Mark Whorton

Professor of the Practice
Biography

Dr. Mark Whorton is Chief Technology Officer of GTRI and an Adjunct Professor of Practice, School of Aerospace Engineering, at Georgia Tech.  Dr. Whorton earned a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech where his thesis work addressed the dynamics and control of flexible space structures.   Previously Dr. Whorton was Chief Technologist of Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama where he conceived and led development of MUSES, an advanced platform for commercial earth imaging from the International Space Station.  Dr. Whorton was a civil servant at NASA MSFC for over 20 years where he was a lead for the Ares-1 Launch Vehicle GN&C design and analysis and was PI for multiple space flight projects including g-LIMIT, a microgravity vibration isolation system, and Nanosail-D, NASA’s first solar sail technology demonstration mission. Whorton is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Research

Disciplines:

  • Flight Mechanics & Controls

  • Systems Design & Optimization

AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:

  • Robotics, Autonomy, and Human Interactions

  • Space Exploration and Earth Monitoring