Cathy Olkin is a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, focusing on the outer Solar System.

She is deputy principal investigator for NASA's Lucy mission examining the Trojan asteroids around Jupiter,[1] which launched in 2021 and will fly past its targets between 2025 and 2033.

As a child, Olkin considered a variety of careers in science and academia, including geologist, paleontologist, archaeologist, and doctor.

[7][8] She is deputy principal investigator for NASA's Lucy mission examining the Trojan asteroids around Jupiter,[1] which launched in 2021 and will fly past its targets between 2025 and 2033.

Michiko Kakutani described Olkin's contribution as "a thrilling account...of last-minute emergency repairs made to the New Horizons spacecraft as it traveled three billion miles to get a close-up of Pluto.