Fuk Li
Encyclopedia
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in the San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The facility is headquartered in the city of Pasadena on the border of La Cañada Flintridge and Pasadena...
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Dr. Li’s directorate is responsible for JPL’s projects exploring Mars, including two orbiters (Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), two famous rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), the Phoenix stationary laboratory which landed near the north pole of Mars in 2008, and is developing the Mars Science Laboratory rover to be sent to the red planet in 2011.
He received his bachelor's (1975) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. 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
New Millennium Program is 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 to its cancellation.The spacecraft in the New Millennium...
, 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, Dr. Li received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and in 2008, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States...
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Mr Li was born in Hong Kong in 1953, and received his secondary school education in Queen Elizabeth School, Hong Kong
Queen Elizabeth School, Hong Kong
Queen Elizabeth School , or QES and QE for short, is the first EMI co-education secondary school founded by the Government of Hong Kong...
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