Jakob van Zyl, an engineer who held essential positions at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was concerned in quite a few house exploration missions over many years, has died. He was 63.
Van Zyl, who retired in 2019 after a 33-year profession, suffered a coronary heart assault on Monday and died Wednesday at a hospital in Pasadena, California, mentioned Veronica McGregor, a spokeswoman for JPL.
Van Zyl’s roles included director for astronomy and physics, director for photo voltaic system exploration and affiliate director on a challenge to formulate a imaginative and prescient for JPL’s future.
“JPL and NASA are richer for his many technical and managerial contributions, and for his unwavering dedication and fascinating persona,” JPL Director Michael Watkins mentioned in a press release.
Van Zyl was concerned in missions that despatched the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, Dawn to the asteroid belt, Cassini to Saturn, and the InSight Mars and its tying accompanying CubeSat spacecraft. He was additionally concerned within the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission presently en path to the purple planet, in addition to growth of future missions.
His early work in Earth sciences led to roles designing and growing missions utilizing artificial aperture radar.
A local of Namibia, van Zyl obtained a level in electronics engineering from Stellenbosch College in South Africa and earned his grasp’s and doctorate in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Know-how, which manages JPL.
JPL mentioned van Zyl was enthusiastic about encouraging younger individuals in Namibia and South Africa to pursue science.
“His legacy will encourage many generations to come back,” Lisa Johnson, U.S. ambassador to Namibia, mentioned in a video tribute posted to the embassy Facebook web page.
Van Zyl is survived by his spouse, Kalfie, and two siblings.
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