Nacer Chahat

Chahat was born in Angers, France to a family of Algerian descent.^[1] He was educated at Palissy High School.^[2] He obtained his master's degrees in electrical engineering from École supérieure d'ingénieurs de Rennes|Ecole Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Rennes (ESIR) and in telecommunication from the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes (IETR), University of Rennes 1 in 2009.^[3][2] He completed his Ph.D. in signal processing and telecommunications at the IETR, University of Rennes 1, in 2012.^[3][4]

Chahat has been associated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), since 2013.^[3][1] Initially, he joined as a Microwave/Antenna Engineer and later took on the roles of Technical Section Staff and Product Delivery Manager in 2017.^[5] He became SWOT Payload System engineer in 2019.^[6]

At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Chahat has contributed to several projects, including the Mars Helicopter, Mars 2020, SWOT, Europa Clipper, Mars Cube One, RaInCube, and others.^[6]

On April 19, 2021, Chahat was part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team that successfully made Ingenuity, the first powered-controlled aircraft to fly on another planet.^[7]

In 2022, Chahat was named an IEEE Fellow, recognized for his contributions to spacecraft antennas and propagation, and became one of the youngest fellows of IEEE.^[3]

Chahat specializes in antenna design and electromagnetic interference and compatibility (EMI/EMC) analysis for space missions.^[8] He also works across a wide range of frequencies, from UHF to THz, applied in communications, RADAR, imaging systems, satellite communications antennas, wearable and flexible antennas, and antennas for remote sensing and radio astronomy.^[8]

Chahat's notable contributions to NASA missions include the design of the Raincube Ka-band deployable mesh reflector, the Mars Cube One X-band antennas, the Europa lander antenna, and communication tools for the Mars Helicopter mission.^[8][9]

• 2015: Prix Bretagne Jeune Chercheur^[10]
• 2017: The IEEE Sergei A. Schelkunoff Award^[11]
• 2017: The Lew Allen Award for Excellence^[12]
• 2018: George Herzl Award^[6]
• 2018: The Engineers' Council Future Technology Leader Award^[13]
• 2019: JARS Best Paper Award for Photo-Optical Instrumentation and Design^[14]
• 2021: IET Dr. Sudhalar Rao Award^[13]
• 2022: IEEE Fellow^[15]
• 2022: National Space Society (NSS) Award^[6]
• 2022: IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Award^[6]
• 2022: Robert J. Collier Trophy^[6]
• 2022: National Air & Space Museum Collins Award^[6]
• 2022: Rennais of the Year^[16]
• 2023: AIAA Associate Fellow^[17]
• 2024: IET Fellow^[18]
• 2024: NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal^[18]
• 2025: Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers^[19]

• Zhadobov, Maxim; Chahat, Nacer; Sauleau, Ronan; Quement, Catherine Le; Drean, Yves Le (April 11, 2011). "Millimeter-wave interactions with the human body: state of knowledge and recent advances". International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies. 3 (2): 237–247. doi:10.1017/S1759078711000122 – via Cambridge University Press.
• Chahat, Nacer; Zhadobov, Maxim; Sauleau, Ronan; Ito, Koichi (April 11, 2011). "A Compact UWB Antenna for On-Body Applications". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 59 (4): 1123–1131. Bibcode:2011ITAP...59.1123C. doi:10.1109/TAP.2011.2109361.
• Hodges, Richard E.; Chahat, Nacer; Hoppe, Daniel J.; Vacchione, Joseph D. (April 11, 2017). "A Deployable High-Gain Antenna Bound for Mars: Developing a new folded-panel reflectarray for the first CubeSat mission to Mars". IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. 59 (2): 39–49. Bibcode:2017IAPM...59...39H. doi:10.1109/MAP.2017.2655561.
• Chahat, Nacer; Hodges, Richard E.; Sauder, Jonathan; Thomson, Mark; Peral, Eva; Rahmat-Samii, Yahya (June 11, 2016). "CubeSat Deployable Ka-Band Mesh Reflector Antenna Development for Earth Science Missions". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 64 (6): 2083–2093. Bibcode:2016ITAP...64.2083C. doi:10.1109/TAP.2016.2546306.
• Pellegrini, A.; Brizzi, A.; Zhang, L.; Ali, K.; Hao, Y.; Wu, X.; Constantinou, C. C.; Nechayev, Y.; Hall, P. S.; Chahat, N.; Zhadobov, M.; Sauleau, R. (August 11, 2013). "Antennas and Propagation for Body-Centric Wireless Communications at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies: A Review [Wireless Corner]". IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. 55 (4): 262–287. doi:10.1109/MAP.2013.6645205.
• Chahat, Nacer; Zhadobov, Maxim; Le Coq, Laurent; Sauleau, Ronan (February 11, 2012). "Wearable Endfire Textile Antenna for On-Body Communications at 60 GHz". IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters. 11: 799–802. Bibcode:2012IAWPL..11..799C. doi:10.1109/LAWP.2012.2207698.
• Chahat, Nacer; Zhadobov, Maxim; Le Coq, Laurent; Alekseev, Stanislav I.; Sauleau, Ronan (December 11, 2012). "Characterization of the Interactions Between a 60-GHz Antenna and the Human Body in an Off-Body Scenario". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 60 (12): 5958–5965. Bibcode:2012ITAP...60.5958C. doi:10.1109/TAP.2012.2211326.
• Chahat, Nacer; Zhadobov, Maxim; Muhammad, Shoaib Anwar; Le Coq, Laurent; Sauleau, Ronan (April 11, 2013). "60-GHz Textile Antenna Array for Body-Centric Communications". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 61 (4): 1816–1824. Bibcode:2013ITAP...61.1816C. doi:10.1109/TAP.2012.2232633.
• Chahat, Nacer; Valerio, Guido; Zhadobov, Maxim; Sauleau, Ronan (April 11, 2013). "On-Body Propagation at 60 GHz". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 61 (4): 1876–1888. Bibcode:2013ITAP...61.1876C. doi:10.1109/TAP.2013.2242034.