Hi there! I’m Rahil Makadia, a graduate student and NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO) fellow studying Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

My research in the APEX Lab at UIUC focuses on planetary defense, specifically NEO deflection using kinetic impactors. As part of my dissertation work, I’ve developed an open-source software package called the Gauss-Radau Small-body Simulator (GRSS) that specifically focuses on planetary defense. If you are interested in knowing more about my work, check out the links at the top of this page (under my name) or take a look at my CV.

I’ve also had the pleasure of working on a couple of asteroid science missions. I was a member of the science investigation team for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission and have interned on the OSIRIS-REx/OSIRIS-APEX mission.

In the past I’ve worked on a variety of projects, including reusable crewed lunar landers (report, presentation, and poster) and habitats for Mars missions (report and presentation) during my undergraduate years. As a graduate student, I have also done work on aerogravity assists using blunt bodies at Venus (publication).

Feel free to reach out at any of the links at the bottom of this page (see the round icons) with questions, opportunities, or just to say hi!