Robby Estep is the Deputy Director for Formulation within the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Programs Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). In his role, he leads all pre-formulation and formulation activities within the Division and assists the Director of NOAA’s Office of LEO Observations in negotiations with inter-agency, international, and commercial partners.
Robby began his NASA career in 1997 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where he supported Space Shuttle mission operations as part of the Mission Operations Directorate. He later joined the Balloon Program Office at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), responsible for operations supporting science research and operational development missions; including domestic and circum-global and remote field campaigns. He went on to manage flight instrument projects in the Engineering Technology and Flight Projects Directorates at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). His career path included being the Instrument Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Micro-Shutter Subsystem and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Radiometer. Robby was the Project Manager for the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA-MS) for the ExoMars Mission, which he guided from early planning into full development, and later the Project Manager for Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), which launched aboard the PACE spacecraft in 2024. Prior to his current position, he also was the Deputy Associate Director for the Planetary Science Projects Division (PSPD) where he oversaw the development and management of planetary missions that advanced NASA’s exploration of our solar system.
Throughout his career, Robby has worked across a wide range of NASA endeavors, gaining expertise in mission operations, flight hardware development, and project and program management.
Robby earned a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2003.