Dr. Shyam Bhaskaran is the supervisor of the Outer Planet Navigation Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, leading a group of engineers responsible for the navigation of spacecraft that explore the outer Solar System. His professional career began at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in January of 1992 as an orbit determination specialist on the Galileo mission. Since then, he has been a member of and led the navigation team for several missions, including Stardust and Deep Impact. Dr. Bhaskaran has also been involved in formulating proposals for new mission concepts and developing innovative new technologies, serving as PI or co-I on a range of technology development efforts such as high speed kinetic asteroid impactors, terrain relative navigation, and precision autonomous navigation.

B.S., M.S, Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

PhD, Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado

Deep space autonomous navigation

• Communication and Navigation  | Guidance, Navigation, And Control (GN&C)
• Autonomous Systems  | Autonomous Navigation, Path Planning, And Control

Mission Design and Navigation Section, Supervisor, Outer Planet Navigation Group, July 2005 - present

• JPL Explorer Award | Autonomous Navigation (2011)
• NASA Award | Exceptional Achievement Medal | For outstanding technical leadership of EPOXI Navigation Team (2011)
• JPL Principal Designation | 392J (2010)
• JPL Mariner Award | Deep space navigation (2009)
• NASA Award | Exceptional Achievement Medal | For outstanding technical accomplishment on the Deep Space 1 autonomous tracking of comet Borrelly. (2002)