Matt WALLACE

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab • Mars 2020 Perseverance Project Manager

Matt Wallace is the Mars 2020 Project Manager. He initiated the concept work for the mission, and has led the development and implementation team since 2013. The spacecraft and Perseverance rover launched in July of 2020, and successfully landed February 18th, 2021 to begin its surface mission of in-situ science and technology experiments, and collecting samples for return to Earth.

Perseverance is the fifth Mars rover on which Matt has worked. He began as a power systems engineer on the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner vehicle, led the assembly and test team for the twin Spirit and Opportunity missions, which landed in 2004, and held the Flight System Manager position on the 2012 Curiosity mission. He has worked on other planetary missions at JPL, and as a program manager for Earth-observing satellites in the aerospace industry.

Matt graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland with a B.S. in systems engineering, and received an M.S. in electrical engineering from Caltech. He served in the US Navy fast attack submarine fleet.

Matt lives in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles with his wife Sandra, and his daughter Jane.

Events

The Global Space Exploration Conference 2021

14-18 June 2021

St. Petersburg, Russia

Participation: