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Miguel San Martín was born in northern Patagonia, Argentina, and grew up in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the Apollo and Viking missions, he came to the United States to attend university and fulfill his dream of contributing to space exploration by working for NASA.
His first job was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he is now ...
AIAA/NAE Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship recognizes A. Miguel San Martin, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for his role in the Mars Science Lab.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) have selected Dr. Alejandro Miguel San Martin, Guidance & Control Section Chief Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as the recipient of the fourth Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering. San Martin will present his lecture, “From Airbags to Wheels: The Evolution of GN&C for Entry, Descent, and Landing” on 7 October, 1100–1200 hrs ET, in conjunction with the virtual NAE Annual Meeting. Early in his career at JPL, San Martin participated in the Magellan mission to Venus and the Cassini mission to Saturn.He was later named Chief Engineer for the Guidance, Navigation, and Control system for the Pathfinder mission. He assumed the same role for the mission that landed the robotic vehicles Spirit and Opportunity on Mars in 2004. Most recently, he was the Chief Engineer for Guidance, Navigation, and Control for the Mars Science Laboratory, which landed Curiosity on the surface of Mars in 2012. He was a co-architect of Curiosity’s innovative SkyCrane landing architecture and also served as its Deputy Chief for Entry, Descent, and Landing. Throughout his career, San Martin has served as a panel consultant for various missions including Topex, Mars Polar Lander, Deep Impact, and Phoenix. San Martin has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University and an M.S. from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering with a specialization in Guidance, Navigation, and Control for interplanetary space exploration.
AIAA, with the participation and support of NAE, created the Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering to honor the memory of the late, pioneering rocket scientist, AIAA Honorary Fellow and NAE Member, Yvonne C. Brill. The lecture emphasizes research or engineering issues for space travel and exploration, aerospace education of students and the public, and other aerospace issues such as ensuring a diverse and robust engineering community.