Cassini, Saturn’s little big explorer | Earl Maize

Dr. Earl H. Maize is the manager of the Cassini Program, a mission that began exploring the Saturn system in 2004 and recently concluded operations with a spectacular plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere in September 2017. Dr. Maize has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California for the past 34 years. He began at JPL on the navigation and engineering teams of the Galileo mission to Jupiter. After Galileo’s final Earth flyby, he transferred to the Cassini Mission as the Flight System Operations manager and then Deputy Program Manager. He left the Cassini Project in 2005 to pursue technical management positions in Guidance, Navigation, and Control and Avionics. He returned to Cassini as the Program Manager in January 2013.

A native of northern California, Dr. Maize received his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and his doctorate in mathematics from the Claremont Graduate University in 1981. When he’s not exploring the outer planets, Dr. Maize enjoys playing classical guitar and cycling and hiking.