Peter Tsou is a science staff member at the

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 ...

(JPL) of the California Institute of Technology. His research primarily centers around the utilization of

aerogel Aerogels are a class of synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas, without significant collapse of the gel structure. The result is a solid with extremely low ...

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...

. Tsou has served as the principal investigator (PI) for several missions conducted on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

and Mir, during which he devised the method of intact capture for hypervelocity particles. He gained recognition for his involvement in the capture and retrieval of cometary particles through NASA's Stardust mission, where he served as the deputy PI.

Education

Tsou completed his undergraduate studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where he obtained a B.S. degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1965, followed by an M.S. degree in the same field in 1966. In 1972, he received his Ph.D. in large-scale engineering systems from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Since 1974, Tsou has been employed at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

(JPL) in

Pasadena, CA Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

. Currently, he holds the position of Deputy Principal Investigator for the STARDUST mission, a role he has held since 1994. Tsou has also served as principal investigator for various projects, including the MIR Sample Return Experiment (1994–1997), the Spacehab II Sample Return Experiment, and the Get Away Special Sample Return Experiment (1989–present). He has held several managerial and engineering positions at JPL, including STARDUST proposal manager (1992–1994), instrument definition manager (1984–1990), spacecraft system engineer (1982–1990), task manager for the Low-Cost Solar Array program (1975–1980), and system engineer (1974–1975).

Research

Dr. Tsou's research focus has primarily been on the retrieval of cometary samples. He is credited with inventing the method of capturing hypervelocity particles intact, which has been instrumental in missions such as Stardust. Collaborating with scientists from

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

, he contributed to the development of a lighter

specifically designed for capturing cometary particles. Additionally, he played a role in introducing

as a flight-qualified variable

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

material and capture medium for space missions. Furthermore, Dr. Tsou has made contributions to the field of space thermal insulation by inventing an integrated

thermal-structural design for the

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' (''MESUR Pathfinder'') is an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, wheeled robot ...

Sojourner rover ''Sojourner'' is a robotic Mars rover that landed in the Ares Vallis channel in the Chryse Planitia region of the Oxia Palus quadrangle on July 4, 1997. ''Sojourner'' was operational on Mars for 92 sols (95 Earth days). It was the first wheeled ...

.Tsou, P., “STARDUST: a Comet Coma Flyby Sample Return”, IEEE, 2009. His research interests extend to investigating the potential exobiological effects of extraterrestrial bodies and exploring methods to retrieve samples of materials from other planets.

Awards

* 2000 NASA Patent: Large Field of View 3-D Hologram Display System * 2000 NASA Group Achievement Award – STARDUST Project Team * 1997 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal * 1996 JPL Inaugural Award for Excellence – Exceptional Technical Excellence * 1985 NASA Group Achievement Award – Low-Cost Solar Array Project

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsou, Peter Living people American scientists NASA people UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Los Angeles staff Year of birth missing (living people)