Michael Paul
Space Systems Development Program Area Manager, National Security Space
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Michael Paul is a space exploration engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). Michael is currently APL’s Space Systems Development Program Area for National Security Space, directing technology developments, mission concepts and flight systems across the spectrum of needs for national defense. Michael has been working in the space industry for over 25 years on a wide variety of systems, from MEO and GEO commercial communication systems, to large space telescopes, to planetary exploration missions for NASA. As the Deputy Mission System Engineer on MESSENGER, he contributed to multiple flybys of Venus and Mercury, including the spacecraft’s historic flyby of the innermost planet in 2008. Michael founded and led the Lunar Lion team at Penn State, a group of students assisted by faculty to pursue the Google Lunar XPRIZE, and is proud of the impact that those students have had across the space industry. Michael likes to work on old motorcycles, build new spacecraft, and canoe down river rapids with his family, but not all at the same time. Michael holds an MS in Applied Physics from Johns Hopkins University, a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and BA in Liberal Arts from Stonehill College.