Zac Manchester

Zac Manchester

Assistant Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University; pioneer of gram-scale ChipSat spacecraft as founder of KickSat project

Zac Manchester is an Assistant Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in applied physics and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, both from Cornell University, and was previously a member of the faculty at Stanford University and a researcher at NASA Ames Research Center. Zac pioneered the development of gram-scale ChipSat spacecraft as founder of the KickSat project and has served as Principal Investigator on multiple NASAfunded small satellite missions. He received a NASA Early Career Faculty Award in 2018 and a Google Faculty Research Award in 2019. His research interests include numerical optimization and control systems, particularly with application to robotic space exploration. Dr. Manchester commented: “I am extremely excited to be a part of the Copernicus Space Corporation and honored to be in such great company. Copernicus is taking the next step in the great tradition of humanity’s reach for the stars.”