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About

Miguel San Martin is a pioneering aerospace engineer whose work has defined the cutting edge of planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems. His primary research areas focus on autonomous landing technologies for extreme extraterrestrial environments, from Mars to the icy moons of Jupiter. San Martin’s most significant contribution is his leadership in developing the EDL system for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which successfully delivered the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. His seminal 2006 paper on the MSL EDL system has garnered over 105 citations, establishing a foundational blueprint for high-mass planetary landings. He further refined these concepts in his 2007 work on EDL triggers, which addressed critical timing and altitude-performance challenges. Demonstrating his versatility, San Martin has also advanced the field of safe, precise landing on Europa, a key target for astrobiology, and explored innovative asteroid capture techniques using deformable membranes for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission. His work not only enables humanity’s most ambitious robotic missions but also inspires a new generation of engineers to master the art of landing on other worlds.