Fuk K. Li (李復國; ) is the Director of the Mars Exploration Directorate at NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

. Li's directorate is responsible for JPL's projects exploring

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

, including two orbiters (

Mars Odyssey ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...

and

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, an ...

), two famous rovers (

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

and

Opportunity Opportunity may refer to: Places * Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States * Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States * ...

), the

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

stationary laboratory which landed near the north pole of Mars in 2008, and the

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigati ...

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...

rover that was sent to the red planet in 2011 and landed there in 2012.

Biography

Li was born in Hong Kong in 1953, and received his secondary school education in

Queen Elizabeth School, Hong Kong Queen Elizabeth School (), or QES and QE ( or ) for short, is a school in Hong Kong. The school was the first English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) (Anglo-Chinese) co-education secondary school founded by the Government of Hong Kong. It is l ...

. He received his bachelor's (1975) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. He joined JPL in 1979 and has been involved in radar remote sensing activities. He has developed a number of system analysis tools for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar system design, and participated in the development of and applications for interferometric synthetic aperture radar. From 1983 to 1988, he was the project engineer for the NASA Scatterometer. He was principal investigator for an airborne rain mapping radar, an airborne cloud mapping radar, an experiment using spaceborne imaging radar to study rainfall effects on ocean roughness, and the development of an airborne active/passive microwave system for ocean salinity and soil moisture sensing. From 1997 to 2001 he managed the

New Millennium Program New Millennium Program (NMP) was a NASA project with focus on engineering validation of new technologies for space applications. Funding for the program was eliminated from the FY2009 budget by the 110th United States Congress, effectively leading ...

, designed to flight-validate key technologies that bring significant benefits to future science missions. He became deputy director of JPL's Solar System Exploration Program Directorate in 2001, and deputy director for the Mars Exploration Directorate in 2004, and director for the Mars Exploration Directorate in 2005. He is currently also the NASA Mars Exploration Program Manager. In 2007, Li received the

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...

and in 2008, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

References

*Officia
NASA BiographyProject Director's page
* Living people NASA people People associated with radar Place of birth missing (living people) Jet Propulsion Laboratory Synthetic aperture radar Year of birth missing (living people) {{space-stub