Sector : Public Figures, Public Figures

Personal Info

• Country of residence: United States

• Gender: Male

• Age: 0

• Curriculum vitae :

Information

Loay Elbasyouni is a Palestinian electrical engineer who led the development of the electronics and control of the side motors and electric propulsion motors for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter , a robotic data-gathering vehicle on Mars.

Foundation

Born in Germany while his father was studying medicine there, his family returned to Gaza when he was five years old. He lived through the first Intifada and received his primary and secondary education in schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

From Gaza to NASA

He left Gaza to pursue education, and received a partial scholarship to study at a Pennsylvania university in 1998. He then moved to Kentucky to work and study, where he studied electrical engineering . He stopped his studies and worked during his studies due to financial difficulties after the Israeli occupation bulldozed his father's orchards.  He completed his undergraduate studies in 2004 in engineering, then his master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Louisville in 2005. He worked at General Electric on a project to develop electric cars, and then moved to work on developing very light engines for electric drones in an American company working for NASA .

He headed the engineering team designing the electric propulsion system for the robotic helicopter "Ingenuity", whose engine must weigh no more than 20 grams to be carried by the rover called Perseverance - and be able to fly and move on the surface of Mars in extremely cold conditions, with temperatures of -100 and almost no air.  The Tunisian scientist Mohamed Obeid and the Moroccan Kamal Al-Wadghiri also participated in the other teams for the Mars mission . 

His arrival in Gaza

He was unable to meet his family after leaving Gaza due to the ongoing events and the closure of the crossings until the year 2000, and he was not able to meet his family after that until 2011 in Germany . 

Ingenuity Aviation

The helicopter successfully made its first flight on the surface of Mars on April 19, 2021, 11:30 UTC , marking the first flight on another planet. 

Achievements and Awards

Awards and Honors

IEEE Power Electronics Society Membership 
Honored by UNRWA for his dedicated work 
NASA's John L. "Jack" Swigert Jr. Space Exploration Award 

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