Randii Wessen
- Space Futurist
- Renowned Astronautics Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL)
- Experience on most major US planetary missions over the last 40 years
- Hollywood Movie Science Advisor for Guardians of the Galaxy, Oblivion, Europa Report, Black Hat & more
Dr. Wessen has been an employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1984 March. He is currently the Project Manager of the Science Understanding from Data Science (SUDS) effort and the Lead Study Architect for JPL’s Innovation Foundry’s Architecture-Team. Prior to this, Dr. Wessen has worked with several mission and program areas at JPL including...
read the restDr. Wessen has been an employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1984 March. He is currently the Project Manager of the Science Understanding from Data Science (SUDS) effort and the Lead Study Architect for JPL’s Innovation Foundry’s Architecture-Team. Prior to this, Dr. Wessen has worked with several mission and program areas at JPL including System Engineer in the Astrophysics Division, Telecommunications & Mission Systems Manager in the Deep Space Network serving Mars missions, Manager of the Cassini Science Planning & Operations, the Galileo Deputy Sequence Team Chief, and the Voyager Science Sequence Coordinator for the Uranus & Neptune encounters.
Dr. Wessen received his Bachelors of Science in both Physics & Astronomy from Stony Brook University, a Masters of Science in Astronautics from the University of Southern California, and a Doctorate in Operations Research from the University of South Wales, United Kingdom. He co-authored the books “Neptune: The Planet, Rings and Satellites” & “Planetary Ring Systems.” He was the recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal for his contributions to the Voyager 2 Neptune Encounter and has eleven NASA Group Achievement Awards. Dr. Wessen is also a fellow of both the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Interplanetary Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics. Asteroid 31664 (Randiiwessen) is named in his honor.
read less"You only have two choices: You coast and do nothing or you try things. And maybe some things will fail. Maybe some things will succeed. But if you don't try, you'll never find those things that work out."
