Karl Harshman passed away on January 28, 2026 following a long-fought battle with cancer.

Karl served as our Science & Processing Operations Center (SPOC) Manager for OSIRIS-APEX. His SPOC leadership began on OREx, where he stepped into the role a year before launch, at a time when the science ground system was struggling. Karl turned the ship around. Through steady leadership, deep technical expertise, and a collaborative spirit, he helped guide us smoothly through Bennu proximity operations and the sampling campaign. He managed both science uplink and downlink operations and earned the deep respect and affection of the entire team. He was key in retaining our core expertise from OREx to APEX. 

Karl joined LPL in 1998 as a software engineer on the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer and went on to contribute to an extraordinary list of missions, including Phoenix, LRO, MSL, OSIRIS-REx (both OCAMS and SPOC), and OSIRIS-APEX. In his final years, he was also instrumental in developing a Mission Operations Center for the Pandora mission, continuing to build capability right up to the end.

On a personal note, my very first task on OSIRIS-REx involved working closely with Karl to identify which OCAMS telemetry streams should be archived as scientifically relevant housekeeping data. I doubt Karl imagined then that I would one day be leading this spacecraft into a new mission, but he met me with patience and respect while I was early in my career.

Karl was a force. He cared deeply about the missions, the work, and—most importantly—the people. His absence will be felt across this project and well beyond it.

Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina 
Associate  Professor