Advancing the Frontiers of Space Science

Thursday, February 18, 2016
7:00 pm
Duncan Hall – McMurtry Auditorium

Reception at 6:30 pm in the lobby in front of McMurtry Auditorium

Laurie Leshin
President, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Jon Morse
CEO of BoldlyGo Institute

ABSTRACT
Space holds essentially limitless potential to address profound questions of our existence and push the limits of exploration and innovation. Space science continues to generate extraordinary breakthroughs, whether roving Mars or discovering new worlds, while also helping to drive public interest in science through blockbuster movies and other pop culture. Unlike other areas of science such as medical research or ground-based astronomy, space-based science has to date been an entirely government-funded endeavor.

The BoldlyGo Institute seeks to usher in a new era of expanded space science activities by complementing government science activities with privately funded, world-class space science missions. These missions, including a Mars round-trip robotic mission and a Hubble-class space telescope, would perform transformative science with ready-to-go technologies and new levels of student and public engagement. In this presentation we will discuss BoldlyGo’s pursuit of these “NewSpace Science” goals.

BIOS
Dr. Laurie Leshin is the President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, one of our nations first technological universities, and alma mater of Robert Goddard. She currently serves on the science team for NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover. Previously she was Deputy Center Director for Science & Technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and Deputy Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Laurie is a cosmochemist who seeks to understand the history of water in our solar system and the possibility of life elsewhere.

Dr. Jon Morse is the CEO of BoldlyGo Institute. He has over a decade of leadership experience in space organizations, including as Director of Astrophysics in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, as Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, and as Project Scientist for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Jon is an astrophysicist with research interests in the birth and death of stars.