Narasimha S. Prasad received the B.Sc. degree in physics, chemistry, and math from the National College in Bangalore, India, and the M.Sc. degree in physics from Bangalore University in Bangalore, India in 1981. He also received the M.Sc degree in engineering from The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India in 1985, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Nonlinear Optics from The Klipsch Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1992 and 1994, respectively. He is currently an Aerospace Technologist at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Dr. Prasad has over 24 years of research and development experience. He worked as a Senior Research Physicist at PetroLaser Inc. in Las Cruces, New Mexico and as a Senior Research Scientist for Coherent Technologies Inc. based out of Lousiville, CO before coming to NASA.
Some specific projects that Dr. Prasad has been the Principal Investigator or Technical Lead are: ExoSPEAR LIDAR Development, doublet coherent LIDAR for space surveillance, orbit determination, and PNT applications by means of precision tracking, vibrometry, and 3D imaging of resident space objects; NASA ROSES IIP program titled “ACES-ASCENDS CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator”; Transceiver development for CO2 measurements; Laser Vibromenter development for life signature detection; chemical species and vibration measurements; and NASA LaRC LIDAR components payload MISSE 6 and MISSE 7 missions.
He has appeared as author or co-author on more than 120 papers, and holds 7 patents. Some of his work includes, “Single-Mode, All-Solid-State Nd:YAG Laser Pumped UV Converter”, “High Energy, Single-Mode, All-Solid-State and Tunable UV Laser Transmitter”, and “Sensing of Lignens and Kerogens using Laser Induced Fluorescence at Deep UV Wavelengths”.
Contact Information:
NASA Langley Research Center
5 North Dryden Street
Building 1202, Room 233A, MS 468
Hampton, VA 23681-2199
phone: (757) 864-9403
fax: (757) 864-8828
email: narasimha.s.prasad@nasa.gov