Papers
11
Total Citations
196
H-Index
7
About
Michelle Munk is a NASA aerospace engineer whose career has centered on some of the most technically demanding challenges in planetary exploration: entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems, aerocapture technology, and in-space propulsion. Her most influential contribution, the Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis Study (2010), was commissioned by NASA senior management to chart the agency's technology roadmap for landing large payloads on Mars — a foundational document for both robotic and future human missions that has accumulated nearly 100 citations. Her earlier work on aerocapture, particularly the Mars Aerocapture Systems Study (2006) and comparative aerocapture mission analyses (2005), helped establish the scientific and engineering case for this fuel-saving orbital insertion technique, which remains a promising but not-yet-flown technology. Munk also contributed substantially to NASA's In-Space Propulsion Technology project, helping communicate its evolving capabilities across multiple mission-planning cycles. More recently, her work on precision landing and hazard avoidance (2022) reflects her sustained engagement with safe surface access for the Moon and Mars. Across her career, Munk has helped define the strategic direction of NASA's planetary access technologies, bridging detailed engineering analysis with agency-wide mission planning.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Entry, Descent and Landing Systems Analysis Study: Phase 1 Report97 citations · 2010
- 2Mars Aerocapture Systems Study25 citations · 2006
- 3A Comparative Study of Aerocapture Missions with a Mars Destination16 citations · 2005
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10