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NASA has updated its vision to guide its aeronautics research portfolio and provide innovative technologies and concepts to revolutionize key parts of aviation. The four key focus areas are to revolutionize aerospace engineering methods, transform airframes and propulsion, pioneer high-speed flight, and automate airspace and safety management capabilities. Research and developing activities are executed in partnership with the industry, academia, and other government agencies. Join us as Robert Pearce, Associate Administrator, NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, discusses this update and NASA’s strategic direction as it navigates the future.
Speaker:
Robert Pearce, Associate Administrator, NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Robert Pearce is the associate administrator for NASA ARMD. Pearce manages the agency’s aeronautics research portfolio and guides its strategic direction, including research in quiet supersonic flight over land, urban air mobility, autonomy, highly efficient advanced air vehicle concepts, electrified aircraft propulsion, advanced materials, airspace operations and safety, integration and flight demonstrations of aviation systems, and the nurturing and development of transformative concepts for aviation.
Moderator:
Richard Wahls, Sustainable Flight National Partnership Mission Integration Manager, NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
Rich Wahls is NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP) Mission Integration Manager for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). He is responsible for long-range strategic technical planning, as well as coordination of projects, supporting SFNP across ARMD’s programs and with industry, academia, and national/international government agencies. He supports the objective of delivering validated, high-readiness-level technologies to industry that enable the next generation sustainable subsonic transport aircraft.
Carissa Bryce Christensen is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of BryceTech, LLC, based in Alexandria, VA. She previously co-founded defense contractor The Tauri Group, acquired by LMI in 2019, and quantum computing software firm QxBranch, acquired by Rigetti Computing in 2019. She is an active tech investor and has served on several early-stage boards. Ms. Christensen is an internationally recognized expert on the satellite and space industry, known for rigorous analysis and innovative, data-driven strategy. She is a Senior Advisor to the annual US Space Force Schriever Wargame. She serves on the Senior Advisory Council of the Aerospace Corporation Center for Space Policy and Strategy, serves on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Space, and chairs the US board of the UN-affiliated Space Generation Advisory Council. She is a founding member of the Future Space Leaders Foundation and chairs its Advisory Board. Ms. Christensen previously served on the National Research Council Space Technology Industry-Government-University Roundtable, which advises NASA, and served on the Space Committee of the Defense Innovation Board. Ms. Christensen is a Harvard Business School Entrepreneur-in-Residence. She guest lectures at universities including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. She has testified before Congress and Parliament committees on the space industry. She publishes extensively, is often cited by major media outlets, and has appeared in commercial space documentaries by The Financial Times, Bloomberg and HBO.