josh-brien

With the planned decommissioning of the International Space Station by the end of the decade, NASA is taking steps to ensure continuity of critical LEO microgravity research with the help of the private sector. NASA’s Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) program to seed human activity in LEO to commercial partners raises significant policy issues from export, liability, registration, arbitration, and other international issues. The intergovernmental agreement that governed the ISS operations will no longer apply. We need a governing regime for commercial space habitats that is not restrictive but will give customers and investors a level of confidence in the rules of engagement.  This panel will include some of the key participants in the CLD program to give their insights on the potential for the emerging commercial space habitat market and the policy challenges they feel will have to be addressed.  

PROGRAM

One-on-One Discussion CLD Overview with Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Spaceflight, NASA   Panel Discussion Steven Wolfe, President & Co-Founder, Beyond Earth Institute – Moderator Phil McAlister, Director of Commercial Spaceflight, NASA Erika Wagner, Senior Director for Emerging Space Markets, Blue Origin Adrian Mangiuca, Vice President of Infrastructure, Voyager Space Alex MacDonald, Chief Economist, NASA Tejpaul Bhatia, Chief Revenue Officer, Axiom Space

FEATURED SPEAKERS with BIOS

Steven Wolfe is Beyond Earth Institute President and Co-Founder. He is also Deputy Executive Director for the Global Spaceport Alliance and a partner at CWSP International. He serves as the Space and Board of Editors for the Journal of Space Philosophy. Steve served in Washington as the executive director of the Congressional Space Caucus and drafted the Space Settlement Act of 1988. The bill was signed into law as part of the NASA Authorization bill. Steve is also the author of The Obligation: A Journey to Discover Human Purpose on Earth and in the Cosmos.   Philip McAlister joined NASA in 2005, and he is currently the director of the Commercial Spaceflight Division at NASA Headquarters where he advises NASA about issues pertaining to the design, development, and demonstration and services of commercial spaceflight vehicles, systems, and capabilities. McAlister oversees multiple programs at NASA: the Commercial Crew Program, including the Suborbital Crew project; the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Development Program, which includes private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and the development of new commercial space destinations; and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization NASA has contracted to manage the ISS National Laboratory. Prior to this assignment, McAlister oversaw the successful Commercial Cargo Program (i.e., Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) which facilitated the development of the SpaceX Dragon and Northrop Grumman (previously Orbital Sciences) Cygnus cargo transportation systems.  He also served as the executive director for the “Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee” (also known as the Augustine Committee). In 2010, he earned NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal. Prior to NASA, he was a director at Futron Corporation where he managed a division that performed aerospace business analysis and technology assessments.  Before joining Futron, he served as a senior manager during a 10-year career at TRW Corporation. McAlister earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Averett University, a Master of Science degree in Systems Engineering from George Mason University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Sciences from the University of Maryland.   Dr. Erika Wagner serves as Senior Director of Emerging Market Development for Blue Origin, a developer of vehicles and technologies to enable human space transportation. Prior to joining Blue Origin, Dr. Wagner worked with the X PRIZE Foundation as Senior Director of Exploration Prize Development and founding Executive Director of the X PRIZE Lab@MIT. Previously, she served at MIT as Science Director and Executive Director of the Mars Gravity Biosatellite Program, a multi-university spacecraft development initiative to investigate the physiological effects of reduced gravity. Erika has previously served as a member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group, the Board of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, and NASA’s Planetary Protection Independent Review Board. Today, she serves as a Trustee of the Museum of Flight, as well as a member of the National Academies’ Space Studies Board. Dr. Wagner’s interdisciplinary academic background includes a bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, a master’s in Aeronautics & Astronautics from MIT, and a PhD in Bioastronautics from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Her research spanned both human and mammalian adaptation to microgravity, partial gravity, and centrifugation; as well as organizational innovation and prize theory. She is also an alumna of the International Space University and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.   Adrian Mangiuca serves as the Vice President of Infrastructure for Voyager Space, where he works on future capability development aligned with making humanity’s venture into space permanent. Adrian held prior roles at Made In Space and Nanoracks, where he aligned specifically with the design, funding, and execution of plans for the construction of long-duration crewed and autonomous space platforms. At Voyager, Adrian served as capture manager for the NASA Commercial LEO Destinations proposal, known as “Starlab.” At Nanoracks, he served as Principal Investigator for the NASA-funded Low-Earth Orbit Commercialization Study and worked with 13 partner organizations to describe how a future LEO economy becomes sustainable. Mr. Mangiuca has an MSc in Development Administration & Planning for University College London, has lived in six countries, and speaks seven languages which he enjoys practicing in his spare time.   Alexander MacDonald is the Chief Economist at NASA. He was previously the Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of the Administrator and was the founding program executive of NASA’s Emerging Space Office within the Office of the Chief Technologist. He is the author and editor of a number of NASA reports including Emerging Space: The Evolving Landscape of 21^st Century American Spaceflight, Public-Private Partnerships for Space Capability Development, and Economic Development of Low-Earth Orbit. He is also a former executive staff specialist on commercial space at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a former research faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, and has worked for the Universities Space Research Association while at NASA’s Ames Research Center where he worked on small satellite mission designs and served as the center’s first research economist. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Queen’s University in Canada, his master’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia, and was a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford where he obtained his doctorate on the long-run economic history of American space exploration. He was also an inaugural TED Senior Fellow and received the AIAA History Manuscript of the Year Award in 2016. With 25 years of startup and strategic leadership experience at some of the world’s biggest companies and three investor-backed, high-growth startups, Tejpaul Bhatia leads revenue generation and future monetization strategy for the commercial development of space as Chief Revenue Officer at Axiom Space. Prior to joining Axiom, he led External Strategic Narrative for the Office of the CIO at Google, where he met with C-suite executives at Fortune 100 corporations to discuss the future of work, supporting over $4B in sales pipeline. Tej first joined Google as the Startup Ecosystem Manager in New York to establish and grow Google Cloud’s presence with startup founders, venture capital firms, and family offices; he previously was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures. As a startup founder for 10 years prior, Tej served as Chief Operating Officer for an educational technology company, Explain Everything, CEO of video chatting platform Chatwala, and CEO of Kaptur, an app that enables users to instantly aggregate all photos taken at any event in seconds. Before founding Kaptur, Tej was Senior Manager of Product and International Strategy for ESPN, where he launched ESPN3 in the US, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe. Tej holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Columbia University. He has served in non-profit leadership and board positions at the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Startup Leadership Program.