Dr. Sanjay Vijendran

Dr. Sanjay Vijendran is currently the European Space Agency’s Lead for SOLARIS, which is a new R&D initiative to mature the credibility of Space-based Solar Power for providing clean energy to Earth from space and to prepare future decisions in Europe on a full development programme. Previously, Dr. Vijendran has served for more than a decade in ESA’s Mars Robotic Exploration Programme, planning and implementing the studies and technology development activities that prepare for future European robotic missions to Mars. He was instrumental in establishing in 2019 the international partnership between ESA and NASA on the multi-mission Mars Sample Return programme which is aiming to robotically return samples from Mars to Earth for the first time in the next decade. He also had the privilege of working as a payload engineer and scientist on NASA’s Phoenix Mar Lander mission that landed on Mars in 2008. He holds a PhD in Semiconductor Physics from the University of Cambridge and has published widely on semiconductor devices and Mars exploration missions and technology