Simone D'Amico

Simone D'Amico is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University and holds a courtesy appointment in Geophysics. He is the Founding Director of the Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB) and Director of the AA Undergraduate Program. His research focuses on distributed space systems, formation flying, and spacecraft autonomy, with contributions to missions like GRACE, TanDEM-X, and PROBA-3. He leads upcoming NASA/NSF-funded projects including STARLING, VISORS, and SWARM-EX. D'Amico has received numerous awards, including the NASA Group Achievement Award (2004) and the Leonardo 500 Award (2019).

Education: B.S. and M.S. from Politecnico di Milano (2003), Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology (2010). Prior to Stanford, he spent 11 years at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a research scientist and team leader.

Research Interests: Advanced astrodynamics, spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC), autonomy, and distributed space systems. His work aims to enable miniature satellite swarms for remote sensing and space exploration.

Awards: Includes AAS and AIAA Best Paper Awards (2019-2022), Terman Faculty Fellowship (2013-2016), and multiple DLR recognitions.

Advising & Grants: Supervises doctoral and master’s students, advises NASA and startups, and leads SLAB’s hardware-in-the-loop testbeds for DSS development.

Labs & Projects: SLAB collaborates internationally on missions like STARFOX and SWARM-EX, advancing technologies for asteroid characterization and exoplanet imaging.