13 MINWATCH THE FILM : Accept the challenge and work hard!
TEDxMaviliSquareSalon / TEDx TALKS
Accept the challenge and work hard!
A talk about ambition, persistence, and the work behind an extraordinary engineering journey.
LOAY ELBASYOUNI / ENGINEER · FOUNDER · SPEAKER
From Mars.
To what’s
next.
From electric vehicles and drones to Mars flight and lunar propulsion. I engineer ambitious ideas into reality—and now I’m building the next generation of autonomous intelligence.
Founder & CEO, AstraQua
Electric mobility. Mars flight. Rocket engines. Lunar propulsion. Physical AI.
AT THE WORKBENCH / PHOTO: ERRIC WRIGHTSELECTED AWARDS, PRESS & CONVERSATIONS
Recognized work.
A perspective worth hearing.
From the team behind Mars flight to founding AstraQua. Engineering experience recognized by leading institutions—and shared with audiences exploring what comes next.
2018 / MARS HELICOPTER TEAM
NASA Group Achievement Award
Recognizing the team that demonstrated helicopter flight was possible in Mars’s exceptionally thin atmosphere. Loay contributed electrical and power-electronics engineering to that effort.
Read NASA/JPL’s award recordAWARDS & FOUNDER MILESTONES
Explore all recognition
2021 / INGENUITY TEAMRobert J. Collier Trophy
An aerospace honor for the team behind the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.
2025 / PERSONAL RECOGNITIONInclusive Excellence Award
Honored by the University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
2025–2026 / ASTRAQUA RESEARCHNASA SBIR Phase I → II
From the 2025 AstraSense selection to a $1,274,990 Phase II contract announced in October 2026.
IN THE CONVERSATION
More press, podcasts & talksWATCH & LISTEN / LOAY IN ACTION
Big ideas.
Hear them firsthand.
See the speaker behind the story. Explore a TEDx talk, a quick engineering introduction, and conversations about Mars flight and the future of intelligent machines.
Book Loay for your event13 MINWATCH THE FILM : Accept the challenge and work hard!
50 SECWATCH THE FILM : From UofL to Mars
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE / ENGINEERING INTERVIEW
From UofL to Mars
A short introduction to the engineer who helped make Mars flight possible.
Listen to the conversation.
ENGINEERING · INNOVATION · PHYSICAL AI
GSMA × IoT NOW / TRENDING TECH / 2026
From Mars to machines
38 MINWith Barbara Pareglio and host Jim Morrish: Physical AI, autonomous machines, and the connectivity that brings intelligence into the world.
Listen to the full episode (opens in a new tab) Episode details & listening options
ideaXme / WITH ANDREA MACDONALD / 2021
Building the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter
33 MINAn engineering conversation about Ingenuity’s electrical systems, the challenges of flight on Mars, and the people behind the breakthrough.
Episode details & listening optionsFOR YOUR NEXT EVENT
Bring these ideas
into your room.
Keynotes, fireside conversations, and podcasts for audiences ready to think bigger. Tell me about your event, your audience, and what you want them to take away.
Book Loay for your eventCONVERSATIONS WORTH HAVINGMaking the improbable possibleThe next chapter of Physical AIEngineering under real-world constraints
IN CONVERSATION / ON THE RECORD
The conversations
behind the headlines.
Interviews that go beyond the biography: the choices, constraints, and collaborations behind an engineering career.
All interviews, talks & podcasts
LEXICON PODCAST / 2024
The journey behind NASA’s Mars Helicopter
A full-length conversation with Christopher McFadden about Loay’s path into engineering, Ingenuity, and the future of exploration.
Listen to the Lexicon episodeINTERVIEW / 2025
The case for fundamentals in an AI-first world
How lessons from efficient electrical systems connect Mars flight, rocket engines, and the next generation of computing. Publisher subscription may apply.
Read the interview
OUTLOOK / AUDIO / 2021
A space odyssey: the journey to Mars flight
Emily Webb speaks with Loay about the persistence and personal journey behind helping a helicopter fly on another planet. Original programme: “From Gaza to Nasa: A space odyssey.”
