OpenMBEE Leadership: Christopher Delp
Christopher Delp is an industry-recognized leader in Digital Engineering, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), Systems Architecture, and Open-Source Systems Engineering. With over 25 years of comprehensive experience in systems and software engineering on flight projects at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), his expertise spans the entire project lifecycle—from system architecture and design to the development and testing of safety-critical software. In his current capacity, Mr. Delp leads the JPL Digital Engineering Center, guiding the strategic vision for the laboratory's next-generation engineering capabilities. Concurrently, he is spearheading the AI transformation within the Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) Systems and Software program. By integrating artificial intelligence into digital engineering methodologies, his work focuses on developing robust, intelligent software environments designed to accelerate aerospace innovation and streamline complex mission development. Throughout his career, Mr. Delp has driven innovation and established industry standards across several key domains:
- Institutional Digital Transformation: Organizationally and technically, Mr. Delp spearheaded the modernization of JPL’s Systems and Software Development environments. Within the Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) program, he led a multi-year effort to rearchitect the Model-Based Engineering Enterprise. This initiative successfully shifted the institution toward comprehensive Digital Engineering, establishing a state-of-the-art environment for system modeling, analytical assessments, and simulation grounded in Open Engineering principles.
- Architectural Innovation: As the driving force behind the Dragon Architecture for Digital Engineering, Mr. Delp established a pioneering, scalable, and web-based digital lifecycle framework. As detailed in his IEEE publications, Dragon implements the digital thread by connecting diverse systems and software engineering applications together into a cohesive, graph-based ecosystem. By applying Internet and World Wide Web interoperability technologies and standards, this architecture seamlessly integrates requirements, system architecture, detailed hardware and software design, and test cases. His visionary approach established Dragon as a foundational technological pillar, directly enabling the rigorous, heterogeneous model-based systems engineering required for flagship NASA projects, including Mars 2020, Europa Clipper, and Mars Sample Return (MSR).
- Flight Project MBSE Leadership: Bridging the gap between institutional research and active flight projects, Mr. Delp spearheaded the Model-Based Engineering Environment development for the Europa Clipper mission. As detailed in his IEEE publications on Integrated Model-Centric Engineering, he championed the critical transition from traditional, document-centric engineering practices to a rigorous, model-driven approach. For the highly complex Europa Clipper spacecraft, he architected an environment that enabled the continuous integration of engineering products across multiple disciplines and domains throughout the project's lifecycle. By elevating engineering models to a principal role, his work successfully addressed the challenge of exposing undesired system-level interactions that cannot be reliably captured by natural-language specifications or standard testing, ultimately enabling automated validation and verification of the mission design.
- Open-Source & Industry Community Leadership: Guided by the vision of "Connected Engineering in a Connected World," Mr. Delp co-founded OpenMBEE, a thriving first-of-its-kind community dedicated to advancing open-source models, software, and frameworks. This initiative champions a seamless digital thread, enabling engineers to work in the languages and tools of their choice while easily sharing, analyzing, and documenting their work across multi-domain environments to break down traditional silos. Furthering his commitment to this globally connected engineering ecosystem, he is a key contributor to the SysML standards development team at the Object Management Group (OMG) and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), where he also leads the INCOSE Model-Based Environments workshop.
- Systems Engineering Education & Mentorship: Deeply committed to cultivating the next generation of engineering talent, Mr. Delp has consistently championed innovative training, teaching, and mentoring initiatives throughout his career. At JPL, he developed dynamic training programs designed to upskill engineers and accelerate the institution's digital transformation. This dedication extends to his hands-on role as an instructor with Caltech’s Center for Technology and Management Education (CTME). Leading MBSE and Digital Engineering credentialing courses, he actively develops curriculum, manages complex course models, and integrates cutting-edge frameworks like OpenMBEE into the classroom, ensuring professionals are equipped with the practical, model-based skills required to solve tomorrow's aerospace challenges. Mr. Delp holds a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona. An active member of INCOSE and the MBSE community since 2008, Mr. Delp co-founded OpenMBEE (Open Model-Based Engineering Environment), an open-source platform supported by NumFOCUS that enables cross-tool and cross-language collaboration in modeling. Additionally, he co-chaired the SysML Revision Task Force at the Object Management Group (OMG), representing NASA, and represents JPL on the SysML v2 submission team, which is developing the next generation of systems modeling standards. Widely published and a regular speaker at industry events, Mr. Delp continues to champion the MBSE community through his ongoing contributions, empowering engineers to apply advanced model-based approaches to diverse and complex engineering challenges.