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About

L. Alkalai is a visionary aerospace engineer and mission architect whose career has centered on advancing human and robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. His primary research areas include planetary sample return missions, surface operations testbeds, and innovative spacecraft concepts for extreme environments. Alkalai’s most notable contribution is the Orion/MoonRise concept, which proposed a landmark human and robotic sample return from the Moon’s far-side South Pole-Aitken Basin—a mission that would retrieve some of the oldest material in the solar system. He also led the development of high-fidelity testbeds, such as the Instrument Deployment Testbed supporting NASA’s InSight mission and the Lunar Surface Operation Testbed, enabling end-to-end simulations of planetary surface operations. His work on the Micro-Inspector spacecraft advanced autonomous inspection for safer exploration, while his studies on flexible-path human exploration helped shape strategic mission planning. Alkalai’s research on transformers for lunar extreme environments demonstrated how solar power could sustain long-term operations in permanently shadowed craters, enabling in-situ resource utilization for future Mars missions. With over 30 citations across his most influential papers, Alkalai’s legacy lies in bridging robotic precision with human ambition, laying the groundwork for sustainable exploration of the Moon and deep space.