Michael David Hicks

Michael David Hicks was a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who spent 24 years studying the physical properties of comets and asteroids. He served on the science teams of some of NASA’s most significant planetary defense and deep space missions, including the DART Project – NASA’s first test of whether humans could deflect a dangerous asteroid away from Earth. He authored over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Hicks died on July 30, 2023, at age 59. The cause of death was never made public. No record of an autopsy has been found. His death received almost no attention until the Daily Mail reported on it in April 2026, connecting it to a broader pattern of deaths and disappearances involving scientists with ties to America’s space and nuclear secrets.

Background

Hicks earned his Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in 1997, with a dissertation titled A Spectrophotometric Survey of Comets and Earth-Approaching Asteroids. He joined JPL as a postdoctoral research associate in 1998 and rose to research scientist, a position he held until 2022.

His research specialty was the physical characterization of small bodies in the solar system – comets, asteroids, and near-Earth objects. This work had direct implications for planetary defense: understanding the composition, structure, and behavior of asteroids is essential to any effort to deflect or destroy one on a collision course with Earth.

Hicks served on the science teams of multiple major NASA missions:

Mission	Role
DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)	Science team member – NASA’s first planetary defense test mission
NEAT (Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking)	Science team member – asteroid detection and cataloging
Dawn Mission	Science team member – study of asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres
Deep Space 1	Science team member – technology testbed that flew by a comet in 2001

Beyond his scientific work, Hicks was known among colleagues for his artistic talents – woodblock prints, oil painting, and metalwork – and for playing the ukulele during observing runs at Mount Palomar. He is survived by his father Richard, six siblings, and his daughter Julia.

What Happened

Hicks left JPL in 2022 after 24 years at the laboratory. Approximately one year later, on July 30, 2023, he died at age 59.

The circumstances surrounding his death are remarkably opaque. No cause of death was included in online obituaries. No health issues were mentioned. The Daily Mail reported in April 2026 that no record of an autopsy could be found, and that the death “appeared to happen suddenly.”

The University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory published a brief memorial noting his career and scientific contributions. The AAS Division for Planetary Sciences published a more detailed memorial. Neither mentioned the cause of death.

NASA and JPL did not publicly comment on Hicks’s death and did not respond to the Daily Mail’s inquiries.

What Doesn’t Add Up

The absence of any public information about how a 59-year-old research scientist died is unusual but not inherently suspicious. People die of natural causes at that age, and families are not obligated to disclose medical details.

What places Hicks in this investigation is the cluster he belongs to. Three other scientists with deep ties to JPL have died or vanished in the years since:

• Frank Maiwald – JPL Principal and long-time coworker of Hicks. Died July 4, 2024, in Los Angeles, at age 61. Cause of death unknown. NASA declined to comment.
• Carl Grillmair – Caltech astrophysicist whose work was heavily supported by JPL. Murdered on his front porch, February 16, 2026.
• Monica Reza – Director of JPL’s Materials Processing Group. Vanished during a hike in June 2025. Never found.

Four people connected to the same laboratory. Three dead, one missing. The span is less than three years.

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told the Daily Mail: “You can say these are all suspicious, and these are scientists who have worked in critical technology.” He noted that multiple foreign intelligence services – “China, Russia, even some of our friends” – target scientists working on precisely this kind of technology.

Sources

1. Michael David Hicks (1964–2023), University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
2. Michael David Hicks memorial, AAS Division for Planetary Sciences, 2023.
3. Daily Mail – Mystery surrounds death of NINTH scientist tied to US secrets (April 7, 2026).
4. University of Arizona dissertation repository – A Spectrophotometric Survey of Comets and Earth-Approaching Asteroids, Michael D. Hicks, 1997.