Olivier L. de Weck

About

Olivier de Weck is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he serves as the Associate Department Head of Aero Astro. His research is in Systems Engineering with a focus on how complex technological systems are designed and how they evolve over time. He specializes in Systems Engineering, Technology Management, Astronautics and Space Logistics, and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization, with additional interests in Remote Sensing and Earth Observation. Olivier de Weck has contributed to the field through his role as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and his authorship of the textbook 'Technology Roadmapping and Development,' which received a most promising textbook of 2024 award. He holds degrees from ETH Zurich and MIT, including a Ph.D. in Aerospace Systems, and is a Fellow of INCOSE and AIAA. His professional experience includes positions outside MIT such as Senior Vice President for Technology Planning and Roadmapping at Airbus, and he has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for his contributions to aerospace and systems engineering.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Business
• Computer Security
• Artificial Intelligence
• Remote sensing
• Process management
• Aerospace engineering
• Medicine
• Engineering management

Selected publications

• Small-Satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar for Continuous Global Biospheric Monitoring: A Review

  Remote Sensing · 2020 · 71 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Space-based radar sensors have transformed Earth observation since their first use by Seasat in 1978. Radar instruments are less affected by daylight or weather conditions than optical counterparts, suitable for continually monitoring the global biosphere. The current trends in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) platform design are distinct from traditional approaches in that miniaturized satellites carrying SAR are launched in multiples to form a SAR constellation. A systems engineering perspective…

  DOI

• Handling the COVID‐19 crisis: Toward an agile model‐based systems approach

  Systems Engineering · 2020 · 26 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The COVID‐19 pandemic has caught many nations by surprise and has already caused millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. It has also exposed a deep crisis in modeling and exposed a lack of systems thinking by focusing mainly on only the short term and thinking of this event as only a health crisis. In this paper, authors from several of the key countries involved in COVID‐19 propose a holistic systems model that views the problem from a perspective of human…

  DOI

• SERVICE DESIGN IN ACTION: TRANSFORMATION, CONSIDERATION, AND SYSTEM THINKING

  Proceedings of the Design Society · 2023 · 10 citations

  Abstract Service design has been an emerging transdisciplinary field that includes product, system, and social science, since the term was first introduced to academic research in the early 1990s. With socioeconomical shifts and emerging technologies, people have faced more complex and systemic challenges, which enable researchers to consider how to reapply service design not only as problem-solving tools but also as ways for communication and alignment to adapt to the change. The study focuses…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Orbit Plane Rotation Using Aerocapture

  Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets · 2025-02-13 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study investigates the feasibility of performing orbit plane rotations during aerocapture maneuvers. Three-degrees-of-freedom bounding trajectories at Mars are propagated for a range of vehicle lift-to-drag ratios [Formula: see text] and hyperbolic arrival velocities [Formula: see text]. The results show that the maximum plane rotation achievable increases with vehicle [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. When arriving with [Formula: see text] of 6 km/s, vehicles with [Formula: see…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Progression of Satellite Refueling and Repositioning Technologies Through a Client–Servicer Perspective

  Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets · 2025-02-10 · 3 citations

  article

  Recent growth in space activities has led to increased interest in on-orbit refueling and repositioning (OORR) systems. Despite this interest, limited analysis has been conducted to quantify their anticipated impacts. Using the Advanced Technology Roadmap Architecture, this work evaluates the state of progression of OORR systems by incorporating historical technologies, stakeholder relationships, and technical and financial modeling. The results of this analysis aim to inform future design consi…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Afreen Siddiqi

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  106 shared

• Paul T. Grogan

  50 shared

• K. P. Sinha

  Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning

  47 shared

• Jeffrey A. Hoffman

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  42 shared

• Eun Suk Suh

  Seoul National University

  42 shared

• Chaiwoo Lee

  IIT@MIT

  32 shared

• Il Yong Kim

  Queen's University

  30 shared

• Edward F. Crawley

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  30 shared

Labs

• Human-System CollaborationPI

Education

• Ph.D., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1990

• M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1986

• B.S., Aeronautical Engineering

  University of California, San Diego

  1984

Awards & honors

• Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (…
• Best Path to Flight Award, NASA Big Idea Challenge, 2021
• Best Paper of the Year Award, Systems Engineering Journal, 2…
• Distinguished Service Award, International Council on System…
• Teaching with Digital Technology Award, MIT, 2017

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