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Antonio F. Pensa – Biography

Dr. Antonio F. Pensa is Assistant Director at MIT Lincoln Laboratory with technical and administrative policy responsibilities. He is responsible for military space activities, including those in support of the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Laboratory’s space control programs.

Dr. Pensa joined the Laboratory in November 1969 after receiving the PhD degree in electrical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. His initial assignments at Lincoln Laboratory were associated with the reentry systems and the air traffic control programs. Subsequently, he was responsible for the development and implementation of the coherent integration tracking that led to the realization of a U.S. operational deep-space radar capability. He was instrumental in establishing the Space Surveillance Program at the Laboratory.

Dr. Pensa has served on most of the Air Force Space Surveillance Architecture Studies since 1972 and is considered a national expert in the techniques and sensors associated with surveillance of space and from space. In 1993, he served as a member of the Technical Support Group for the Bottom-up Review on Space-Based Early Warning Systems. Subsequently, he chaired a national study that examined the impact of phenomenology uncertainties on space-based infrared systems’ performance and cost. Since 1988, he has served as a member of the Industrial and Professional Advisory Council for the College of Engineering of the Pennsylvania State University. In 1991, he served as the Chairman of the committee for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

A past member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Pensa was chairman of the 2001 Summer Study on Sensor Technology for Difficult Targets. He was a member of the Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Space Superiority and the DSB/SAB (Science Advisory Board) Task Force on National Security Space. He is the recipient of the National Reconnaissance Office Directors Award for Distinguished Service, the Air Force Award for Distinguished Service, and the NASA Group Achievement Award.

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