Dr. Charles Webb

Dr. Charles Webb is the Acting Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, PSD (Science Mission Directorate, SMD) at NASA Headquarters. Planetary science is focused on space flight missions and scientific research that address fundamental questions of solar system formation and evolution, including understanding planetary environments that can support life.

Dr Webb joined PSD in December 2024 after serving as the Deputy Director of the Joint Agency Satellite Division (JASD), also within SMD, which oversees the development and launch of terrestrial and space weather missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). From August 2023 to May 2024, he held a detail position as Acting Associate Director for Flight Programs in PSD, during which he oversaw the return of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample, the launch of the Psyche mission, and the confirmation of the Dragonfly project.

Prior to his tenure in JASD, Dr Webb served as the Associate Director for Flight Programs in SMD’s Earth Science Division (ESD) where he oversaw the launches of Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and Landsat 9, as well as the preparations for the launch of EMIT to the International Space Station. He also initiated the implementation of the Earth System Observatory and laid the groundwork for a new Earth System Explorers program. Before assuming leadership of the Flight portfolio, he served as the Program Executive for Operating Missions in ESD.

Dr Webb originally came to NASA in 2010 to support the ESD Cryospheric Sciences Program and the development of the ICESat-2 mission in the Project Science Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition to managing a portfolio of research grants, he collaborated with the science teams for ICESat-2 and Operation IceBridge, the largest airborne campaign ever conducted by NASA. He organized and led the Ice-sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, and represented NASA in the development of the U.S. Government’s 2017–2021 Arctic Research Plan.

Dr Webb received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked on the development, operations and science of the original ICESat mission. He subsequently held a joint postdoctoral fellowship at the university’s Center for Space Research and Institute for Geophysics. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Before going to Texas for graduate school, he worked for five years at GE (and later Lockheed Martin) Astro Space in Princeton, New Jersey, first as an Edison Engineer and then as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in Mission Design and Analysis.