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 spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on Augus ...

mission and the EDL Lead for the

Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance'', the now-retired small robotic helicopter ''Ingenuity (helicopter), Ingenuity'', and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Progra ...

mission.

Early life and education

Chen is from Newtown, Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of

Lawrenceville School The Lawrenceville School is a Private school, private, coeducational College-preparatory school, preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the Local government in New Jersey, unincorporated community of Lawrenceville, New Jers ...

. 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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and

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

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 research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Chen was on the varsity

fencing Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...

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 t ...

project in the "Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate" Capstone course. In graduate school, he was in the Space Systems Laboratory (MIT) 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) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

(FEMBA) from the

UCLA Anderson School of Management The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management (branded as UCLA Anderson) is the graduate business school at the University of California, Los Angeles. The school offers MBA (full-time, part-time, executive), Post Graduate Program for Executi ...

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 Jezero is a Impact crater, crater on Mars in the Syrtis Major quadrangle, about in diameter. Thought to have once been flooded with water, the crater contains a fan-river delta, delta deposit rich in clays. The lake in the crater was present w ...

. 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 the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

protocols. Chen narrated the Mars 2020 landing procedures with Guidance and Controls Operations Lead Swati Mohan 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 Insight is the understanding of a specific causality, cause and effect within a particular context. The term insight can have several related meanings: *a piece of information *the act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of se ...

landing team and sat in the same front row seat that he did for

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin , from "careful, diligent, curious", akin to "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking, such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps Developmental psyc ...

. 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)