Exploration Systems Projects - Leadership Team
Bob Menrad
Bob Menrad serves as Project Manager for Exploration Systems Projects, established by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in March 2006. He holds a Masters in Computer Science from The Johns Hopkins University and Bachelors from Rider University where he majored in physics and minored in math and biology. Bob worked in the aerospace industry for five years before becoming a NASA Civil Servant in 1990. He has been directly involved in nine robotic science missions and has received numerous awards; most recently the “GSFC Outstanding Leadership” award. He has worked with the European Space Agency, French Space Agency, and Japanese Space Agency; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and United States Geological Survey (USGS); as well as all NASA Field Centers.
He began his career in private industry as a Science Operations Specialist on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) flight team at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland. Later Bob served as Data Systems Manager for the Office of Space Science GGS/Wind, Polar, and ISTP/SOHO missions. He then served as Landsat-7 (L-7) Ground Systems Manager. After the successful launch of L-7, Bob acted as Project Manager, Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project. There he managed the strategic definition, implementation, and operation of the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). He then served as Chairman of the GSFC Systems Review Board – Ground Data Systems and Mission Operations.
In February 2006, prior to accepting his current position, Bob Menrad successfully completed a one-year assignment at NASA Headquarters during which he served as Program Manager, Integrated Learning and Development Program (ILDP) and managed the definition, validation, and transition to operations of NASA’s first fully-integrated technical workforce career development model; a key enabling capability for realizing the vision of returning man to the moon and then to Mars. He resides in Pasadena, Maryland with his wife and children. He is also a faculty member of the Mathematics Department, Anne Arundel Community College, in Maryland.
Neal Barthelme
In July of 2006, Neal Barthelme was appointed to the position of Deputy Project Manager for the Exploration Systems Projects (ESP). Prior to this assignment Neal was the Project Manager of the Living with a Star (LWS) Space Experimental Test beds (SET) Project at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
He graduated with a BS in Computer Science from Loyola College in 1983. After graduation, Neal joined GSFC in August 1983 as an aerospace engineer. For eight years he worked as the Special Payloads Division (SPD) Get-Away Special (GAS) NASA Technical Manager and GAS Flight Operations Manager. In 1991, Neal was hired as the first Hitchhiker (HH) mission manager in the new Shuttle Small Payloads Project (SSPP). From 1991 to 2000, Neal managed eighteen complex experiments which flew on six fully successful shuttle missions. In 2000, Neal joined the Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) program office as a Mission Manager for the CALIPSO satellite. Neal later worked as the Mission Manager for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and HYDROS missions.
Neal has received numerous awards including the GSFC Exceptional Achievement Medal (1993 Honor Awards); a Silver Medal as a Federal Executive Board Finalist for excellence in Federal Career, category IIA; Outstanding Supervisor Award (Technical, Scientific and Program Support) in 1996. Neal and his wife Katie live in Towson, Maryland. Neal and Katie have a twenty-one year-old son, an eighteen year old daughter, and a seven year-old son.
