Joel Getchius
Papers
2
Total Citations
10
H-Index
2
About
Joel Getchius is a researcher specializing in autonomous navigation systems for space exploration, with a focus on precision landing and celestial navigation technologies. His work bridges the gap between theoretical navigation methods and practical flight validation, contributing to NASA's efforts in enabling safe, autonomous landings on planetary bodies. Getchius was a key contributor to the Morpheus/ALHAT project, which integrated liquid oxygen/methane propulsion with Autonomous Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology. His paper on the terrestrial test campaign results of this project, published in 2016, documents critical flight tests that demonstrated hazard-relative navigation during approach-phase landing—a foundational capability for future lunar and Mars missions. This work has garnered 7 citations, reflecting its importance in the field. More recently, Getchius explored the predicted performance of X-ray navigation systems for deep space and lunar missions in a 2019 paper, contributing to the legacy of NASA’s SEXTANT experiment aboard the NICER mission. With 3 citations, this research advances the feasibility of X-ray pulsar-based navigation as an alternative to traditional radio tracking. Getchius’s contributions are notable for their direct impact on NASA’s autonomous landing and navigation technology development.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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