A. Miguel San Martin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Space Research and Technology Centre

Papers

Total Citations

302

H-Index

About

A. Miguel San Martin is a leading aerospace engineer whose career has been defined by pioneering contributions to planetary entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems. His primary research areas include guided lifting entry, autonomous landing systems, and sensor-based mobile robot localization. San Martin’s most significant impact stems from his work on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, which successfully delivered the Curiosity rover to the Martian surface. His landmark papers, “Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing System Overview” (148 citations) and “Mars Science Laboratory: Entry, Descent, and Landing System Performance” (95 citations), detail the revolutionary EDL architecture that enabled the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars. These contributions established the technical foundation for precision landing at Mars, a capability critical for future sample return and human exploration missions. Earlier in his career, San Martin also advanced mobile robotics through fuzzy logic-based localization and sonar mapping techniques, as reflected in his papers from the mid-1990s. His work bridges fundamental robotics research with high-stakes spaceflight engineering, making him a key figure in both autonomous navigation and planetary exploration.