Moshe Pniel, science project manager of Japan's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on board NASA's Terra Earth- observing spacecraft, has been named manager of scatterometer projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Pniel will oversee JPL's scatterometer projects, which measure sea surface wind speed and direction as part of NASA's Earth Observations System Program. Current JPL scatterometer projects include the recently launched SeaWinds/Quikscat mission and the NASA SeaWinds instrument scheduled to be launched in November 2001 on the Japanese ADEOS-11 satellite.
In his new role, Pniel will lead JPL's effort to obtain a long-term, daily data set of winds at the ocean surface around the globe for weather, climate and oceanographic studies.
Since 1996, Pniel has served and will continue in his role as science project manager for the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, called ASTER, recently launched as part of NASA's Earth Observing System satellite Terra. Prior to becoming ASTER project manager, Pniel was responsible for the development of ASTER's science data system from 1993-96. He was also responsible for developing the science data system for the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, called AIRS, part of the second Earth Observing System satellite tentatively set for launch in December 2000.
Pniel's previous work at JPL includes key engineering roles on pre-projects and projects including NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility, the Mars Network study, and the designs of four generations of hypercube supercomputers developed at JPL and transferred to industry.
Pniel received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, in 1982 and a practical engineering degree in electrical engineering in 1976 from the Junior Technical College at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa. Pniel resides with his wife, Marion, in San Dimas, Calif.