Bob Balaram is a NASA engineer and robotics technologist[1] of an Indian origin working as principal member of technical Staff at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in mobility and robotic systems department.[2][3] He is known for working as a chief engineer on NASA's Mars helicopter mission, that will serve as an aerial scout for Perseverance rover for mission Mars 2020.[1][4][5]

Education

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Bob has done Bachelor in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1980. After that he went to pursue Master of Science and Ph.D in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, and completed respectively in 1982 and 1985.[2]

Career

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At Jet propulsion laboratory, Balrama has been active in the area of telerobotics technology development for Mars Rovers, planetary balloon aerobot systems. Balaram's career also enlists working on technology for a notional balloon mission to explore Venus and as lead for the Mars Science Laboratory entry, descent and landing simulation software.[3][6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Greicius, Tony (2020-04-01). "The Man Who Wanted to Fly on Mars". NASA. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  2. ^ a b "JPL Robotics: People: J. (Bob) Balaram". www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  3. ^ a b "The Man Who Wanted to Fly on Mars". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  4. ^ Klotz, Irene. "NASA's Next Mars Rover May Have Flying Sidekick". Seeker. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  5. ^ Lerner, Preston. "A Helicopter Dreams of Mars". Air & Space Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  6. ^ "J (Bob) Balaram". www.planetary.org. Retrieved 2020-04-04.