“The Future of Robotic Space Exploration”

When:
March 22, 2018 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
2018-03-22T13:30:00-04:00
2018-03-22T14:30:00-04:00
Where:
MIT Media Lab
75 Amherst St, Cambridge, MA 02139
USA

Space & planetary sciences crew welcome! We have the treat of having Leon Alkalai on campus, he is a creative maestro behind many great mission ideas at JPL, and is a key strategic leader for their research efforts.

“The Future of Robotic Space Exploration”

We live in very exciting times with regards to the current state of the art and the near-term opportunities for robotic space exploration. As of today, NASA is planning and developing missions to explore the ocean worlds at the moons of Jupiter and Saturn including Europa, Enceladus and Titan. We have continuous robotic presence on the surface of Mars and in orbit around Mars for over 20 years with plans to robotically return samples back to Earth in the near future. Moreover, robotic explorers are getting more and more sophisticated and more autonomous including the use of Artificial Intelligence and other on-board autonomous functions and using optical communications to provide high-bandwidth communications from deep space back to Earth. In parallel to all these advancements in robotic space exploration for the sake of science and exploration, there is a new tide of commercial space rising. Satellites are getting smaller and more capable and cheaper; access to space is getting easier, more frequent and cheaper. The two trends are fueling a new gold rush to Lower Earth Orbit by commercial space companies and fresh investments from venture capital. Future market sectors include: space tourism, space manufacturing, space resources, research and technology development in space, human habitats on the Moon and Mars, and much more. This is an excellent time to enter into the space business, for science, exploration or for new business development.