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ascend speaker byron knight
May 16, 2024

Byron Knight

Dr. Byron F. Knight is a United States Department of Defense Intelligence Senior Leader, currently serving as the Chief Engineer in the Advanced Systems and Technology (AS&T) Directorate at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in…
Thomas Zurbuchen 2022
May 16, 2024

Thomas Zurbuchen

Dr. Thomas H. Zurbuchen, also known as 'Dr. Z' in the space community, is a professor and leader of Space Programs at ETH Zurich. As NASA's head of science from 2016 to 2022, he oversaw…
Melanie Stricklan 2022GC
May 16, 2024

Melanie Stricklan

Melanie Stricklan is the inaugural Executive Director of Space Workforce 2030 (SW2030), a pioneering alliance that unites the world’s top space companies with the shared goal of inspiring, preparing, and employing a more dynamic and…
ASCEND speaker michael nayak DARPA
May 16, 2024

Michael Nayak

Dr. Michael “Orbit” Nayak (Maj, USAF) joined DARPA as a program manager in May 2022. At DARPA, he is interested in inventive ways to apply techniques from the disciplines of astrophysics and planetary science to…
ASCEND speaker Sho Nakanose GITAI
May 16, 2024

Sho Nakanose

Sho Nakanose is the Founder and CEO of GITAI, the world's leading space robotics startup. He aims to provide safe and affordable labor in space, reducing operational costs to one-hundredth of the current levels. In…
May 16, 2024

Michael López-Alegría

Michael López-Alegría was born in Madrid, Spain and immigrated to the U.S. as a young boy with his family. He has over 40 years of aviation and space experience with the U.S. Navy and NASA…
Matt Kozlov Techstars
May 16, 2024

Matt Kozlov

Matt is the Managing Director of three of the top venture accelerators in the country: Techstars LA (in partnership with JPMorgan), Techstars Healthcare (in partnership with Cedars-Sinai, UnitedHealthcare, UCIrvine Health, and Point32Health), and Techstars Space…
Janet Grondin Stellar Solutions
May 15, 2024

Janet Grondin

Janet Grondin is the CEO of Stellar Solutions Inc., a leading provider of high-impact engineering services to significant intelligence, defense, civil, commercial, and international customers for 29 years. Grondin previously was Vice President of Intelligence…