Bob E. Schutz
Professor
Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Joe J. King Chair in Engineering
FSX Professor in Space Applications and Exploration
Phone: (512) 471-4267
Fax: (512) 232-5797
Email: schutz@csr.utexas.edu
Dr. Bob Schutz earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 1969. He joined the faculty of the university that same year. He is the associate director of the Center for Space Research. Schutz is also a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Astronautical Society.
Dr. Schutz conducts research in Earth satellite applications. Specifically, he has been instrumental in designing and developing software for determining precision orbits of Earth satellites and attitudes of satellites. He has developed software for the prediction of satellite positions, including software directing the Global Positioning System (GPS). Schutz has supervised a team that designed instrumentation for the detection and timing of laser light from the NASA Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), as well as the validation of data products from this satellite. Schutz is the science team leader for ICESat, which uses a laser ranging system known as the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) to measure changes in the polar ice as well as measure land topography and cloud properties. Recently, ICESat has detected changes in land topography, rivers and lakes.
Research Interests:
- Spaceborne and airborne laser altimetry
- Space geodesy (measuring Earth), including GPS and satellite laser ranging
- Spacecraft dynamics, including orbit and attitude determination
- Satellite mission design