Daniel Kubitschek (MechEngr BS'90; AeroEngr MS'94, PhD'97)

Dan received a BS in Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder in 1990, a MS in Aerospace Engineering at CU in 1994 and his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at CU under the direction of Dr. George Born in 1997.

After 3 years of research and teaching, Dan joined the Optical Navigation Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on the autonomous navigation (AutoNav) systems for the Deep Impact mission to comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and aerobraking operations for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2006.  

Dan left JPL in 2007 to work for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company and led the Orion Guidance, Navigation & Control team from 2010 through the Exploration Flight Test 1 on December 5, 2014.  

Dan is now part of the Research Faculty at CU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics, where he led the Attitude Determination & Control and Flight Dynamics teams for the Emirates Mars Mission, which is now completing the second year of primary science operations. 

Dan is currently the Deputy Program Manager and Flight Dynamics lead for the upcoming multiple, main-belt asteroid mission, which is set to launch in 2028.