View the BBC programme
MAGAZINE APPEARANCE / SUMMER 2021
Featured in WIRED Middle East
Loay’s portrait and listing in the Summer 2021 issue, preserved in his archive. Opens the magazine contents pages; publisher artwork is display-only.
View the magazine appearance01 / THE ENGINEER
The world is physical.
So is the work.
An idea becomes meaningful when it works outside the lab. My career has followed that challenge through power electronics, electric aircraft, Mars flight, and rocket-engine avionics.
Now, at AstraQua, I’m bringing that hardware perspective to intelligent autonomous systems—machines designed to reason, adapt, and collaborate within real limits of power, compute, and connectivity.
More about Loay
02 / A DEFINING PROJECT
A small aircraft.
An extraordinary first.
On April 19, 2021, Ingenuity made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Behind that moment: years of engineering—and electrical systems I helped bring to life.
A NEW PERSPECTIVEFlight.
On another world.
Watch the first flight on YouTube, opens in a new tabOn another world.
THE CONTRIBUTION
Electrical & power-electronics lead
My work included motor-control electronics and the power systems that made lightweight, efficient flight possible. Ingenuity was a team achievement, led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Project contribution through AeroVironment · 2014–201819.04.21
First powered, controlled
flight on another planet.
LOOK A LITTLE CLOSERThe engineering inside the achievement
THREE CONNECTED CHALLENGES
01Every watt matters.
A solar panel recharges the batteries. The energy budget must support flight, onboard computing, and survival through the Martian night. Efficiency connects every part of the aircraft.
02Lift in a thin atmosphere.
Two counter-rotating rotors create lift in an atmosphere far thinner than Earth’s. Lightweight construction and precise motor control make this demanding flight regime possible.
03Flight without a joystick.
Commands arrive from Earth, but the helicopter must carry out its flight autonomously. Onboard sensing and control close the loop faster than an interplanetary radio signal can.
03 / ROCKET ENGINES & LUNAR PROPULSION
From ignition.
To lunar descent.
At Blue Origin, I led electrical-systems design across the BE-4, BE-3U, and BE-7 engine programs—connecting the electronics, control, and integration behind orbital launch and lunar propulsion.
SENIOR MANAGER, ENGINE AVIONICS / BLUE ORIGIN
BE-4
LAUNCH / NEW GLENN & VULCAN
The first-stage engine behind two orbital launch vehicles. High-power propulsion, supported by precisely integrated electrical systems.
BE-3U
ORBIT / NEW GLENN UPPER STAGE
Restartable upper-stage propulsion designed for the journey beyond launch. Another demanding environment for engine avionics.
BE-7
MOON / BLUE MOON LUNAR LANDER
Deep-throttling propulsion developed for Blue Moon’s lunar landers. My contribution focused on the engine’s electrical systems.
04 / ELECTRIC VEHICLES · TERN · SOLAR DRONES · GLOBAL OBSERVER
The future moves
on electrons.
My work spans electric vehicles, DARPA’s TERN program, solar-powered drones, and Global Observer. Different aircraft and energy sources; a connected practice in making ambitious hardware work within real limits.
ENERGY INTO MOTION
Electric vehicles
Power electronics, motor control, and efficient electric systems. The foundation of my engineering practice—and a thread through my automotive and renewable-energy work.
SOLAR ENERGY / ELECTRIC FLIGHT
Solar-powered drones
I worked on multiple solar-powered drone projects at AeroVironment. That experience is part of a long-running focus on electric aviation, energy efficiency, and the possibilities of sustained autonomous flight.
HYBRID VTOL DEVELOPMENT
DARPA TERN
My hybrid VTOL work at AeroVironment included TERN: a DARPA program exploring unmanned aircraft that could launch vertically from small ships and transition to efficient forward flight.
HYDROGEN-ELECTRIC / LONG-ENDURANCE AIRCRAFT
Global Observer
I also worked on Global Observer, the hydrogen-electric unmanned aircraft program developed for persistent high-altitude operations. Another chapter in connecting energy systems with the ambitions of flight.
