Howard Eisen, Chief Engineer

A JPL Engineering Fellow, Howard Eisen has over 36 years of experience at JPL in technical and leadership roles. Before becoming Chief Engineer in 2024, he served as the deputy associate director for Flight Projects and Mission Success, a role he continues. Previously, he was Chief Engineer for the Planetary Science Directorate, Deputy Project Manager for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission, Flight System Manager for Mars 2020/Perseverance Rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Project Manager for Rapidscat on the International Space Station, and Deputy Flight System Manager for Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover. He has developed proposals, spacecraft and instruments and demonstrated new technologies for a variety of targets including Earth-observing radars; Mars orbiters, landers, rovers, and rotorcraft; and missions to other planetary bodies with leadership roles in Class A, B, C, D projects and tech demos including multiple Shuttle and International Space Station missions. He holds a master’s degree in aerospace systems and bachelor’s degrees in astronautics/avionics and physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a master’s in business administration from the University of Redlands, where he is an adjunct professor. He is a recipient of the Silver Snoopy from the crew of space shuttle mission STS-99 which deployed the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 2000.