Theodore D. Moyer received his B.S. degree in engineering in 1958 and M.S. in engineering astrodynamics in 1965, both from UCLA. He worked at the Aerojet-General Corporation from 1958 to 1963, before joining the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. He has received numerous awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Ted has dedicated his career to space navigation. He has served as cognizant engineer for REGRES, an orbit determination program, since shortly after arriving at JPL in 1963. This work has involved providing the mathematical formulation for the computed values of measurement observables used in deep-space navigation, as well as the formulation for the corresponding partial derivatives with respect to spacecraft position and velocity and many other quantities of interest. These formulations have been revised and expanded over the years as observational data types have been modified and new ones developed by the Deep Space Network. Mathematical models have been extended as the accuracy requirements of flight projects have become more stringent. Models available from individuals and organizations such as general relativity experts, the International Astronomical Union, and the International Earth Rotation Service have been added to the program as they have become needed.
The orbit determination programs have been used to navigate all of the deep- space probes and Earth orbiters that have been managed by JPL since 1963, in addition to a number of missions of other U.S. laboratories and foreign space agencies.
Author of Volume 2 of the Deep-Space Comunications and Navigation Series:
