Keynote speaker Charles Elachi works at the California Institute of Technology as Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science’s Professor Emeritus. In the past, he served as Director of the California Institute of Technology and the Director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While working at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the research center launched 24 missions.

During his 40 year tenure at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Charles Elachi led the creation of the spaceborne imaging radar’s field.  As a result, SIR-A, SIR-B, SIR-C, Seasat, SRTM, Magellan, and the Cassini Radar were created. Speaker Charles Elachi obtained several national and international awards thanks to his work in spaceborne imaging radar. 

While serving as the Space and Earth Science programs’ Director in the ’80s, Dr. Elachi had an essential role in defining and developing several Jet Propulsion Laboratory missions and flight instruments for the Origins program, Solar System Exploration, Astrophysics, and Earth Observation. 

Later in the ’90s, Charles led many international and national committees. These committees created the NASA roadmaps needed in order to explore our Solar System, nearby Solar Systems, and Mars. Several archaeological excursions conducted by Dr. Elachi have been on National Geographic magazine due to employing satellite data to seek ancient trading routes and hidden cities.

Dr. Elachi has obtained several awards, one of which is the Aviation Week Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In addition, he received the 2016 RNASA National Space Trophy. He also obtained the 2016 IAF Allen D. Emil Memorial Award. Charles Elachi is an IAA member and an AIAA fellow.