Allen “Al” Chen is an American

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. He was the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Operations Lead on the

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigati ...

mission and the EDL Lead for the

Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission forming part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program that includes the rover '' Perseverance'', the small robotic, coaxial helicopter '' Ingenuity'', and associated delivery vehicles. Mars 2020 was launched from ...

mission.

Early life and education

Chen is from Newtown, PA, and is a graduate of The Lawrenceville School. He is a fan of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and

Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Ci ...

teams. He decided on the aerospace field during the spring of his freshman year at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. Chen was on the varsity

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

team, competing in the sabre. As a senior, he received the David J. Shapiro Memorial Award for building an electric-powered model aircraft with seven other students. He also received the James Means Memorial Award for Excellence in Flight Vehicle or Space Systems Engineering for his contributions to the

SPHERES The Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellite (SPHERES) are a series of miniaturized satellites developed by MIT's Space Systems Laboratory for NASA and US Military, to be used as a low-risk, extensible test bed for th ...

project in the "Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate" Capstone course. In graduate school, he was in the

Space Systems Laboratory (MIT) The Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) is in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. Its mission is to develop the technology and systems analysis associated with small spacecraf ...

with Professor Dave Miller. He worked on propulsion system for the Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellite (SPHERES) project. Chen received a Fully Employed

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accou ...

(FEMBA) from the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management, also known as the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of eleven professional schools. The school offers MBA (ful ...

in 2007.

Work at NASA

Allen Chen has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California for his entire career. He joined the Mars Science Laboratory EDL team in 2002. On August 5, 2012, Chen announced "Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars!," after which the JPL Mission Control Center erupted in celebration; team members hugged, high fived, clapped and cried. He was a member of the MSL EDL team to accept the

National Air and Space Museum Trophy The National Air and Space Museum Trophy was established in 1985. The trophy presented to the winners is a miniature version of "The Web of Space," a sculpture by artist John Safer. The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually ...

in person. He joined team members for a GQ profile. Chen joined the Mars 2020 team in 2013, shortly after the team was assembled. In his EDL lead role, he was responsible for ensuring the spacecraft traveled safely from the top of the Martian atmosphere to landing in Jezero crater. The coronavirus pandemic broke out a year before the landing, so Chen had to lead his team while keeping socially distant and maintaining

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

protocols. Chen narrated the Mars 2020 landing procedures with Guidance and Controls Operations Lead

Swati Mohan Swati Mohan is an Indian-American aerospace engineer and was the Guidance and Controls Operations Lead on the NASA Mars 2020 mission. Early life and education Mohan was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, and emigrated to the United States ...

on February 18, 2021. Chen stated he’s excited to be a part of bringing Martian samples back to Earth. He considers his Mars 2020 EDL team to be a second family to him.

Selected publications

* “The Mars 2020 Entry, Descent, and Landing System”

AIAA Aviation, 25 June 2018

Personal life

Chen is married to NASA JPL systems engineer Julie Wertz Chen. They met at MIT and were both in the

Capstone class. Julie Wertz Chen was on the Mars InSight landing team and sat in the same front row seat that he did for Curiosity. Chen has been active on social media since before the MSL landing.

External links

Allen Chen - NASA JPL Biography for Mars 2020
*

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Allen 21st-century American engineers American aerospace engineers Living people Mars Science Laboratory Mars 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni NASA people Year of birth missing (living people)