From DeSales to the Moon: Joseph Marlin ’13 Leads Lunar Missions at Firefly Aerospace

When people say “Shoot for the moon,” they seldom expect others to take it literally. But some age-old sayings can turn out to be more than just a metaphor. For Joseph Marlin ’13, it's his actual job.

Marlin serves as a chief engineer for Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company that works with customers to deliver satellites, spacecraft, and instruments from Earth to anywhere in space.

He’s one of two chief engineers for the Blue Ghost lunar lander program, overseeing the “Elytra Dark” deep-space mobility vehicle, which is responsible for transporting Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander to the moon.

“We like to say that pretty much everyone who walks through the door is smarter than us because they are all subject matter experts in their subsystems,” says Marlin. “Our job, therefore, is to be big-picture engineers.”

As chief engineer, Marlin has three main duties: change control, risk management, and ultimate technical responsibility. Essentially, he ensures that all subsystems remain compatible, evaluates and determines how to mitigate risk, and maintains technical rigor and success before and during the mission. Ultimately, Marlin’s work is motivated by his passion for performing and enabling science.

“To that end, Firefly is taking 10 NASA payloads to the moon on its first lunar mission with the goal of learning about various qualities of the moon, from studying its magnetic fields to experimenting on moon dust,” he says.  

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander launched in January as part of the company’s first lunar mission, and it just recently landed in Mare Crisium on the near side of the moon. Future missions will take a radio telescope to the far side of the moon in 2026 to examine signals from approximately 30,000 years after the Big Bang and deliver a rover to explore the geologic mysterious Gruithuisen Domes on the moon’s near side in 2028.

Marlin, who double majored in mathematics and computer science, credits Annmarie Houck, chair of the department of mathematics/computer science, and Brother Dan Wisniewski, OSFS, former provost and associate professor of mathematics, with leaving a lasting impact on him.  

“They instilled in me a love for learning and discovering the universe around me,” he says. “At DeSales, it was discovering the universe through mathematical theorems and how it functions. Now, it's discovering what the universe is.” 

Marlin still keeps in touch with his former professors, and he even invited Houck and Br. Wisniewski out to Austin, Texas, last summer to see the lunar lander program firsthand. His career success comes as no surprise to Houck.  

“Joe was an incredibly talented and motivated student during his time here at DeSales,” she says. “We were lucky to have him in our department, and I had no doubt that he would go on to do amazing things. I often use Joe as a perfect example to show our current and prospective majors that a math/computer science degree can take you anywhere.”

Marlin began his career developing software to monitor bus engines and later transitioned to power grid systems. After some time, he was given an opportunity to monitor a launch pad and eventually became a launch engineer.

Though he had always dreamed of working in the space industry, he feared the lack of an engineering degree posed a barrier. But his wife convinced him otherwise.

“She basically told me, ‘Let the company make that decision,’ and she had a point,” Marlin says.

Today, Marlin’s journey is a powerful reminder that success stems from unexpected paths. His advice to current DeSales students is as pragmatic as it is endearing.  

“Don’t let your major stop you,” he says. “Let DeSales form your love of learning and then grow that love of learning through various jobs and see where you get.”