Giuseppe Cataldo
(SUPERVISORY AST, TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT)
| Email: | giuseppe.cataldo@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.286.3491 |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 665 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: |
Brief Bio
Dr. Giuseppe Cataldo is a senior engineering and technology leader at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with more than 16 years of experience leading complex spaceflight programs, technology portfolios, and multi‑disciplinary teams across the mission lifecycle. He currently serves as Associate Head of Systems Engineering, where he leads systems engineering and integration (SE&I) activities for the Artemis III science campaign, directs mission‑critical risk management and integration, and oversees workforce operations for nearly 200 civil servants and contractors.
Previously, Dr. Cataldo served as Assistant Chief for Technology for Goddard’s Mechanical Systems Division—its largest engineering division—managing a ~$30M R&D portfolio and driving strategic investments in advanced space technologies for Moon to Mars, planetary defense, and national security. He strengthened partnerships across NASA centers, academia and industry, executed governance processes, and enabled the infusion of next‑generation capabilities while securing highly competitive funding for future missions.
Earlier, he led planetary protection systems engineering for Mars Sample Return, guiding SE&I strategy, requirements and verification, multidisciplinary analyses, and risk management while coordinating teams across five NASA centers, JPL and ESA.
Dr. Cataldo has contributed to some of NASA’s most ambitious missions and instruments, including the James Webb Space Telescope, where his Bayesian‑based modeling framework reduced analysis cycles from months to weeks; the EXCLAIM and PRIME astrophysics missions, where he served as Chief Engineer and Deputy Project Manager; multiple technology maturation efforts spanning far‑infrared spectroscopy (e.g., Micro-Spec), advanced materials, uncertainty quantification and cutting‑edge digital engineering; feasibility and multidisciplinary optimization studies of payloads for Earth-imaging satellites and advanced concepts for lunar exploration.
He joined NASA as one of two European Space Agency (ESA)‑sponsored members of the prestigious NASA Academy, earning the John Mather Nobel Scholar Award. His achievements have been recognized with numerous awards, including NASA’s Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, Early Career Public Achievement Medal, and election as an AIAA Associate Fellow.
Dr. Cataldo is fluent in six languages and is deeply engaged in mentoring, workforce development, and public outreach. He holds a PhD from MIT and multiple master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from leading European institutions. In his spare time he enjoys helping the poor, playing the violin and piano, swimming, hiking, skiing, sailing, and hanging out with his family and friends.
Education
PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA (2015, completed in 2.5 years)
- Thesis title: Development of ultracompact, high-sensitivity, space-based instrumentation for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy
Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering within the Top International Managers in Engineering (TIME) Program
- Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace SUPAERO, Toulouse, France (November 2010)
- Thesis title: Optical Properties of Astronomical Silicates with Infrared Techniques
Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering within the High Polytechnic School (ASP) Program
- Polytechnic Institute of Turin, Italy (November 2010)
- Thesis as above
Master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering
- Polytechnic Institute of Milan, Italy (October 2010)
- Thesis as above
Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering
- Polytechnic Institute of Milan, Italy (July 2007)
- Thesis title: Experimental research on innovative solid fuels for hybrid propellers
Awards
NASA Awards:
Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, 2024
Early Career Public Achievement Medal, 2017
Group Achievement Award (PRIME Wide Field Imager Team), 2024
Group Achievement Award (JWST Core 2 Test Team), 2017
Goddard Technology Advancement/Innovation Award (CCRS UV System Team), 2024
Goddard Science Team Award (PRIME Wide Field Imager Team), 2023
Goddard Engineering Team Award (JWST Integrated Modeling Team), 2020
Special Act Award (CCRS Back Planetary Protection Preliminary Design), 2023
Special Act Award (Multi-messenger Astrophysics Probe Study Team), 2021
Mentoring Award (Goddard Sciences & Exploration Directorate), 2021
John Mather Nobel Scholar Award, 2009
NASA Academy Award (NASA/ESA), 2009
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA):
Associate Fellow, 2024
Senior Member, 2019
Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Award, 2014
Others:
Pugliesi nel Mondo Award, 2025
Due Mari di Talenti Award (Foundation Taranto25, Italy), 2024
Sigma Xi Full Membership, 2023
Young Scientist Award (Italian Cultural Society of Washington, DC), 2019
First Alumnus Prize ("A. Chionna" Middle and Elementary School, Lizzano, Italy), 2015
MIT Arthur Gelb Fellowship, 2012-2013
Honorary Plaque (Mayor of Lizzano, Italy), 2012
Mayoux-Dauriac Prize (ISAE-SUPAERO, France), 2010
Pegasus Award (ISAE-SUPAERO and Polytechnic Institute of Milan), 2010
ESA Research Grant, 2010
Top Industrial Managers for Europe Award (TIME), 2008
High Polytechnic School Award, 2008
Numerous travel grants (SPIE, IEEE, MIT, NASA)
Research Interests
Systems engineering
Multidisciplinary design optimization
Multifidelity uncertainty quantification
Infrared astronomy
High-precision infrared instrumentation for space, balloon and ground telescopes
Dielectric properties of materials of astrophysical and engineering interest
Origin and evolution of dust in the early universe
Current Projects
Uncertainty Quantification (UQ)
Theory & Modeling
- Leads the NASA UQ Community of Practice, engaging a growing, diverse team from all NASA centers and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- Developed vision and roadmap for infusion and adoption of UQ methodologies to improve project risk posture by providing model- and data-based evidence to the decision-making process.
- Leads all efforts to develop and apply an efficient framework for multifidelity uncertainty quantification (MFUQ) to inform and guide the design, verification and validation processes of complex, large-scale, multidisciplinary systems throughout their life cycle.
