3 Apr, 2024
Former NASA Executive Envisions Positive Future for ispace-U.S. in the Development of Lunar Economy.
DENVER, Colo. – ispace technologies U.S., inc. (ispace-U.S.), an American lunar exploration company, announced that Dr. Alan Stern, a renowned planetary scientist and former NASA executive, has joined ispace-U.S. as an advisor to expand and accelerate its business in the U.S. market.
Dr. Alan Stern, courtesy of Southwest Research Institute
Dr. Stern is a planetary scientist, commercial astronaut, space program executive, aerospace consultant, author, and public speaker, as well as a member of the US National Science Board. His first spaceflight was Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 05 mission, a suborbital research and training mission that launched in November 2023. In 2020, NASA appointed him to fly a second flight as the first researcher to fly to space aboard a commercial suborbital space mission.
“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Stern to the team. He is a preeminent researcher, and experienced leader in both the public and private sectors of the U.S. space industry,” said Ron Garan, CEO of ispace-U.S. “His vision and experience will help to guide and position ispace-U.S. as a front-runner in lunar exploration and increase our ability to exceed the expectations of our customers.”
ispace-U.S. and Dr. Stern will partner in several different business areas to help develop the lunar economy and increase ispace-U.S.’s footprint on the U.S. market.
“I was impressed by both the scale of ispace’s APEX 1.0 lunar lander ispace’s global nature. The more I understand the organization and its leadership team, the more I believe that ispace-U.S. will excel in developing new business for its landers and orbiters.”
“I also see opportunities beyond the conventional, to expand the ispace-U.S. business portfolio, and their footprint and recognition. I am thrilled to join and help develop the lunar economy with ispace-U.S.”, added Dr. Stern.
As Dr. Stern is best known as the principal investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission; his research career has focused on the solar system’s Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud, comets, satellites of the outer planets, the Pluto system, and the search for evidence of solar systems around other stars. He has also worked on spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and studies of tenuous satellite atmospheres, including the atmosphere of the Moon. For almost a decade, he was also the principal investigator (PI) of the LAMP instrument aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
In November 2023, Dr. Stern flew to suborbital space as part of Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 05 mission and successfully conducted two human-tended science experiments as well as preparation work for his future NASA-funded suborbital research missions, which could fly as early as 2024.
Dr. Stern is also a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the Explorer’s Club, and is an elected member the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and the prestigious International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
About ispace technologies U.S.
ispace – U.S. is an American lunar exploration company providing transportation and infrastructure capabilities from Earth to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon for government and commercial customers. ispace believes that the utilization of lunar resources is the catalyst to enabling human permanence and economic opportunity on and around the Moon and is committed to achieving this goal. The company’s U.S. headquarters serves as the central location for the development of its APEX 1.0 lunar lander, which is being designed, manufactured, and launched in the United States. In partnership with Draper, this lander will deliver a suite of multiple NASA-sponsored science payloads to the lunar surface as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Initiative.
ispace – U.S. CEO, Ron Garan, is a former NASA Astronaut and a leading voice in the space industry. His executive team includes professionals that have served at the highest levels of the United States space program. For more information, visit www.ispace-us.com.
Media Contact:
Miri Casey
Communications | ispace technologies, U.S., inc.