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Daniele Mortari, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, turned his attention to aerospace engineering after his degree in nuclear engineering became "a degree of the past." Mortari says, "Aerospace engineering needs and can accomodate many different skills."

Second time's the charm for aerospace engineering professor

NASA honors Daniele Mortari with Group Achievement Award for work with space navigation

By: Melissa Appel

Posted: 2/25/09

"Once you really understand what you like, then you will find the path toward it," said Daniele Mortari, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

Mortari said he understands the dilemma of finding a field that truly interests students enough for them to pursue it as a career. The path that led him to aerospace engineering, his second choice, has earned him a Group Achievement Award from NASA. The NASA recognition was awarded in response to his work developing a space navigation system.

The native Italian received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University "La Sapienza" of Rome. His first "Dottore" degree was in nuclear engineering, which fascinated him because of its relevance to his home country at the time.

"At that time, it was the 'degree of the future:' many nuclear reactors were planned to provide power for Italy," Mortari said.

His dissertation was on the topic of neutronics of Canadian Deuterium-Uranium Reactors. Soon after, Mortari discovered his degree would not serve him as he had intended.

"During the course of my graduate work, public opinion in Italy changed and nuclear power was not an option anymore," Mortari said. "So my diploma became a 'degree of the past' with no employment opportunities."

Mortari turned his attention to the growing field of aerospace engineering. As the third nation to put a satellite in orbit, Italy was eager to develop more thinkers in the field. Mortari was sent to NASA-Goddard near Washington, D.C., and went on to complete his second "Dottore" degree in this field.

Mortari became an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Rome in 1992. His first encounter with Texas A&M was in 1994, when he was introduced to John Junkins, distinguished professor in the aerospace engineering department, at a Space Flight Mechanics conference. That relationship continued, culminating in 2001, when Mortari moved his family to College Station to accept a job at A&M.

Since his first day in Aggieland, Mortari's research has expanded and bloomed, quite literally.

"My most exciting accomplishment is the discovery [of] a revolutionary methodology to design satellite constellations, the so-called 'Flower Constellations.' This has generated much interest all over the world," Mortari said. "A particular 'Flower Constellation' that I love to show to the students is the 'Lone Star' constellation. The beauty of this constellation is that the shape of the star is preserved during the orbital dynamics."

However, it was his most recent work with space navigation that earned Mortari and his team recognition by NASA. The New Millennium ST6 Inertial Stellar Compass Team used an algorithm written by Mortari to create a program that is able to identify observed stars and estimate an object's orientation in space.

"Having a fast and precise approach to estimate the orientation in space of spacecraft is crucially important for precise spacecraft navigation," Mortari said.

The "Stellar Positioning System" will be able to be attached to spacecraft such as Lunar and Martian rovers. With this new technology, the approximate location of such vehicles would be able to be accurately determined.

"The better and faster this task is performed, the more accurate will be the control system," Mortari said. "Also, any advance in this field allows the science onboard the spacecraft to be more accurate and successful."

The award from NASA, given in acknowledgment for the team's outstanding achievement in developing this technology, has inspired Mortari to continue in the research that intrigues him.

"Aerospace engineering needs and can accommodate many different skills - totally theoretical to completely hands-on," Mortari said. "Aerospace engineering is made of three main fields: material and structures, aerodynamics and dynamics and control. There is plenty of room for you there."