January 2023

This piece was written by LeoLabs Data Analytics Team: Dr Darren McKnight, Dr Rachit Bhatia, Erin Dale, and Mohin Patel.

Dr Darren McKnight is the senior technical fellow at LeoLabs. He has coauthored five books ranging from space debris and spacecraft operations to soccer coaching and innovation. Darren received his bachelor’s degree from the United States Air Force Academy in Engineering Sciences, his master’s degree from the University of New Mexico in Mechanical Engineering, and his doctorate from the University of Colorado in Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Dr Rachit Bhatia is a space safety analytics and research lead at LeoLabs. He holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from SRM University and a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Utah State University (Logan). His other research interests include optimal estimation theory, autonomous spacecraft navigation, and control system design.

Erin Dale is a business analyst at LeoLabs with 10 years experience in the space industry, degrees in Engineering Science and Environmental Policy, and a penchant for using Tableau. She relishes interdisciplinary projects, especially when they combine space safety, healthy and clean environments, and visualizing insights.

Mohin Patel is an analytic visualization programmer at LeoLabs. He previously worked at NOAA as a Satellite cloud programmer and has a BS for Applied Atmospheric Science from East Carolina University and a MS in Meteorology and Climate Science from San Jose State University. He enjoys translating physics from paper to programming code for research analysis and modeling.