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By NASA
5 Min Read Heather Cowardin Safeguards the Future of Space Exploration
As branch chief of the Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dr. Heather Cowardin leads a team tasked with a critical mission: characterizing and mitigating orbital debris—space junk that poses a growing risk to satellites, spacecraft, and human spaceflight.
Long before Cowardin was a scientist safeguarding NASA’s mission, she was a young girl near Johnson dreaming of becoming an astronaut.
“I remember driving down Space Center Boulevard with my mom and seeing people running on the trails,” she said. “I told her, ‘That will be me one day—I promise!’ And she always said, ‘I know, honey—I know you will.’”
Official portrait of Heather Cowardin. NASA/James Blai I was committed to working at NASA—no matter what it took.
Heather Cowardin
Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Branch Chief
Today, that childhood vision has evolved into a leadership role at the heart of NASA’s orbital debris research. Cowardin oversees an interdisciplinary team within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, or ARES. She supports measurements, modeling, risk assessments, and mitigation strategies to ensure the efficiency of space operations.
With more than two decades of experience, Cowardin brings expertise and unwavering dedication to one of the agency’s most vital safety initiatives.
Her work focuses on characterizing Earth-orbiting objects using optical and near-infrared telescopic and laboratory data. She helped establish and lead the Optical Measurement Center, a specialized facility at Johnson that replicates space-like lighting conditions and telescope orientations to identify debris materials and shapes, and evaluate potential risk.
Cowardin supports a range of research efforts, from ground-based and in-situ, or in position, observations to space-based experiments. She has contributed to more than 100 scientific publications and presentations and serves as co-lead on Materials International Space Station Experiment missions, which test the durability of materials on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.
She is also an active member of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, an international forum with the goal of minimizing and mitigating the risks posed by space debris.
Heather Cowardin, left, holds a spectrometer optical feed as she prepares to take a spectral measurement acquisition on the returned Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 radiator. It was inspected by the Orbital Debris Program Office team for micrometeoroid and orbital debris impacts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in 2009, and later studied for space weathering effects on its painted surface. Her passion was fueled further by a mentor, Dr. James R. Benbrook, a University of Houston space physics professor and radar scientist supporting the Orbital Debris Program Office. “He was a hard-core Texas cowboy and a brilliant physicist,” she said. “He brought me on as a NASA fellow to study orbital debris using optical imaging. After that, I was committed to working at NASA—no matter what it took.”
After completing her fellowship, Cowardin began graduate studies at the University of Houston while working full time. Within a year, she accepted a contract position at Johnson, where she helped develop the Optical Measurement Center and supported optical analyses of geosynchronous orbital debris. She soon advanced to optical lead, later serving as a contract project manager and section manager.
Heather Cowardin inspects targets to study the shapes of orbital debris using the Optical Measurement Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. What we do at NASA takes new thinking, new skills, and hard work—but I believe the next generation will raise the bar and lead us beyond low Earth orbit.
Heather Cowardin
Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Branch Chief
Building on her growing expertise, Cowardin became the laboratory and in-situ measurements lead for the Orbital Debris Program Office, a program within the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters. She led efforts to characterize debris and deliver direct measurement data to support orbital debris engineering models, such as NASA’s Orbital Debris Engineering Model and NASA’s Standard Satellite Breakup Model, while also overseeing major projects like DebriSat.
Cowardin was selected as the Orbital Debris and Hypervelocity Integration portfolio scientist, where she facilitated collaboration within the Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Office—both internally and externally with stakeholders and customers. These efforts laid the foundation for her current role as branch chief.
“I’ve really enjoyed reflecting on the path I’ve traveled and looking forward to the challenges and successes that lie ahead with this great team,” she said.
One of Cowardin’s proudest accomplishments was earning her doctorate while working full time and in her final trimester of pregnancy.
“Nothing speaks to multitasking and time management like that achievement,” Cowardin said. “I use that story to mentor others—it’s proof that you can do both. Now I’m a mom of two boys who inspire me every day. They are my motivation to work harder and show them that dedication and perseverance always pay off.”
From left to right: Heather Cowardin, her youngest child Jamie, her husband Grady, and her oldest child Trystan. The family celebrates Jamie’s achievement of earning a black belt. Throughout her career, Cowardin said one lesson has remained constant: never underestimate yourself.
“It’s easy to think, ‘I’m not ready,’ or ‘Someone else will ask the question,’” she said. “But speak up. Every role I’ve taken on felt like a leap, but I embraced it and each time I’ve learned and grown.”
She has also learned the value of self-awareness. “It’s scary to ask for feedback, but it’s the best way to identify growth opportunities,” she said. “The next generation will build on today’s work. That’s why we must capture lessons learned and share them. It’s vital to safe and successful operations.”
Heather Cowardin, fifth from left, stands with fellow NASA delegates at the 2024 Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee meeting hosted by the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bengaluru, India. The U.S. delegation included representatives from NASA, the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission. To the Artemis Generation, she hopes to pass on a sense of purpose.
“Commitment to a mission leads to success,” she said. “Even if your contributions aren’t immediately visible, they matter. What we do at NASA takes new thinking, new skills, and hard work—but I believe the next generation will raise the bar and lead us beyond low Earth orbit.”
When she is not watching over orbital debris, she is lacing up her running shoes.
“I’ve completed five half-marathons and I’m training for the 2026 Rock ‘n’ Roll half-marathon in Nashville,” she said. “Running helps me decompress—and yes, I often role-play technical briefings or prep conference talks while I’m out on a jog. Makes for interesting moments when I pass people in the neighborhood!”
