Rob manning jpl biography

An Engineering Fellow at JPL, Rob has been designing, testing and operating robotic spacecraft for 35 years including Galileo to Jupiter, Cassini to Saturn and Magellan to Venus.

In the early ’s, Rob became the Mars Pathfinder Chief Engineer where he also led the Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) team.

After successfully landing and operating the first airbag lander and rover on another planet, he co-conspired the idea to modify the Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover designs to become the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), Spirit and Opportunity.  On MER he led the rover system engineering team as well as the EDL team.

At this time, he co-conceived the idea of skycrane landing that was later used by Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

After MER he became the Mars Program Chief Engineer where he helped plan and integrate the various Mars missions like Phoenix Lander, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MSL and and beyond.

In , Rob became the Chief Engi