Curt Niebur

Curt Niebur works in the Planetary Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, which manages robotic space science missions across the solar system. As the Lead Scientist for Flight Programs, he provides scientific leadership on the management of all non-Mars flight programs and projects in the division. He also manages the competitive process NASA uses to select its new planetary missions. Curt has also served as the Program Scientist on a variety of planetary missions at all stages from formulation through operations, and is currently the Program Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission (a role he has served in since the mission’s inception in 2014). Clipper will launch this October and is the culmination of a 20 year effort Curt has helped lead to get the mission off the ground. It will arrive at Europa in 2031.