Dr. Ashley Chandler Karp is the Mars Launch System Manager for the Sample Retrieval Lander at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Karp has designed and built multiple hybrid rocket test facilities. She was the Principal Investigator for the Hybrid Propulsion Test Facility, where she designed, built and tested hybrid rocket motors for Mars In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and interplanetary CubeSats/SmallSats (6U+). Dr. Karp led a hybrid technology development program for a potential Mars Ascent Vehicle from a clean sheet design using a new propellant combination, through subscale and full scale testing, towards technology infusion. As a technologist and propulsion engineer at JPL, she worked on a low-cost ventilator, lead the technology development for pyrotechnic paint for planetary protection, contributed to the ballute inflation aide for the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator.

She was also the cognizant engineer for multiple propulsion components on the Mars 2020 cruise and descent stage propulsion systems. Dr. Karp earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, where she specialized in hybrid rocket propulsion. While at Stanford, she designed, built and operated a test facility to visualize hybrid rocket combustion (slab burner).

She completed her bachelor's degree at the University of California, Berkeley, with a triple major in Astrophysics, Physics and Political Science. She is a former Chair of the AIAA Hybrid Rocket Propulsion Technical Committee.