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Xavier Zapien

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91101

Xavier Alexander Zapien

Electrical Engineer

Biography

Xavier Zapien holds an M.Eng and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT. During his Masters, he developed a nanosatellite power system for low power in a wafer-like satellite.
Xavier joined JPL’s Robotic Actuation and Sensing group in Fall of 2020.
His focus has been in electrical system end-to-end design and development, working on robotic arms, EGSE, Antarctic ice probes, EDL systems, autonomous drones, vision systems, and motor controllers.

LinkedIn: Link

Education

Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020.

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019.

Professional Experience

Current Projects

Flight

  • MSR SRL Lander Motor Controller - SIPC Test Lead
  • MSR SRL Enhanced Landing Vision System - EGSE Lead / HPIC Design Engineer / Field Test Operations Engineer

Research & Technology Development

Past Projects

Research & Technology Development

Field Test Experience

Europa Lander Intelligent Landing System - Visual Odometry Field Test

  • Location: Ridgecrest, CA
  • Role: Integrations and Test Lead & Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: Sept 2021 - 3 Weeks

IceNode Lake Superior Test

  • Location: Hancock, MI
  • Role: Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: March 2022 - 1 Week

IceNode Scripps Mechanical Shakeout Test

  • Location: San Diego, CA
  • Role: Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: June 2022 - 1 Week

IceNode Ocean Deployment Test

  • Location: Monterey, CA
  • Role: Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: August 2022 - 1 Week

Europa Lander ILS LiDAR Mechanical Shake Out

  • Location: San Diego, CA
  • Role: Integrations and Test Lead & Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: August 2023 - 1 Week

Europa Lander ILS LiDAR Electrical Shake Out

  • Location: San Diego, CA
  • Role: Integrations and Test Lead & Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: August 2023 - 1 Week

Europa Lander ILS LiDAR & MSR SRL Field Test

  • Location: San Diego, CA & Indio, CA
  • Role: Integrations and Test Lead & Electrical Engineer Lead
  • Date & Duration: December 2023 - 2 Weeks

Research Interests

Awards

Team Award - IceNode March 2023

For successful deployment of the IceNode 3.0 vehicle in three field tests pushing the TRL of the technology

Team Award - SRL VCE August 2022

For successful delivery of the SRL VCE EGSE to TESAT for EDU development

Operator for four Europa Lander LiDAR Helicopter Flights

Operator for four Europa Lander LiDAR Helicopter Flights

Explaining the IceNode science instruments to HS students of Hancock, MI.

Explaining the IceNode science instruments to HS students of Hancock, MI.

Xavier programming quick look tools for LiDAR development.

Xavier programming quick look tools for LiDAR development.

Mechanical shakeout of IceNode in San Diego Scripps Oceanographic Institute

Mechanical shakeout of IceNode in San Diego Scripps Oceanographic Institute

Publications

2021
  1. Evan Bock Clark, Andrew Branch, Rebecca Castano, Ian Fenty, Christine Gebara, Ara Kourchians, Daniel Limonadi, Gauri Madhok, Patrick McGarey, Flora Mechentel, Kelly Nguyen, Tyler Okamoto, Eric Rignot, Federico Rossi, Brendan Santos, Justin Schachter, Michael Schodlok, Dane Schoelen, Timothy Stanton, Joshua Vander Hook, Ben Wolsieffer, Xavier Zapien, "IceNode: a Buoyant Vehicle for Acquiring Well-Distributed Long-Duration Melt Rate Measurements under Ice Shelves," OCEANS 2021: San Diego – Porto, pp. 1-10, 20 September 2021.