Progalaxia was founded in 2015 by Dr. Belinda Marchand. Dr. Marchand holds a PhD (2004) from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, where she also completed a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics (2000) and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering (1997). Prior to her work at Progalaxia, Dr. Marchand was a Senior Engineer at Decisive Analytics Corporation, an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, a Visiting Assistant Professor at Purdue University, and held engineering positions at The Aerospace Corporation, The Applied Physics Laboratory, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.
Dr. Marchand’s research has supported numerous NASA space mission concepts, including the areas of formation flight and libration point mission design. Most notable among them was perhaps the Genesis mission. She was the recipient of the Air Force Young Investigator award and has been involved in many research subjects in the space domain, from mission design to space situational awareness.