{"id":2970,"date":"2022-10-12T16:19:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T21:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.csr.utexas.edu\/?p=2970"},"modified":"2022-10-12T16:19:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T21:19:35","slug":"dr-moriba-jah-awarded-genius-grant-by-macarthur-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utw10640.utweb.utexas.edu\/wordpress\/dr-moriba-jah-awarded-genius-grant-by-macarthur-foundation\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Moriba Jah Awarded \u2018Genius Grant\u2019 by MacArthur Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Moriba Jah, Astrodynamicist, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Austin, TX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moriba Jah<\/a>, an astrodynamicist, space environmentalist and aerospace engineer at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as the \u201cgenius grant.\u201d The award recognizes Jah\u2019s work to track and monitor the more than 30,000 human-made objects orbiting the earth.<\/p>\n

Jah is one of 25 individuals selected for the five-year fellowship \u2014 a no-strings-attached\u00a0\u201cinvestment in a person\u2019s originality, insight and potential.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Recipients are nominated based on proven talent and extraordinary originality and dedication to their creative pursuits.<\/p>\n

Jah, an associate professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering\u2019s Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, has developed tools for more precisely determining the locations and possible orbital paths of the active and inactive satellites, rocket bodies and other debris in space. This knowledge gives scientists a better picture of where objects are related to each other and when a collision could occur.<\/p>\n

In tracking these objects, Jah and his colleagues have built complete catalogs of space objects in orbit. These tools \u2014\u00a0ASTRIAGraph<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Wayfinder, a new version designed specifically for use by the general public \u2014 are online visualization tools, freely available to all, that integrate information from governments, industry and researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe orbital highways are getting crowded, and the services and capabilities that we depend upon are in jeopardy of being lost due to collisions from orbiting space debris, and it\u2019s very difficult to predict where and when those things might happen,\u201d Jah said.<\/p>\n

Jah is an outspoken advocate for space environmentalism, a framework for treating Earth\u2019s orbit as a finite natural resource that needs to be preserved and protected. Jah has proposed policies to create a circular space economy, preventing pollution in the form of single-use satellites and incentivizing companies to reuse satellites rather than abandon them.<\/p>\n

In addition to his research, Jah is a co-founder and chief scientist at Privateer. His fellow co-founders in the private space venture are Alex Fielding, who co-founded technology company Ripcord, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. Together they focus on similar areas to Jah\u2019s research, collecting data on objects in orbit to allow space operators to move safely and effectively.<\/p>\n