[3] He served as a LTJG on the US Navy aircraft carriers Essex and Independence from 1957–1959 as the assistant electrical officer of a nuclear weapons team.

[4][5][6] For his sustained robotic exploration contributions over the last 40 years of the 20th century and solid success record, he received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and has an asteroid, 13801 Kohlhase, named in his honor.

[7] He managed and guided the team which designed the epic Voyager Grand Tour mission[8] to the outer planets and their moons and rings.

In addition to his counsel on various review boards, Kohlhase has chaired the Mars Program Systems Engineering Team, composed of many senior experts spanning diverse disciplines.

[9] He partnered with Jim Blinn in creating computer graphic animations of the Voyager spacecraft encounters and for the Carl Sagan Cosmos TV series.