\tFrom Zurich to Mars \u2013 and back<\/p>\n
Kornfeld grew up in Zurich\u2019s Enge neighbourhood and studied Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich. In 1994, an exchange programme took him to the USA, where in 1996 he began a doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Kornfeld joined NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1999, starting a 25-year career that would see him promoted to deputy chief engineer of the Systems Engineering division and ultimately to section manager of more than 240 systems engineers. During that time, he switched back and forth between various space missions, technology development projects and managerial roles.<\/p>\n
For example, for the two Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which both landed on the red planet in 2004, Kornfeld was part of the team responsible for the vehicles\u2019 smooth operations on the Martian surface. During the Curiosity rover mission, which touched down on Mars in 2012, the former ETH student was among those responsible for the entry and landing system. \u201cWe tested the landing for months and prepared ourselves for every possible scenario. In the end, everything went well,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
In addition to his various roles on Mars projects, Kornfeld took on a leading role on the GRACE Follow-on mission, measuring Earth’s surface mass and water changes, and also participated in the recently launched Europa Clipper mission, exploring Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa.<\/p>\n
New role at ETH Zurich<\/p>\n
As Managing Director of ETH Zurich Space, the former NASA engineer will in the future support the Director, Thomas Zurbuchen, with the centre\u2019s operational management and strategic orientation. In this role, Kornfeld will lead a Project Hub and an Innovation Hub. The aim of these two newly founded instruments is to put more Swiss experiments and technologies into space and bring new impetus to the space sector in Switzerland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Project Hub supports research groups from ETH and other institutions with the implementation of space projects at ESA, NASA or other partners \u2013 thanks to help from experienced colleagues such as Richard Kornfeld who already have experience with space missions,\u201d explains Zurbuchen. One example of these projects is the four-legged ETH robot known as LunarLeaper<\/a>. As part of a small mission, this robot is intended to investigate whether there are tunnels that were formed by lava flows billions of years ago beneath the Marius Hills on the Moon.<\/p>\n