Moroccan Scientist Kamal Oudrhiri Wins NASA Exceptional Service Medal

Rabat – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded Moroccan scientist Kamal Oudrhiri with the Exceptional Service Medal. The award came in recognition of the scientist’s numerous contributions and achievements throughout his two decades of service at NASA.

“It was a great honor to have been awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal this week. It has been an amazing journey to work alongside so many of the brilliant minds that have contributed to NASA’s missions,” said Oudrhiri on a Facebook post.

Oudrhiri is the Cold Atom Laboratory mission manager and the Planetary Radar & Radio Sciences group supervisor at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His research focuses on planetary atmospheric characterization, gravity science, and bistatic radar.

Over the past two decades, Oudrhiri has served in key roles on multiple NASA missions: the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER), the international Cassini mission to Saturn, the GRAIL lunar mission, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the Juno mission to Jupiter, and the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

The Moroccan scientist has won numerous awards. He received three NASA’s JPL Mariner & Voyager Honor Awards and multiple NASA Group Achievement Awards

Oudrhiri also won the People Leadership Award, which recognizes exceptional people-leadership skills critical to the ongoing success of the NASA exploration missions, making him one of the most decorated NASA employees in the last decades.

Talking about his NASA missions to the press, Oudrhiri said that he “works closely with scientist in telecommunication, radio, and radar sciences, to develop next generation spacecrafts and ground infrastructure.” These projects would support future human and machine expeditions to space.

In 2012, King Mohammed VI awarded the scientist with a royal decoration for his scientific achievements.

Despite his successful career in the American organization, and living in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Oudrhiri holds his home country and its people very dear to his heart.

On November 16, the Moroccan scientist will take part in the Moonshot Morocco Youth Festival.

The event, held under the slogan “7ta 7aja mab3ida” (Nothing is out of reach), will take place from November 16 until November 18, at Casablanca’s Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences.

The festival is an initiative of the US Embassy in Morocco, in collaboration with the university and Moroccan NGOs. It aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, on July 20, 1969.

The event’s organizers have planned more than 100 activities for the visitors, in the fields of science, technology, and innovation, as well as leadership, entrepreneurship, and other necessary skills for Morocco’s youth.

More than 20 exhibitors and 60 experts will participate in the festival. Oudrhiri will be giving conferences about his experience throughout the three days of the event.