Joel J. K. Parker

Joel works as a flight dynamics engineer in the Navigation and Mission Design Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in the areas of spacecraft mission design, astrodynamics, space navigation, software development, and space policy. He is a member of the flight dynamics team for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, which beginning in 2017 will search the skies for planets in the habitable zones of other stars. He is one of the engineers and developers behind the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT), the only operational, open-source space mission design tool in the world. He is also policy lead and member of the GSFC Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) working group, which seeks to leverage GPS and similar technologies for use in space.

Joel graduated with a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Mississippi State University. He has previously worked as an engineer for Radiance Technologies, Inc. in Huntsville, AL, and as a coop student at NASA Langley Research Center.