Dan Andrews Director of Engineering and VIPER Project Manager NASA Ames Research Center

Daniel Andrews is the Director of Engineering at NASA’s Ames Research Center, detailed to lead the VIPER rover mission to the moon. Dan has been working closely with NASA-Headquarters in Washington DC to develop the first US robotic rover mission to the moon, VIPER. This mission follows on the heels of the ground-truthing LCROSS mission, which he also led, confirming the presence of billions of gallons of water-ice on the South Pole of the Moon.

Dan is known in NASA for leading capabilities-driven, cost-effective missions. Dan received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University and his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He started his career at NASA’s Ames Research Center as an automation and controls engineer working on many diverse robotic technology demonstration projects, including development of a 3-axis Exobiology Robotic Table, a Serpentine Robot, an Autonomous Rotorcraft, and the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) Project - a free-flying robot astronaut assistant, garnering the attention of Newsweek, Popular Science, and Air & Space Magazine, and was named one of the “50 Best Robots Ever” in Wired Magazine.

Dan has received numerous NASA awards including the Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Exceptional Achievement Medal, as well as several Group Achievement awards. His teams have received a number of industry awards such as Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Award, the Space Foundation’s “John L. ‘Jack’ Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration”, and the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award.