Researchpalooza 2024 - Coming Friday, Feb. 9

Lunch Lecture Keynote - 11:45 a.m.

Behind-the-Scenes with OSIRIS-REx

Dr. Jason Leonard is the Orbit Determination Group Supervisor at KinetX Aerospace and Deputy Navigation Team Chief for the NASA OSIRIS-REx and OSIRIS-APEX missions.

He has been the Orbit Determination Team Lead for OSIRIS-REx since prior to launch, during the duration of proximity operations, its successful acquisition of asteroid regolith, and through its return of the sample to Earth. For his contributions to the mission, Jason received the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for “exceptional leadership and innovation in modeling the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft orbit dynamics, leading to unprecedented navigation performance at near-Earth asteroid, Bennu.”

He was awarded the PI Award of Distinction for his work in the estimation of particle ejection trajectories from Bennu. He led the navigation analysis through proposal and selection for flight as the Navigation Technical Lead for the NASA DAVINCI Venus probe mission in the latest Discovery round. He continues to work on and contribute to several NASA flight missions and commercial missions.

Leonard earned his PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder under the advisement of Dr. George Born. He was a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow, graduate research assistant at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, and recipient of the John A. Vise Graduate Student Excellence Award.