Mission & Vision

Jim Lewis serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Pontic Technology, overseeing the design, development, and implementation of all systems. His extensive experience includes serving as a Senior Test Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he was the lead integration engineer for chemical propulsion subsystems and the Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). Since starting his engineering career in 1987 as a Space Shuttle Systems Engineer at the Kennedy Space Center, Jim has held various test and engineering positions, including Test Director for the International Space Station's Mechanical Truss Systems. In 2001, he joined JPL as the lead chemical propulsion test and integration engineer. Jim has also served for 27 years as a U.S. Special Forces officer, both active and reserve, and completed multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has commanded Special Forces teams, companies, and battalions and is the recipient of over 30 military awards, including the Bronze Star and the U.S. State Department Meritorious Honor Award for his work with Afghan District Governors in eastern Afghanistan.

Education

• B.S. in Physics/Computer Applications, University of Alabama
• Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology
• Master’s in Space Systems Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology

Formerly with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he has played an active role in advancing technologies for NASA’s space program dealing with In Situ Resource Utilization for future human missions (including the recent successful demonstration of oxygen production from carbon dioxide on Mars), water recovery from Martian and lunar regolith simulants, and the development of regenerative fuel cell systems. Past duties include development of heterogeneous catalysts, designed for hydrogen production/hydrocarbon combustion. His work has pioneered catalyst systems designs and reactor designs that have been incorporated into operations on aircraft, vehicles and stationary power plants and was active in the early development of in situ sensors for NASA’s life support systems. Currently holds 20 patents, is co-author of many technical reports and peer reviewed publications, and has written chapters for three technical books

Phillipe is a mechanical and aerospace engineer who enjoys thinking through and solving interesting engineering problems. He obtained his masters and PhD from Caltech in 2015 and 2018, respectively, where his dissertation work focused on fluid-structure interaction instabilities, particularly for the design of robust flow energy harvesters. Phillipe graduated with a Bachelor’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 2009 and masters in aerospace in 2010, both from Cornell University. His work focused on the design of a passive altitude control system for a satellite-on-a- chip. Phillipe worked for Chevron Corporation from 2010-2018 as a Completions Engineer and Project Manager, and Research Engineer while pursuing his PhD. He has 13 granted patents, and 16 patent applications published. He currently works at the Extreme Environment Robotics group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.