Samantha Rieger
is an aerospace engineer at Lockheed Martin, supporting the asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-Rex, out of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. While pursuing her PhD, Samantha worked with A. Richard Seebass Chair, Prof. Dan Scheeres, in the Celestial Spaceflight Mechanics Lab, where she studied natural and artificial satellite stability and orbital evolution around small bodies. She was a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow and NSF Fellowship recipient. Her research was on Laplace plane dynamics related to spacecraft and natural satellites around asteroid. Other research interests include astrodynamics, celestial mechanics, and mission design. Before pursuing her PhD, she graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering in 2012. She has interned previously at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Samantha’s other interests include rock climbing, skiing, traveling, and learning about world history.