Dr. Slava Turyshev

Slava G. Turyshev is an astrophysicist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Turyshev earned his M.S. degree in physics (with honors) and Ph.D. in quantum field theory from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. In 2008, he received the Doctor of Science degree (Habilitation) in astrophysics from the same university. His research spans gravitational and fundamental physics in space, relativistic astrophysics, precision spacecraft navigation, planetary science, space-based astronomy, and advanced space systems. He is an expert in high-precision spacecraft navigation, solar-system dynamics, satellite and lunar laser ranging, astrometry, optical communications, and related space technologies. His recent work focuses on emerging space infrastructure concepts, including orbital data centers, high-rate optical communications networks, and the systems engineering challenges associated with large-scale space-based computing, communications, sustainability, and lifecycle management. His studies examine the coupled roles of spacecraft power generation, thermal management, space-to-ground communications, orbital debris mitigation, reliability, and economics in enabling future orbital infrastructure. Dr. Turyshev has served as NASA Project Scientist for the CNES/ESA MICROSCOPE mission (2016–2020); JPL Project Scientist for the Advanced Lunar Laser Ranging Facility at the Table Mountain Observatory, California (2015–present); and Principal Investigator for the investigation of the Pioneer Anomaly (2003–2012). He was also Principal Investigator for the 2020 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase III effort studying mission concepts using the solar gravitational lens (SGL) for multipixel imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets (2017–2022). He has authored more than 240 scientific publications and two books. Dr. Turyshev is an Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics.