Nacer E. Chahat is a French-American engineer and researcher at the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

(NASA)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

Early life and education

Chahat was born in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to a family of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n descent. He was educated at Palissy High School. He obtained his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

s in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from École supérieure d'ingénieurs de Rennes, Ecole Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Rennes (ESIR) and in

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

from the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes (IETR),

University of Rennes 1 The University of Rennes 1 was a public university located in Rennes, France. It was founded in 1970, after splitting of the historic University of Rennes into two universities. On January 1, 2023, the University of Rennes 1 merged with five gra ...

in 2009. He completed his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as audio signal processing, sound, image processing, images, Scalar potential, potential fields, Seismic tomograph ...

and telecommunications at the IETR, University of Rennes 1, in 2012.

Career

Chahat has been associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), since 2013. Initially, he joined as a Microwave/Antenna Engineer and later took on the roles of Technical Section Staff and Product Delivery Manager in 2017. He became SWOT Payload System engineer in 2019. At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Chahat has contributed to several projects, including the Mars Helicopter,

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 ...

SWOT SWOT may refer to: * ''SWOT'' (manga), a Japanese media franchise * Cramming (education) or swotting * SWOT analysis, a method to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to identify risks and issues that need solving * Surface Wa ...

Europa Clipper Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa (moon), Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mar ...

Mars Cube One Mars Cube One (or MarCO) was a Mars flyby mission launched on 5 May 2018 alongside NASA's ''InSight'' Mars lander. It consisted of two nanospacecraft, MarCO-A and MarCO-B, that provided real-time communications to Earth for ''InSight'' duri ...

RaInCube RaInCube, also stylized as RainCube, was a 6U CubeSat made by NASA as an experimental satellite. It had a small radar and an antenna. It was put into orbit in May 2018 and was deployed from the International Space Station on June 25, 2018. It re- ...

, and others. On April 19, 2021, Chahat was part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team that successfully made Ingenuity, the first powered-controlled aircraft to fly on another planet. In 2022, Chahat was named an

IEEE Fellow , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and ot ...

, recognized for his contributions to spacecraft antennas and propagation, and became one of the youngest fellows of IEEE.

Research

Chahat specializes in antenna design and electromagnetic interference and compatibility (EMI/EMC) analysis for space missions. He also works across a wide range of frequencies, from UHF to THz, applied in communications, RADAR, imaging systems, satellite communications antennas, wearable and flexible antennas, and antennas for

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

and radio astronomy. Chahat's notable contributions to NASA missions include the design of the Raincube Ka-band deployable mesh reflector, the Mars Cube One X-band antennas, the Europa lander antenna, and communication tools for the Mars Helicopter mission.

Awards and recognition

* 2015: Prix Bretagne Jeune Chercheur * 2017: The IEEE Sergei A. Schelkunoff Award * 2017: The Lew Allen Award for Excellence * 2018: George Herzl Award * 2018: The Engineers' Council Future Technology Leader Award * 2019: JARS Best Paper Award for Photo-Optical Instrumentation and Design * 2021: IET Dr. Sudhalar Rao Award * 2022: IEEE Fellow * 2022: National Space Society (NSS) Award * 2022: IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Award * 2022: Robert J. Collier Trophy * 2022: National Air & Space Museum Collins Award * 2022: Rennais of the Year * 2023: AIAA Associate Fellow * 2024: IET Fellow * 2024: NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal * 2025: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * *

Bibliography

Books

*
CubeSat Antenna Design
' (2021)

Book chapters

* G. Chattopadhyay, M. Alonso Del Pino, N. Chahat, D. Gonzalez, and T. Reck, Terahertz antennas and feeds, Chapter 11 in “Aperture antennas for mm and sub-mm wave applications”, Springer, 2017. * M. Zhadobov, C. Leduc, A. Guraliuc, N. Chahat, and R. Sauleau, “Body-centric wireless communication and networks,” Chapter 5 in Advances in Body-Centric Wireless Communication: Applications and State-of-the-art, , The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), 2016. * N. Chahat, A. Tang, G. Valerio, M. Zhadobov, Anda Guraliuc, and R. Sauleau, Antennas, Phantoms, and Body-centric propagation at millimeter waves, in Electromagnetics of Body-Area Networks: Antennas, Propagation, and RF Circuits, , Wiley/IEEE Press, 2016. * N. Chahat, M. Zhadobov, and R. Sauleau, Progress in compact antennas, Chapter 6: Antennas for body-centric wireless communications at millimeter wave frequencies, , Intech 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chahat, Nacer French people of Algerian descent Fellows of the IEEE NASA people People from Angers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)