J. “ Bob” Balaram | |
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Born | June 28, 1959 |
Education | Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MS, Ph.D.) |
Known for | Chief Engineer for Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first extraterrestrial powered, controlled flight on April 19, 2021 |
Awards | John L. “Jack” Swigert, Jr. Award for Space Exploration from the Space Foundation.[1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Computer and Systems Engineering, space science |
Institutions | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
J. "Bob" Balaram (born 28 June 1959) is an Indian-American scientist and engineer currently working for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He is the chief engineer[2][3][4][5][6] and designer of Ingenuity (project name: Mars 2020 helicopter), the first extraterrestrial aircraft, that was attached underside of car-sized Perseverance rover that successfully landed on the Mars in February 2021.[7][8][9]