The Growing Space Landscape

Abstract

[evdate 2015-07-28] IAS distinguished lecture. Title from opening screen.

Abstract: Space has typically been regarded as a destination and space efforts have been focused entirely on placing assets in orbit to either provide services (e.g. entertainment, navigation, telecommunications) or to explore space itself (e.g. Mars rovers, ISS, Hubble Space Telescope). However, in recent years, we have witnessed a gradual transition from large-scale, government-led exploration to a more versatile and agile approach as private enterprises become increasingly involved. The dynamics of space exploration are rapidly changing with the promise of easy and routine access becoming a reality, opening up the space frontier to any and all. There is also increasing discussion on how to utilize space for the benefit of life on Earth. In this talk, the speaker will discuss the developing space ecosystem including developing space for the benefit of life on Earth, international collaboration in space, exploring Mars, and space tourism.

Prof David Alexander received his Bachelor of Science in Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in 1985 and his doctorate on Relativistic Cosmological Models in 1989, both from the University of Glasgow. He became a Staff Physicist of the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, California in 1996, working on the development of advanced space missions for solar physics. In 2003, he joined the faculty of Rice University as a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is also Director of Rice Space Institute.

Prof Alexander’s primary area of research is solar astrophysics and he is a member of the Rice Faculty Senate and author of “The Sun” part of the Greenwood Press “Guide to the Universe” Series. He received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2004 and was appointed a Kavli Frontiers Fellow by the US National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomy Society, and Chair of the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Users’ Committee. He is also former Chair of the Solar Heliospheric Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) program. Prof Alexander has served on many national and professional committees including the NASA Advisory Council’s Heliophysics Subcommittee, the NASA Solar Heliospheric Management and Operations Working Group (SH-MOWG), ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter Payload Committee and the Science Advisory Board of the High Altitude Observatory Coronal Solar Magnetism Observatory.

Duration: 95 min.