ARES | Bios | Heather Cowardin

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Picture of Heather Cowardin, Scientist, Orbital Debris Program Office, NASA

Heather Cowardin

Scientist, Orbital Debris Program Office | NASA

Heather Cowardin

Scientist, Orbital Debris Program Office
NASA

Email

heather.cowardin@nasa.gov

Phone

281.483.2938

Email

heather.cowardin@nasa.gov

Phone

281.483.2938

Biography

Dr. Heather M. Cowardin is the Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Branch Chief within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at the NASA Johnson Space Center. She oversees the integration and success of the interdisciplinary team to support measurements, models, mitigation, and risk assessment associated with the orbital debris environment.

For over 20 years, Dr. Cowardin has supported the Hypervelocity and Orbital Debris Program Office focusing on characterization of earth orbiting objects over optical and near infrared wavelengths using telescopic and laboratory measurements to support environmental models used for space flight in all orbital regimes. Her ongoing research has contributed to over 100 publications and presentations, and she continues to lead multiple research projects focused on orbital debris characterization via laboratory, ground-based observations, and in-situ experiments and measurements. Dr. Cowardin also serves as co-I on past and upcoming Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) missions.

In addition, Dr. Cowardin also serves on various panels that promote STEM projects/research at all educational levels and is a strong advocate for women in science. Of honorable mention, she continues to serve on the Rice University Professional Science Master’s Board of Affiliates within the Space Studies program and supports the NASA JSC Envoy team for University of Houston.

Education

Ph.D.

Space Physics

University of Houston, Houston, TX

2010

M.S.

Physics

University of Houston, Houston, TX

2006

B.S.

Physics

University of Houston, Houston, TX

2004

Education

Ph.D., Space Physics, 2010

University of Houston, Houston, TX

M.S., Physics, 2006

University of Houston, Houston, TX

B.S., Physics, 2004

University of Houston, Houston, TX

Select Publications

Cowardin, H. , Anz-Meador, P., Reyes, J., “Characterizing GEO Titan IIIC Transtage Fragmentations using Ground-based and Telescopic Measurements,” AMOS 2017, Maui, Hawaii, 19-22 September 2017.

Frith, J., Barker, E., Cowardin, H. , Buckalew, B., Anz-Meador, P., Lederer, S., “Characterizing the Survey Strategy and Initial Orbit Determination Abilities of the NASA MCAT,” AMOS 2017, Maui, Hawaii, 19-22 September 2017.

Engelhart, D., Cooper, R., Cowardin, H. , Maxwell, J., Plis, E., Barton, D., Schiefer, S. and R. Hoffmann, R., “Space Weathering Experiments on Spacecraft Materials,” AMOS 2017, Maui, Hawaii, 19-22 September 2017.

Lederer, S., Hickson, P., Cowardin, H. , Buckalew, B., Frith, J., Alliss, R., “NASA's Optical Program on Ascension Island: Bringing MCAT to Life as the Eugene Stansbery-Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (ES-MCAT),” AMOS 2017, Maui, Hawaii, 19-22 September 2017.

Seitzer, P., Barker, E., Buckalew, B., Burkhardt, A., Cowardin, H. , Frith, J., Kaleida, C., Lederer, S., “A Search for Debris from Two Titan 3C Transtage Breakups at GEO with a 6.5-m Magellan Telescope,” AMOS 2017, Maui, Hawaii, 19-22 September 2017.

Cowardin, H. , et al., “Characterization of Orbital Debris via Hyper-velocity Laboratory-based Tests,” 7th European Conference on Space Debris, 17 - 21 April 2017, Darmstadt, Germany

Lederer, S., Cowardin, H. , Buckalew, B., Frith, J., Hickson, P., Pace, L., Matney, M., Anz-Meador, P., Seitzer, P., Stansbery, E., and Glesne, T., “NASA's Orbital Debris Optical and IR Ground-based Observing Program Utilizing the MCAT, UKIRT, and Magellan Telescopes,” AMOS 2016, Maui, Hawaii, 20-23 September 2016.

Moraguez, M., Patankar, K., Fitz-Coy, N.,Liou, J.-C., Sorge, M., Huynh, T., Cowardin, H. , Opiela, J., and Krisko, P., “An Imaging System for Automated Characteristic Length Measurement of DebriSat Fragments,” 66th International Astronautical Congress, Jerusalem, Israel, 12-16 October 2015.

M. RIVERO, I. EDHLUND, N. FITZ-COY, J.-C. LIOU, M. SORGE, T. HUYNH, J. OPIELA, H. COWARDIN, AND P. KRISKO, “Hypervelocity Impact Testing of DebriSat to Improve Satellite Breakup Modeling”, The 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 29 September - 3 October 2014, Toronto, Canada.

H. Cowardin, S. Lederer, G. Stansbery, P. Seitzer, B. Buckalew, K. Abercromby, E. Barker, “NASA's Optical Measurement Program 2014,” AMOS 2014, Maui, Hawaii, 11 September 2014.

H. Cowardin, P.Seitzer, K. Abercromby, E. Barker, B. Buckalew, T. Cardona, P. Krisko, S. Lederer, Observations of Titan IIIC Transtage fragmentation debris, AMOS, 10-13 Sept 2013.

Liou, J.C., Lederer, S., Cowardin, H. , Mulrooney, M., Read, J., Chun, F., Dearborn, M., Tippets, R., “Light Curve Observations of Upper Stages in the Low Earth Orbit Environment,” 63rd International Astronautical Conference: 1-5 Oct 2012.

Ojakangas, O., Anz-Meador, P., Cowardin, H. , “Probable rotation states of rocket bodies in Low Earth Orbit,” AMOS, 11-14 Sept 2012.

Hejduk, M., Cowardin, H. , Stansbery, G., “Phase Function Determination in Support of Orbital Debris Size Estimation,” AMOS, 11-14 Sept 2012.

Cowardin, H. , Observations of Human-made Debris in Earth Orbit, Optical Instrumentation for Energy and Environmental Applications (E2) Conference, Austin, TX, 2-4 Nov, 2011.

Cowardin, H. , Characterization of Orbital Debris Objects over Optical Wavelengths via Laboratory Measurements, PhD thesis, Houston, TX, May 2010.