Mission Team


The members of the Mars 2020 mission gathered in front of a building at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Team for Jezero Crater: Members of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission pose at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, on July 17, 2019. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Download image ›

The Mars 2020 Perseverance team is made up of scientists and engineers from multiple disciplines, with international participation from countries and organizations around the world. The science team includes principal investigators from the U.S., Spain, and Norway. While numerous individuals make vital contributions without which this mission could not occur, key team members include:

  • Mars 2020 Project

  • Project Manager John B. McNamee
  • Deputy Project Manager Matthew T. Wallace
  • Deputy Project Manager / Surface Dev and Ops Jennifer Trosper
  • Advisor to Project Management Gun-Shing Chen

  • At NASA Headquarters

  • Program Executive George Tahu
  • Program Scientist Mitchell Schulte

  • Science Office

  • Project Scientist Ken Farley
  • Deputy Project Scientist Ken Williford
  • Deputy Project Scientist Katie Stack Morgan
  • Science Office Manager Nicole Spanovich
  • Assistant Science Office Manager Sarah Milkovich

  • Principal Investigators

  • Mastcam-Z Jim Bell
    Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
  • MEDA Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi
    Centro de Astrobiologia, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Spain
  • MOXIE Michael Hecht
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • PIXL Abigail Allwood
    NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA
  • RIMFAX Svein-Erik Hamran
    Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt, Norway
  • SHERLOC Luther Beegle
    NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA
  • SuperCam Roger Wiens
    Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA

  • Returned Sample Science Leads

  • Returned Sample Science Lead Tanja Bosak
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
  • Returned Sample Science Lead Christopher Herd
    University of Alberta, Canada

  • Project System Engineering

  • Project System Engineering Manager Rick Welch
  • Deputy Project System Engineering Manager Kirk Breitenbach
  • Project V&V Jennifer Maxwell

  • Chief Engineer Office

  • Chief Engineer Adam Steltzner
  • Deputy Chief Engineer Keith Comeaux
  • Deputy Chief Engineer Soren Madsen
  • Deputy Chief Engineer Jason Gates
  • Deputy Chief Engineer Ian Clark

  • Flight System

  • Flight Systems Manager Raymond Baker
  • Assistant Flight Systems Manager Jeff Weiss
  • ATLO Manager Dave Gruel
  • Deputy ATLO Manager Art Thompson
  • Testbeds Manager Eric Aguilar
  • Deputy Testbeds Manager Arman Toorian
  • Flight System Systems Engineer Lead Jessica Samuels
  • Deputy Flight System Systems Engineer Lead Magdy Bareh

  • Surface Development

  • Surface Development Office Manager Jennifer Trosper
  • Deputy Surface Development Office Manager Arthur Amador
  • Surface Systems Manager Jessica Samuels
  • Deputy Surface Systems Manager Robert Hogg
  • Surface Mission Operations Systems (MOS) Manager Pauline Hwang
  • Instrument and Science Operations Manager Nicole Spanovich
  • Assistant Surface Development Manager Michael Wilson
  • Surface CE Richard Welch
  • Deputy Surface CE Grace Tan-Wang
  • Sample Caching System (SCS) Manager Keith Rosette
  • Deputy Sample Cashing System Manager Matt Robinson
  • Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard Rainen
  • Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer Mohamed Abid
  • Power / Pyro Armen Mnatsakanian

  • Launch, Cruise, Approach, EDL (LCAE) Flight Operations

  • Launch, Cruise, Approach, EDL (LCAE) Mission Manager Keith Comeaux
  • Launch, Cruise, Approach, EDL Deputy Mission Manager Fernando Abilleira
  • Launch, Cruise & Approach Phase Lead John Essmiller
  • Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Phase Lead Al Chen
  • Cross-Cutting Phase Lead Magdy Bareh
  • Cruise Operations Development Manager Arthur Amador
  • Deputy Cruise Operations Development Manager Michael Wilson
  • Navigation Team Chief Gerhard Kruizinga

  • Payload

  • Payload Manager Soren Madsen
  • Deputy Payload Manager Kevin Clark
  • Payload System Engineer Joan Ervin

  • Mission Assurance

  • Mission Assurance Manager Mark Underwood
  • Deputy Mission Assurance Manager Cate Harris
  • Assistant Mission Assurance Manager Michael Robinson
  • Operations Mission Assurance Manager Rusty Woodall

  • Business / Administration Team

  • Business Manager Todd Cetti
  • Project Resource Analyst Lead Audrey Joya
  • Project Schedule Analyst Lead Tim Clark
  • Business Administration Manager Page Garcia
  • Business Administrator Amy Dickinson
  • Project Staff Assistant Monica Hopper
  • Project Staff Assistant Victoria Sanchez
Meet the people from around the world who have made contributions to the exploration of Mars

We Are the Martians


Meet the people from around the world who have made contributions to the exploration of Mars.

Meet the Martians ›