The brainchild of astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, co-founder/chief scientist at Privateer and associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas, the Diverse Dozen is the exclusive ASCEND community of thought leaders and activists whose intellectual and emotional commitment to keeping the off-world environment free of debris knows no bounds.

“D12 is centered on the belief that we’re more similar than we are different, and action is best when born from compassion,” says Jah, a space environmentalist advancing our ability to understand how human objects in space create both services and risks of collisions.

In an effort to address this topic, and coming from a place of honoring and respecting the relationships and relatedness among all things, as well as of acting with compassion, Moriba Jah has partnered with ASCEND to create a one-of-a-kind annual event that invokes diverse and unique voices from humanity to tell the world about salient issues in space safety, security, and sustainability.

The ASCEND Diverse Dozen represent a profile of human constituents with thoughts worth sharing!

If you’re selected for the 2023 Diverse Dozen, you will author an opinion essay and deliver a thought-leadership presentation of your vision for space during the in-person component of 2023 ASCEND, 23-25 October, at Caesars Forum, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. You’ll also participate in the review and selection of the next cohort (Summer 2024).