Emily Ballantyne

Before coming to NASA, Emily Ballantyne worked at Morehead State University (MSU), designing mission operations software and flight software algorithms with a focus on Attitude Control on the Lunar IceCube satellite launched on Artemis I. She assisted with testing and characterization activities of DSS-17, the 21-meter-deep space antenna at MSU.

Emily founded the Appalachian Space Technology & Research Advancements Conference (ASTRA-Con) at MSU, bringing the space industry to Appalachia. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in Space Systems Engineering from MSU.

She earned a B.S. in Physics from the University of Kentucky (UK), where she worked on the Beam Line 3 (BL3) Neutron Lifetime Experiment, developing simulations to optimize detector angles.

Publications

• A. W. Nelsen, E. G. Ballantyne, R. E. Calvert, C. B. Crawford, G. L. Greene, S. E. Vickers, F. E. Wietfeldt, “Geometric Optimization of a Neutron Detector for In-Flight Measurement of the Neutron Lifetime,” arXiv:2010.11250v1 .