Lars Dyrud Joins Draper to lead Earth & Space Science Programs
Lars Dyrud has joined Draper Laboratory, where he now leads the Lab’s Earth and Space Science Programs.Lars DyrudDyrud, who holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Boston University, previously worked at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, as a Supervisor in the Earth and Geospace Science Group, and founded the APL Center for Public/Private Partnerships, which organizes, advises and manages cooperative efforts to bring down the cost of space missions for government sponsors.Dyrud has advised government sponsors including NASA, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on alternative access to space architectures, such as using cubesats and hosted payloads on satellites like the Iridium telecommunications constellation to gather data on issues including climate change.At Draper, Dyrud will continue his work on projects and mission concepts such as Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Earth Radiation Imbalance System (ERIS), NASA’s Radiometer Assessment Using Vertically Aligned Nanotubes (RAVAN), and the National Science Foundation’s GEOScan – all of which entail using constellations of satellites to view and understand the Earth as a complete and interactive system, which may lead to better the understanding of climate change and the global carbon cycle.