- MFUQ improves project performance by reducing the analysis time and freeing up resources for activities, such as integration and testing, that can have a major influence on the system's ability to meet the requirements.
- Successfully applied to JWST, MSR and other projects.
Materials' Optical Characterization in the Infrared and Sub-millimeter
Theory & Modeling
- Modeling, analysis, and interpretation of the dielectric properties of silicon-based materials of astrophysical and engineering interest: silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon carbide, bulk silicon and astrophysical dust analogs.
Professional Societies
Sigma Xi - The Scientific Honor Research Society
Full Member
2013 - Present
AIAA - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Deputy Director for Technical Activities, Region I (2025 - Present), Associate Fellow (2024), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) Technical Committee Officer and Publication Sub-committee Chair (2018 - Present), Technical Discipline Chair (SciTech 2026), Deputy Technical Discipline Chair (SciTech 2025)
2011 - Present
ISSNAF - Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation
DMV and NASA Chapters' Co-founder and former Chair
2011 - Present
NAAA - NASA Academy Alumni Association
Vice President of Operations (2010), Application Scoring Committee (2010 - Present), Academy Interview Committee (2010 - Present)
2009 - Present
SPIE - Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
Member
2014 - 2019
AAS - American Astronomical Society
2011 - 2019
Other Professional Information
Languages: English, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German.
Referee service for journals (Nature Scientific Reports, Acta Astronautica, Aerospace, Applied Optics, Applied Physics B, Geosciences, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, Journal of Space Safety Engineering, Machines, Optical Engineering, Optics Express, Optics Letters, Review of Scientific Instruments, Systems Engineering, etc.) and conferences (AIAA, AAS - session chair, ISSNAF).
Reviewer: Chair/Member of NASA Review Boards for mission and proposal selection, NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) and NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) applications.
Selected Publications
Refereed
2026. "Reliability analyses and risk assessments for restricted planetary sample return missions.", Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 269 112085 [10.1016/j.ress.2025.112085] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Planetary protection trades and lessons learned from designing Mars Sample Return’s Capture, Containment, and Return System.", Acta Astronautica, 232 174-180 [10.1016/j.actaastro.2025.01.046] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Global sensitivity analyses for test planning with black‐box models for Mars Sample Return.", Risk Analysis, 45 (8): 2300-2322 [10.1111/risa.70010] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Lessons Learned in Designing a Proposed Ultraviolet Sterilization System for Space.", Aerospace, 11 (7): 538 [10.3390/aerospace11070538] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "NASA’s Capture, Containment, and Return System: Bringing Mars samples to Earth.", Acta Astronautica, 223 270-303 [10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.05.048] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "The planetary protection strategy of Mars Sample Return’s Earth Return Orbiter mission.", Journal of Space Safety Engineering, 11 (2): 374-384 [10.1016/j.jsse.2024.04.013] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Formation flying orbits and GNC design in binary asteroid systems.", Advances in Space Research, 73 (11): 5714-5725 [10.1016/j.asr.2023.07.040] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Extragalactic science with the experiment for cryogenic large-aperture intensity mapping.", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 521 (4): 6124-6142 [10.1093/mnras/stad916] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Model predictive control for formation reconfiguration exploiting quasi-periodic tori in the cislunar environment.", Nonlinear Dynamics, 111 (8): 6941-6959 [10.1007/s11071-022-08214-8] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Multifidelity uncertainty quantification and model validation of large-scale multidisciplinary systems.", Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 8 (03): [10.1117/1.jatis.8.3.038001] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Experiment for cryogenic large-aperture intensity mapping: instrument design.", Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 7 (04): [10.1117/1.jatis.7.4.044004] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Infrared properties of high-purity silicon.", Optics Letters, 45 (17): 4935-4938 [10.1364/OL.393847] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Second-generation Micro-Spec: A compact spectrometer for far-infrared and submillimeter space missions.", Acta Astronautica, 162 155-159 [10.1016/j.actaastro.2019.06.012] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Electromagnetic Design of a Magnetically Coupled Spatial Power Combiner.", Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 193 777-785 [10.1007/s10909-018-1923-2] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Model-based thermal system design optimization for the James Webb Space Telescope.", Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 3 (4): 044202 [10.1117/1.JATIS.3.4.044002] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Fabrication and characterization of superconducting resonators.", Journal of Visualized Experiments, 111 e53868 [10.3791/53868] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Infrared dielectric properties of low-stress silicon oxide.", Optics Letters, 41 (7): 1364-1367 [10.1364/OL.41.001364] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "A four-pole power-combiner design for far-infrared and submillimeter spectroscopy.", Acta Astronautica, 114 (C): 54-59 [10.1016/j.actaastro.2015.04.002] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Analysis and calibration techniques for superconducting resonators.", Review of Scientific Instruments, 86 (1): 013103 [10.1063/1.4904972] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Tradespace Investigation of a Telescope Architecture for Next-generation Space Astronomy and Exploration.", MIT Technical Reports, SSL (13-14): [http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92407] [Report]
2014. "Micro-Spec: an ultracompact, high-sensitivity spectrometer for far-infrared and submillimeter astronomy.", Applied Optics, 53 (6): 1094-1102 [10.1364/AO.53.001094] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "Optical Properties of Iron Silicates in the Infrared to Millimeter as a Function of Wavelength and Temperature.", The Astrophysical Journal, 770 (46): 1-12 [10.1088/0004-637X/770/1/46] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "Infrared dielectric properties of low-stress silicon nitride.", Optics Letters , 37 (20): 4200-4202 [10.1364/OL.37.004200] [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "Measuring the Optical Properties of Astrophysical Dust Analogues: Instrumentation and Methods.", Applied Optics, 50 (21): 4115-4123 [10.1364/AO.50.004115] [Journal Article/Letter]