The self-aware aircraft
Aircraft health, onboard intelligence, and the capabilities future autonomous operations will need.
05 / THE THREAD THROUGH THE WORK
Different frontiers.
The same discipline.
Energy. Control. Reliability. The questions travel with you—even when the destination changes.
01Energy
POWER ELECTRONICS / ELECTRIC SYSTEMS
Start with the electrons.
Electric vehicles, solar-powered drones, DARPA TERN, and Global Observer are all part of my engineering story. Power conversion, motor control, and electric propulsion connect that work to Mars flight and the autonomous machines I’m building toward today.
02Flight
AEROVIRONMENT / INGENUITY / 2014–2018
Make flight possible on Mars.
Electrical and power-electronics engineering for a helicopter with no precedent. The work brought together propulsion, lightweight hardware, testing, and a tightly constrained energy budget.
03Avionics
BLUE ORIGIN / ROCKET-ENGINE ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
Engineer for the engine.
At Blue Origin, I led electrical engineering work across BE-3U, BE-4, and BE-7 engine programs. A different scale of hardware; the same attention to control, integration, and reliability.
04Intelligence
ASTRAQUA / FOUNDER & CEO / PRESENT
Put intelligence in the world.
Building toward efficient, adaptive intelligence that lives onboard autonomous machines and coordinates across them. Physical AI informed by the realities of physical engineering.
06 / WHAT I’M BUILDING NOW
AstraQuaIntelligence belongs
where the action is.
AstraQua is developing agentic Physical AI for autonomous systems: intelligence that can perceive, reason, coordinate, and recover where power is limited and a cloud connection is never guaranteed.
The broader direction is adaptive, collaborative machine intelligence across air, land, sea, and space. These capabilities are under development.
Explore AstraQuaNASA SBIR / PHASE II · OCTOBER 2026
Teaching machines to understand their own health.
On October 15, 2026, AstraQua announced a $1,274,990 NASA SBIR Phase II contract for AstraSense. Building on Phase I hardware demonstrations, the work advances aircraft integration and health-informed reasoning, with verification and validation for safety-critical applications.
2026 / $1,274,990 COMPANY CONTRACT
NASA SBIR Phase II
NASA SBIR Phase II advances AstraSense for electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, including advanced air mobility.
2026 / ASTRAQUA TEAMMoon to Mars pitch recognition
Second place reported by the team at the Technology Commercialization Summit; shared by NASA Technology Transfer.
07 / THE RECORD
Recognized for
what we made possible.
2018 / MARS HELICOPTER TEAMNASA Group Achievement Award
Recognizing the team that demonstrated helicopter flight was possible in Mars’s exceptionally thin atmosphere. Loay contributed electrical and power-electronics engineering to that effort.
INGENUITY TEAM RECOGNITION2021 Robert J. Collier Trophy
Awarded to the NASA/JPL Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team. Recognition of a shared engineering achievement.
PERSONAL RECOGNITION2025 Inclusive Excellence Award
Personal recognition from the University of Louisville’s J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
SELECTED HONORS / INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER TEAM
2022 / Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Explore the recognition & milestones Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement
2022 / Vertical Flight SocietyHoward Hughes Award
2022 / National Space Club & FoundationDr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy
2021 / Aviation Week NetworkGrand Laureate — Space
PERSONAL NOTES / LOAY ELBASYOUNI
A few things
I keep thinking about.
Experiences, observations, and lessons from a life spent making things work. A place for the person behind the projects.
Read the personal journalPUBLISHED ARTICLE / MARCH 2025
From Motorola to Intel, Black Stone to Black Rock
An earlier article on how technology companies respond to change, and the strategic choices that shape their future.
Read this noteLooking for the deeper technical work? Explore AstraQua’s research & technical writing ↗
09 / START A CONVERSATION
What could we
make possible?
For technology partnerships, engineering conversations, and speaking inquiries.
Get in touch
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Monthly personal notes
A monthly note on engineering, exploration, and what I’m learning along the way.
Stories behind the work, lessons from hard problems, and ideas to take into your own life.
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