GRS, Phoenix's TEGA-2, LRO's LEND, and Messenger's GRS&XRS. Mike has worked with mission data from the Moon and all the planets (but not Pluto), and on all corresponding missions except Viking (Venus). Mike joined the OSIRIS-REx team in 2012, where he worked on the OCAMS FSW, SPICE kernel management, calibration pipeline integration, and other SpocCode development. Mike is the Calibration & Validation Lead and OCAMS Operations Engineer. In his spare time, Mike can be found bicycling throughout Tucson, gardening, and making sourdough. Mike enjoys spending time with his wife, Carol, his three children, and two dogs.

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Paul is from the Bighorn Mountains in North-Central Wyoming. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Montana at Missoula. Paul, his wife, and three children moved to Colorado in 1983, when he started working at the Waterton plant. He programmed flight software for thirteen space exploration missions from Magellan to OSIRIS-REx, GRAIL, two earth satellites, and a launch system. He joined the OSIRIS-REx operations team in 2017. Outside of work, Paul climbs, runs, backpacks, and swims in the Rocky Mountains.

Bio:

Ray is from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems from the University of Texas – Pan American. He is currently pursuing his master’s in Computer Science from the University of Colorado Boulder. Ray moved to Colorado in 2015 to join Lockheed Martin’s Data Warehouse team. Since joining Deep Space Exploration, he has supported Flight Software Operations for the Spitzer, Odyssey, and OSIRIS-REx missions. In his free time, he enjoys paddle boarding, traveling, and hiking with his wife.

Bio:

Sandy Freund began her career at Lockheed Martin Space as a college intern. Throughout her career Sandy has supported numerous deep space missions including Mars Odyssey, Genesis, Stardust, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Phoenix Mars Lander, Juno, MAVEN and OSIRIS-REx. During that time, she has worked in multiple different aspects of the mission lifecycle, including spacecraft design, integration & test, and mission operations. Sandy has a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Denver and a Master’s of Science in Space Systems Operations Management from Webster University. Outside of work, Sandy enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband and 3 boys.

Bio:

Jeroen is from Centerville, Ohio, and he moved to Arizona for his BS in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle. Afterward, he moved to Atlanta for his MS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech. Because of Jeroen’s interest in astrodynamics and love of the mountains, he finally moved to Colorado to get a PhD from CU Boulder, which he completed in 2017. Not wanting to leave the rocky mountain state, he joined the navigation team with KinetX Aerospace as an orbit determination (OD) analyst for the most interesting OD mission ever flown – OSIRIS-REx. When Jeroen isn’t working, you can usually find him running in Denver or Boulder, or hiking and skiing in the mountains

Bio:

Kenny joined the OSIRIS-REx project as a Flight Dynamics engineer and a member of GSFC’s Navigation & Mission Design Branch in 2009. Since then, he has supported the mission through navigation analysis and operations, ground system and tool development, and overall team management. His expertise and research interests include precision orbit determination and geophysical parameter estimation, optical navigation, and small-body mission design. Kenny previously led flight dynamics activities for multiple mission proposals and is the Flight Dynamics Lead for GSFC’s Space Science Mission Operations group. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University and the University of Maryland, respectively. He is a proud husband and father of two boys and enjoys spending time with friends and family. It has been an honor and privilege for him to serve on the OSIRIS-REx team, and Kenny is beyond excited for a successful TAG and sample return.

Bio:

Dathon Golish joined the OSIRIS-REx mission in October 2013 as part of the OCAMS team. Dathon was primarily responsible for analysis of images acquired as part of the OCAMS ground test campaign, which calibrated and validated the performance of the three OCAMS imagers. He wrote, and continues to maintain, the calibration pipeline that processes every OCAMS image. When OSIRIS-REx launched, Dathon transitioned to the Image Processing Working Group, where he took responsibility for observation planning, data quality analyses, photometric modeling of Bennu, and mapping of its surface. Dathon received his PhD in Optical Sciences in 2008 from the University of Arizona; his graduate worked focused on quasioptical instrumentation for terahertz astronomical receivers. Dathon also conducted research in gigapixel and computational imaging in the UArizona Electrical and Computer Engineering department as a research professor.

Bio:

Sierra Gonzales began her career at Lockheed Martin Space as a college intern working on the commercial side and applied much of her knowledge and experience in 3D modeling and 3D printing. She jumped into the OSIRIS-REx program right after college as a Systems Engineer and trained as a Real-time Operator. She has both an Bachelor’s of Science and Master’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nevada-Reno and is currently working on a Space Systems Certificate from the University of Denver. In her free time, she plays Double Bass with the Denver Pops, enjoys snowboarding, baking asteroid themed desserts, and watching basketball.

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Sander Goossens received his PhD from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He has worked on the Japanese Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) mission, where he was involved in the determination of the topography of the Moon using laser altimetry and the gravity field of the Moon using the first-ever farside data. In 2011, he joined NASA GSFC as a scientist with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. At Goddard, he has extensively worked on gravity field determination of various terrestrial planets: the Moon (using GRAIL data), Mercury (MESSENGER), Mars (MGS, Odyssey, and MRO), and Venus (Magellan and Venus Express). For the OSIRIS-REx mission, he has worked with GSFC's navigation team to determine and validate gravity and shape models of Bennu, by combining multiple data types (radio, optical, altimetry) over multiple mission phases that allowed the accurate estimation of Bennu’s mass and shape scale.