Dr. Carl Pilcher

Science Program Director
Solar System Exploration
Dr. Carl B. Pilcher is the Science Program Director (Solar System Exploration) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. As a member of the Office of Space Science (OSS) Board of Directors, he has responsibility for overall general management, budget, and strategic planning for NASA's Solar System Exploration programs, including the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn, NASA's low-cost Discovery missions and several upcoming missions to Mars.

He previously served in the Office of Space Science as the Assistant Associate Administrator for Strategic and International Planning, responsible for strategic planning and other long-range aspects of space science and exploration, including developing long-range international approaches. Since coming to NASA in 1988, Dr. Pilcher has also served as the Chief of the Mission From Planet Earth Study Office, the Director for Science in the Office of Exploration, the Special Assistant for Exploration in the Office of Space Science and Applications, and the Chief of the Advanced Studies Branch in the Solar System Exploration Division.

Dr. Pilcher received degrees in Chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (B.S. 1968) and MIT (Ph.D. 1973). His doctoral thesis in planetary astronomy led to a faculty position at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. After a dozen years of planetary research and teaching at Hawaii, Dr. Pilcher entered the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University with support from a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in International Peace and Security. He received a Master of Public Affairs degree in international relations from Princeton in 1987. Dr. Pilcher has also been a member of the Galileo Project Imaging Team since 1977.