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About

Craig Kulesa is an astronomer at the forefront of developing and deploying autonomous observatories in the most extreme environment on Earth: the Antarctic plateau. His research centers on opening a new window on the universe through terahertz and far-infrared astronomy, wavelengths critical for studying star formation and the interstellar medium but nearly impossible to observe from temperate sites. Kulesa is the driving force behind the PLATO (Plateau Observatory) project, a fully robotic, self-contained observatory that generates its own heat and electricity while enduring temperatures below -70°C. This pioneering instrument, deployed to Dome A in 2008, has enabled sustained astronomical observations from the highest point on the Antarctic ice sheet. His work also contributed to the identification and characterization of Ridge A, the site with the lowest precipitable water vapor and best terahertz transmission on Earth. Through these efforts, Kulesa has demonstrated that Antarctica can host world-class, long-duration robotic facilities, laying the groundwork for future frontier observatories that will probe the cold, dusty universe with unprecedented clarity.