About the Author
Sumer Loggins
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Last Updated Jun 18, 2025 LocationJohnson Space Center Related Terms
Science & Research Astromaterials Johnson Space Center People of Johnson Explore More
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By Amazing Space
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Tech to Use Moonlight to Enhance Measurements from Space
NASA's Arcstone instrument will be the first mission exclusively dedicated to measuring moonlight, or lunar reflectance, from space as a way to calibrate and improve science data collected by Earth-viewing, in-orbit instruments. Credits: Blue Canyon Technologies NASA will soon launch a one-of-a-kind instrument, called Arcstone, to improve the quality of data from Earth-viewing sensors in orbit. In this technology demonstration, the mission will measure sunlight reflected from the Moon— a technique called lunar calibration. Such measurements of lunar spectral reflectance can ultimately be used to set a high-accuracy, universal standard for use across the international scientific community and commercial space industry.
To ensure satellite and airborne sensors are working properly, researchers calibrate them by comparing the sensor measurements against a known standard measurement. Arcstone will be the first mission exclusively dedicated to measuring lunar reflectance from space as a way to calibrate and improve science data collected by Earth-viewing, in-orbit instruments.
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This visualization demonstrates how Arcstone will operate while in orbit measuring lunar reflectance to establish a new calibration standard for future Earth-observing remote sensors. Arcstone’s satellite platform was manufactured by Blue Canyon Technologies. NASA/Tim Marvel/Blue Canyon Technologies “One of the most challenging tasks in remote sensing from space is achieving required instrument calibration accuracy on-orbit,” said Constantine Lukashin, principal investigator for the Arcstone mission and physical scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “The Moon is an excellent and available calibration source beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The light reflected off the Moon is extremely stable and measurable at a very high level of detail. Arcstone’s goal is to improve the accuracy of lunar calibration to increase the quality of spaceborne remote sensing data products for generations to come.”
Across its planned six-month mission, Arcstone will use a spectrometer — a scientific instrument that measures and analyzes light by separating it into its constituent wavelengths, or spectrum — to measure lunar spectral reflectance. Expected to launch in late June as a rideshare on a small CubeSat, Arcstone will begin collecting data, a milestone called first light, approximately three weeks after reaching orbit.
“The mission demonstrates a new, more cost-efficient instrument design, hardware performance, operations, and data processing to achieve high-accuracy reference measurements of lunar spectral reflectance,” said Lukashin.
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Measuring the lunar reflectance at the necessary ranges of lunar phase angles and librations is required to build a highly accurate lunar reference. A satellite platform in space would provide this required sampling. Arcstone will use a spectrometer to demonstrate the ability to observe and establish a data record of lunar spectral reflectance throughout its librations and phases for other instruments to use the Moon to calibrate sensors.NASA/Scientific Visualization Studio Measurements of lunar reflectance taken from Earth’s surface can be affected by interference from the atmosphere, which can complicate calibration efforts. Researchers already use the Sun and Moon to calibrate spaceborne instruments, but not at a level of precision and agreement that could come from having a universal standard.
Lukashin and colleagues want to increase calibration accuracy by getting above the atmosphere to measure reflected solar wavelengths in a way that provides a stable and universal calibration source. Another recent NASA mission, called the Airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance mission also used sensors mounted on high-altitude aircraft to improve lunar irradiance measurements from planes.
There is not an internationally accepted standard (SI-traceable) calibration for lunar reflectance from space across the scientific community or the commercial space industry.
“Dedicated radiometric characterization measurements of the Moon have never been acquired from a space-based platform,” said Thomas Stone, co-investigator for Arcstone and scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “A high-accuracy, SI-traceable lunar calibration system enables several important capabilities for space-based Earth observing missions such as calibrating datasets against a common reference – the Moon, calibrating sensors on-orbit, and the ability to bridge gaps in past datasets.”
The Arcstone spacecraft with solar panels installed as it is tested before being integrated for launch. Blue Canyon Technologies If the initial Arcstone technology demonstration is successful, a longer Arcstone mission could allow scientists to make the Moon the preferred reference standard for many other satellites. The new calibration standard could also be applied retroactively to previous Earth data records to improve their accuracy or fill in data gaps for data fields. It could also improve high-precision sensor performance on-orbit, which is critical for calibrating instruments that may be sensitive to degradation or hardware breakdown over time in space.
“Earth observations from space play a critical role in monitoring the environmental health of our planet,” said Stone. “Lunar calibration is a robust and cost-effective way to achieve high accuracy and inter-consistency of Earth observation datasets, enabling more accurate assessments of Earth’s current state and more reliable predictions of future trends.”
The Arcstone technology demonstration project is funded by NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office’s In-space Validation of Earth Science Technologies. Arcstone is led by NASA’s Langley Research Center in partnership with Colorado University Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, USGS, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Resonon Inc., Blue Canyon Technologies, and Quartus Engineering.
For more information on NASA’s Arcstone mission visit:
https://science.larc.nasa.gov/arcstone/about/
About the Author
Charles G. Hatfield
Science Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
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Last Updated Jun 20, 2025 LocationNASA Langley Research Center Related Terms
Science-enabling Technology Earth Earth Science Earth Science Division Earth's Moon General Goddard Space Flight Center Langley Research Center Lunar Science Science Instruments Science Mission Directorate Small Satellite Missions Technology Explore More
3 min read NASA Measures Moonlight to Improve Earth Observations
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