SpaceCom 2019

Fernando Figueroa
Autonomous Systems Discipline Expert
NASA Stennis Space Center


Fernando Figueroa was born in Paucartambo, Cusco, Perú (The Andean Mountains). He received his BS Degree at the University of Hartford, CT; and MS and Ph.D. Degrees at The Pennsylvania State University, PA; all in Mechanical Engineering. He was faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Tulane University (New Orleans) for 10 years, and Associate Chair of Advanced Instrumentation and Control at The University of New Brunswick (Canada) for 2 years. He is at NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) since 2000. He has lead multiple R&D projects in collaboration with academia, industry, government agencies, and other NASA centers. He has participated in 2 Zero-G flights; and has been the technical assistant to the NESC/SSC Chief Engineer; and the Chief Systems Engineer, Space Shuttle Systems and Integration, NASA Johnson Space Center. He is currently Lead for Autonomous Systems and Operations at SSC, working on projects funded by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems, Space Technology Mission Directorate, and NASA Stennis Space Center. Fernando has lead development of the NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS). He is also a member of NASA’s Autonomous Systems Leadership Capability Team, and was Acting Center Chief Technologist. His technical areas of interest include Autonomous Operations and Systems, Hierarchical-Distributed autonomy, Knowledge-Based Thinking Systems, Integrated System Health Management (ISHM), Intelligent Systems, Intelligent Sensors, Robotics, and Automatic Controls.

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