Mrs. Myra Mitcheltree

The Robert Mitcheltree Scholarship was established in December 2006. The award was created by James and Myra Mitcheltree in memory of their son, Robert Mitcheltree (BSAE ‘84, MSAE ’86, PhDAE ’89). In 1989, Bob went to work for NASA Langley Research Center. While living in Hampton, VA he enjoyed sailing and lived on his own boat- “Anna” for eight years. He sailed across the Atlantic Ocean twice. He joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2001 to work with the Mars Exploration program. Bob’s contributions to robotic exploration were immense. He was a major player in the design and development of the Mars Pathfinder, Mars Microprobe, Stardust, Mars Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Sample Return Projects. Perhaps, Bob’s greeted profession achievement was the development of the Mars Sample Return Early Entry Vehicle. Bob was the Chief Engineer of the sample return capsule that will one day bring samples back form Mars. Bob proposed a chuteless entry system for possibly the most important and difficult robotic mission of our generation. While many thought this concept was sheer lunacy, Bob’s reasoning was quite sound: improved reliability through the elimination of potential failure modes. As reliable as parachutes are, Bob argued that they were not foolproof, and his design simply did not need one. Bob received a patent for the single-stage passive entry system design and ultimately convinced all of NASA his was the correct approach. As demonstration of the validity of Bob’s thinking, other have recently proposed a chuteless entry system as a means of robotically returning lunar samples to Earth. After moving to JPL, Bob morphed himself into a parachute expert, planning and executing many of the entry descent and landing test for MER, and ensured the success of the Spirit and Opportunity landings through a rigorous disciplined verification and validation program. He loved the thrill of seeing something he designed operate successfully, but was more proud to have contributed to the expansion of humanity’s scientific knowledge. Bob embraced change, yet he valued his constants in life: family and friends. As for his friends, after decades of treasured moments, both working hard and playing hard, Bob was the closest many had to a life-long friend. On his way home from work, prior to the successful return of the “Stardust” capsule, Bob was tragically killed in an automobile accident on January 6, 2006 at the age of 44.