Bio
Lieutenant Colonel Frey is the Acting Head of the Department of Astronautics at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Department of Astronautics helps produce the finest Air Force and Space Force officers in the world who live our core values and understand space. Lieutenant Colonel Frey supervises 21 Air & Space Force officers, NCOs, civilians and support contractors offering 19 college-level courses annually to educate over 1,000 cadets in Astronautics & Space Operations. He also manages a dynamic $6.0M+ research program funded by AFRL and other DoW organizations. Lieutenant Colonel Frey is a 2005 graduate of the University of Michigan where he received a Bachelors degree in aerospace engineering and earned his commission through the Reserve Officers Training Corps.
First assigned to the Protected Satellite Communications Group at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., Lieutenant Colonel Frey served as a Training and Early Orbit Operations Engineer for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite program, where he was a liaison between the program office and operational units. Lieutenant Colonel Frey then became the Lead System Security Engineer for AEHF, working multiple certification and accreditation packages to support fielding the AEHF ground system. Lieutenant Colonel Frey was next assigned to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio where he obtained a Master’s degree in astronautical engineering and finished as a Distinguished Graduate.
Following AFIT, Lieutenant Colonel Frey served as Test Manager and Test Direction Flight Commander, 17th Test Squadron, Schriever AFB, Colo. where he managed operational testing for the Operationally Responsive Space-1 imagery satellite and directed test planning and execution for other Air Force Space Command assets world-wide. While stationed at Schriever AFB, Lieutenant Colonel Frey deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lieutenant Colonel Frey returned to school in 2015, earning a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2018 with research focusing on constrained control of spacecraft proximity operations. Prior to returning to USAFA, Lieutenant Colonel Frey’s last assignment was at the National Reconnaissance Office where he served as a Branch Chief and Technical Director on several technical development efforts.
Education
Air War College, by correspondence (2026)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. (2018)
Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence (2018)
Squadron Officers School, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Ala. (2013)
Masters of Science in Astronautical Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio (2011)
Space Systems Certificate, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterrey, Calif. (2008)
Air and Space Basic Course, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Ala. (2006)
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. (2005)
Professional Experience
Acting Head, Department of Astronautics, United States Air Force Academy, CO (Dec 2025 – Present)
Assistant Professor of Astronautics, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (Jun 2022 – Dec 2025)
Branch Chief and Technical Director, National Reconnaissance Office, Chantilly, Va. (Aug 2018 – Jun 2022)
PhD Student, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Aug 2015 – Aug 2018)
Executive Officer, Department of Astronautics, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (Jun 2014 – Aug 2015)
Instructor, Department of Astronautics, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo. (Jun 2013 – Jun 2014)
Test Direction Flight Commander, Schriever AFB, Colo. (Mar 2012 – Jun 2013)
Test Manager, Schriever AFB, Colo. (Apr 2011 – Mar 2012)
Masters Student, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio (Aug 2009 – Apr 2011)
Lead System Security Engineer, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. (Jan 2008 – Aug 2009)
Early Orbit Ops Engineer, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. (Jan 2006 – Jan 2008)
Honors & Awards
Outstanding Academy Educator, Department of Astronautics (2024)
NRO Silver Medal of Superior Performance (2022)
Decorations
Bronze Star Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal
Air Force Commendation Medal
Joint Service Achievement Medal
Research and Scholarly Interests
Astrodynamics
Constrained Control
Satellite Relative Motion
Publications
Peer Reviewed Journal Contributions
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Constrained spacecraft relative motion planning exploiting periodic natural motion trajectories and invariance,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 40, No. 12 (2017), pp. 3100-3115.
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Emanuele Garone, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Parameter governors for coordinated control of n-spacecraft formations,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 40, No. 11 (2017), pp. 3020-3025.
Peer Reviewed Conference Contributions
Bryan C. Folkert, James M. Challman, Robert C. Cantrall, and Gregory R. Frey, “Demonstration of On-Orbit Rendezvous with Hall Effect Thruster Propulsion and Streamlined Ground Operations,” JANNAF Spacecraft Propulsion Joint Subcommittee, Spokane, WA, 2026
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Anouck R. Girard, and Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, “Invariance-based spacecraft relative motion planning incorporating bounded disturbances and minimum thrust constraints,” American Control Conference, Milwaukee, WI, 2018, pp. 658-663.
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Incorporating periodic and non-periodic natural motion trajectories into constrained invariance-based spacecraft relative motion planning,” 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, IEEE, Kohala Coast, HI, 2017, pp. 1811-1816.
Ran Tian, Hao Chen, Gregory Frey, Bingqing Zu, Anouck Girard, and Ilya Kolmanovsky, “Path planning for information collection in contested environments using marsupial systems,” 2017 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Miami, FL, 2017, pp. 706-715.
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Anouck R. Girard, and Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, “Safe relative motion trajectory planning for satellite inspection,” 27th Space Flight Mechanics Meeting, AIAA/AAS, San Antonio, TX, 2017, AAS Paper 17-411.
Gregory R. Frey, Christopher D. Petersen, Frederick A. Leve, Emanuele Garone, Ilya V. Kolmanovsky, and Anouck R. Girard, “Time shift governor for coordinated control of two spacecraft formations,” 10th IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems, IFAC, Monterrey, CA, 2016, pp. 296-301.
Gregory R. Frey and William Wiesel, “Kam Torus Frequency Generation from Two-Line Element Sets,” Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, Wailea, HI, 2011.
Other Scholarly Works
PhD Dissertation: Gregory R. Frey, “Advances in Constrained Control of Spacecraft Relative Motion,” University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2018
Masters Thesis: Gregory R. Frey, KAM Torus Frequency Generation from Two-Line Element Sets, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, 2011