Peter Tsou is a science staff member at the

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 ...

(JPL) of the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

. His research primarily centers around the utilization of

aerogel Aerogels are a class of manufacturing, synthetic porous ultralight material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component for the gel has been replaced with a gas, without significant collapse of the gel structure. The result is a solid wit ...

space exploration Space exploration is the process of utilizing astronomy and space technology to investigate outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted bo ...

. Tsou has served as the principal investigator (PI) for several missions conducted on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

and

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

, during which he devised the method of intact capture for

hypervelocity Hypervelocity is very high velocity, approximately over 3,000 meters per second (11,000 km/h, 6,700 mph, 10,000 ft/s, or Mach 8.8). In particular, hypervelocity is velocity so high that the strength of materials upon impact is v ...

particles In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass. They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...

. He gained recognition for his involvement in the capture and retrieval of

cometary A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or coma surrounding the nucleus, and ...

particles through

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's Stardust mission, where he served as the deputy PI.

Education

Tsou completed his undergraduate studies at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he obtained a

B.S. degree A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

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 ...

in 1965, followed by an M.S. degree in the same field in 1966. In 1972, he received 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 ...

in large-scale engineering systems from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Career

Since 1974, Tsou has been employed at NASA's

(JPL) in

Pasadena, CA Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial ...

. Currently, he holds the position of Deputy Principal Investigator for the STARDUST mission, a role he has held since 1994. Tsou has also served as principal investigator for various projects, including the MIR Sample Return Experiment (1994–1997), the Spacehab II Sample Return Experiment, and the Get Away Special Sample Return Experiment (1989–present). He has held several managerial and engineering positions at JPL, including STARDUST proposal manager (1992–1994), instrument definition manager (1984–1990), spacecraft system engineer (1982–1990), task manager for the Low-Cost Solar Array program (1975–1980), and system engineer (1974–1975). As of 2020, Tsou was working on two projects at NASA. He conducted research in the field of

astrobiology Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...

of ice planets and their potential water-rich environments.

Research

Dr. Tsou's research focus has primarily been on the retrieval of cometary samples. He is credited with inventing the method of capturing hypervelocity particles intact, which has been instrumental in missions such as

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

. Collaborating with scientists from

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Livermore, California, United States. Originally established in 1952, the laboratory now i ...

, he contributed to the development of a lighter

specifically designed for capturing cometary particles. Additionally, he played a role in introducing

as a flight-qualified variable

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

material and capture medium for space missions. Furthermore, Dr. Tsou has made contributions to the field of space

thermal insulation Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer (i.e., the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature) between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with s ...

by inventing an integrated

thermal-structural design for the

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' was an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a rover (space exploration), roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a Lander (spacecraft), lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a ligh ...

Sojourner rover The robotic ''Sojourner'' rover reached Mars on July 4, 1997 as part of the ''Mars Pathfinder'' mission. ''Sojourner'' was operational on Mars for 92 sols (95 Earth days), and was the first wheeled vehicle to operate on an astronomical object ...

.Tsou, P., “STARDUST: a Comet Coma Flyby Sample Return”, IEEE, 2009. His research interests extend to investigating the potential exobiological effects of extraterrestrial bodies and exploring methods to retrieve samples of materials from other planets.

Awards

* 2000 NASA Patent: Large Field of View 3-D Hologram Display System * 2000

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the U ...

– STARDUST Project Team * 1997 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal * 1996 JPL Inaugural Award for Excellence – Exceptional Technical Excellence * 1985 NASA Group Achievement Award – Low-Cost Solar Array Project

In Media

Peter Tsou has appeared on TV twice as himself. *

Naked Science ''Naked Science'' is an American documentary television series that premiered in 2004 on the National Geographic Channel and ran through November 2011. The program featured various subjects related to science and technology. Some of the views ex ...

- Season 4, Episode 17: Birth of the Solar System (2007) * The Universe - Season 3, Episode 6: Deadly Comets and Meteors (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsou, Peter Living people American scientists NASA people UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of California, Los Angeles staff Year of birth missing (living people)