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About

R. Gershman is a pioneering aerospace engineer whose work has fundamentally shaped the feasibility of asteroid retrieval and planetary exploration. His primary research areas include near-Earth object (NEO) mission design, robotic capture and return of asteroids, and innovative Venus exploration architectures. Gershman’s most significant contribution is his landmark 2011 study on the feasibility of robotically capturing and returning an entire near-Earth asteroid to the International Space Station—a concept that has garnered 39 citations and laid critical groundwork for NASA’s future asteroid redirect missions. His earlier 2009 study on sending the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle to a NEO (37 citations) demonstrated the technical viability of human exploration beyond the Moon, influencing NASA’s strategic planning for deep-space crewed missions. Gershman also advanced Venus science through the Venus Aerobot Multisonde concept, which proposed using a robotic balloon to deploy short-lived probes for surface imaging under extreme conditions—a novel approach to overcoming Venus’s thick, corrosive atmosphere. With over 100 total citations across his most-cited works, Gershman’s research continues to inspire new generations of mission designers aiming to harvest asteroid resources and explore our planetary neighbors.