Daniel Andrews - Director of Engineering & VIPER Mission Manager at NASA Ames Research Center

Daniel Andrews is the Director of Engineering at NASA’s Ames Research Center. He was also most recently the Project Manager of the VIPER lunar rover mission, following on the heels of his leadership of the groundbreaking LCROSS lunar impactor mission, which confirmed the presence of billions of gallons of water-ice on the South Pole of the Moon. Dan is known in NASA for leading capabilities-driven, cost-effective missions. 

Dan received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from San Jose State University and his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. 

Dan started his career at NASA-Ames as an automation and controls engineer working on many diverse robotic technology demonstration projects, including a 3-axis Exobiology Robotic Table, a Serpentine Robot, an Autonomous Rotorcraft, and the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) Project - a free-flying robot astronaut assistant, garnering the attention of Newsweek, Popular Science, and Air & Space Magazine, and was named one of the “50 Best Robots Ever” in Wired Magazine. 

Dan has received numerous NASA awards including the Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Exceptional Achievement Medal, as well as several Group Achievement awards. His teams have received several industry awards such as Popular Mechanics’ Breakthrough Award, the Space Foundation’s “John L. ‘Jack’ Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration”, and the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award.