Michael Johnson is Chief Technologist of the Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD) at NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). He engages persons within and beyond GSFC to envision futures with visionary, challenging, and compelling spaceflight missions and measurements and then leads or influences teams to expand the possibility to make these visions a reality.
Before assuming the ETD Chief Technologist position, Mr. Johnson was the Assistant Chief for Technology in Goddard’s Electrical Engineering Division. In this role, he facilitated the development of mission-enabling and -enhancing electrical engineering-related technologies.
Michael’s background in developing numerous spaceflight subsystems, from concept definition, through flight operations, prepared him for these technology management positions. His roles at GSFC—first as a Principal Engineer at Hughes/STX, then as a Lead Electrical Engineer in Goddard’s Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics and in the Microelectronics and Signal Processing Branch—led to the successful space deployment of several science instruments, including Cassini/CAPS, and IMAGE/LENA.
Before coming to Goddard, Mr. Johnson was employed as a Staff Engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory for nearly ten years, responsible for the design, development, and management of advanced ground- and space-based systems.
Michael received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, and Degree of Electrical Engineer from MIT.