Chirold Epp
Papers
7
Total Citations
309
H-Index
6
About
Chirold Epp is a pioneering aerospace engineer whose career has centered on one of spaceflight's most critical challenges: enabling spacecraft to land safely, precisely, and autonomously on planetary surfaces. Working primarily through NASA, Epp has been a central figure in the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project, a landmark initiative designed to develop integrated guidance, navigation, and control systems capable of detecting and avoiding surface hazards during crewed and robotic lunar and planetary landings. His most influential contributions, including seminal ALHAT papers from 2007 and 2008 accumulating over 110 and 86 citations respectively, helped establish the technical and architectural foundation for next-generation lunar landing systems envisioned under NASA's Constellation Program. Epp's work addressed a fundamental gap left by Apollo-era missions, which relied on near-ideal lighting conditions and astronaut judgment — conditions future missions cannot guarantee. His research advanced terrain-relative navigation, real-time hazard detection, and free-flight rocket lander demonstrations, progressively maturing these technologies toward operational readiness. With contributions spanning over a decade and appearing across multiple technology readiness milestones, Epp's body of work has meaningfully shaped how NASA and the broader planetary science community approach the engineering of safe, autonomous planetary landing systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT)86 citations · 2008
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- 5Hazard Detection Methods for Lunar Landing27 citations · 2009
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