Dr. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay's Personal Website

Dr. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay is a robotics technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where he develops novel algorithms for future multi-agent and swarm missions. In 2020, he was named a NASA NIAC fellow for his work on the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope on the far side of the Moon. He received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering in 2016 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, where he specialized in probabilistic swarm guidance and distributed estimation. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering in 2010 from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India, where as an undergraduate, he co-founded and led the institute's student satellite project, Pratham, which was launched into low Earth orbit in September 2016. His engineering expertise stems from a long-standing interest in the science underlying space missions, since winning the gold medal for India at the 9th International Astronomy Olympiad held in Ukraine in 2004.
 

Currently, Saptarshi is focused on conceptualizing space missions that can leverage the unique capabilities of multiple spacecraft. His research interests include understanding the evolution of the Solar System by probing the interiors of small bodies, using interferometry to image exoplanets and gain insights into the origin of life and our place in the Universe, as well as developing autonomous spacecraft. He has published more than 70 papers in journals and refereed conferences.