Assistant Professor, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona and Principal Investigator, OSIRIS-APEX

I investigate the surface and near-surface structure of small airless worlds across the solar system. To do so, I develop and use remote-sensing and geophysical instruments deployed by spacecraft. I also enjoy field testing and validating instrumentation techniques at analog sites in extreme environments across our own planet. I am especially interested in water distribution throughout the solar system and how we establish its presence using remote-sensing and in-situ techniques.

Vice President of Civil Space, Voyager Technologies

Interplanetary Flight Dynamics Lead, KinetX Aerospace

Research Scientist, Lockheed Martin

Director, Space Telescope Programs, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

USAF; Former Commander, 16th Air Force

Lt. Gen. Glen W. “Wally” Moorhead III is Commander, NATO Allied Air Component Command Izmir, Turkey; and Commander, 16th Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein Air Base, Germany. In both roles, the general is responsible for the planning and execution of U.S. and NATO air operations throughout Europe and Africa. He also serves as the air component commander for NATO and European Union air operations in the Balkans.

The general graduated from Smackover High School, Ark., in 1964, and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School before graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1969. After completing undergraduate pilot training and initial mission qualification, he was assigned twice to Southeast Asia, where he flew more than 350 close air support and air interdiction missions and more than 500 combat hours in the A-37 Dragonfly and A-7 Corsair II. He has also commanded two tactical fighter squadrons, an operations group, the Warrior Preparation Center in Europe, the 50th Space Wing, the Space Warfare Center and the Air Warfare Center. In 1995, in support of a number of ongoing Balkans operations, General Moorhead directed Joint Task Force Provide Promise, including humanitarian airlift into Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Joint Task Force Able Sentry in Macedonia; the United Nations hospital in Zagreb, Croatia; and unmanned aerial vehicle operations for NATO’s Operation Deliberate Force. During Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the general commanded the 16th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force and Coalition Air Forces North, a collection of more than 4,700 Airmen and 100 aircraft flying combat and combat support sorties from expeditionary bases in Europe, and also commanded Operation Display Deterrence, NATO’s Article IV air defense of Turkey during the same period.

General Moorhead has held staff positions as Deputy Director of Fighter Tactics and Training for Headquarters Tactical Air Command, special assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and Air Force Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations. Prior to his current assignment, he was Commander, 16th Air Force, Aviano AB, Italy. The general has flown more than 5,000 hours in seven different aircraft since receiving his pilot wings in April 1971.

Deputy Technology Executive Officer for Space, Air Force Research Laboratory & Commander, Phillips Research Site

Col Max W. “Rowdy” Yates is Commander, Phillips Research Site, and Deputy Technology Executive Officer for Space at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. He leads a team of 1,871 military, civilian, and contractors who comprise the nation’s center of excellence for military space science and technology research and development, as well as advanced technologies integration and demonstration. His organization develops enduring space capabilities for the U.S. Space Force, including communications, positioning, navigation and timing, missile warning, space domain awareness, and space control. He provides oversight of all space-focused research across the entirety of Air Force Research Laboratory, advising the DAF Technology Executive Officer as the senior Guardian in AFRL.

Colonel Yates was commissioned in 2006 as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During his career, Colonel Yates has led technology development for the Air Force, Space Force, and NASA through all stages of maturation from basic and applied research at AFRL to flight testing at the Air Force Test Center and NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. Recognized for his work in rapid innovation with a PhD in space systems engineering from MIT, he has led multiple programs at AFRL & Space Rapid Capabilities Office to develop & deploy operational capabilities that solve urgent multi-domain warfighter needs.

He previously served as the System Program Director for Starfire Optical Range, Satellite Assessment Center, and the Air Force Maui Optical & Supercomputing Site (AMOS), leading research in space domain awareness & directed energy applications. Beyond acquisitions, he has served as senior policy advisor to the Assistant Secretary of War for Space Policy and an operational squadron commander at the Air Force Technical Applications Center, where he was responsible for monitoring nuclear weapon test ban treaties using the Air Force’s largest sensing network of more than 300 space-based, seismic, and hydroacoustic sensors.

Area Executive, National Security, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Director of Growth & Academic Engagement, Voyager Technologies

Colleen McLeod Garner brings over 20 years of leadership in the commercial sector, with a specialized focus in hospitality and consumer goods. She holds an MBA in Global Innovation and an Executive Master’s in Space Leadership, Business, and Policy from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, where she was honored with the Dean’s Circle Award, the Founders Award, and induction into Beta Gamma Sigma. Recently, she was nominated for the Top 100 Women in Aerospace & Aviation.

A sought-after speaker, Colleen presents regularly at hospitality industry forums and leading space conferences, often emphasizing the importance of human factors in long-duration missions and commercial space endeavors. She was recently accepted into the prestigious Ph.D. program at the University of North Dakota, where she will continue her research on space human factors.

Colleen is a proud member of the Space Force Association and holds multiple certifications in space policy and business, underscoring her commitment to shaping a more inclusive and commercially viable future in space.

Director, Arizona Astrobiology Center, Principal Investigator, OSIRIS-REx, Regents Professor, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory 

Dante Lauretta is a Regents Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Director of the Arizona Astrobiology Center. He is an expert in near-Earth asteroid formation and evolution and serves as the Principal Investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return mission. OSIRIS-REx is the United States' flagship mission to explore a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, to study its physical and chemical properties, assess its impact risk, evaluate its resource potential, and return a pristine sample to Earth for detailed scientific analysis.

The spacecraft launched in September 2016, reached Bennu in 2018, and successfully collected a sample in October 2020. On September 24, 2023, the mission achieved a major milestone when the sample capsule returned to Earth. The analysis of these samples is currently underway, offering groundbreaking insights into the origin of life, the processes that shaped the early solar system, and Earth's development as a habitable world.

Dante is also affiliated with NASA's OSIRIS-APEX mission, which builds on OSIRIS-REx's success by extending its exploration of asteroids. Having led the OSIRIS-REx mission to its historic sample return, Dante has since handed the leadership of OSIRIS-APEX to the next generation, ensuring the continued exploration of the solar system by fostering new talent and ideas.

In addition to his leadership roles, he maintains an active research program in cosmochemistry and astrobiology, focusing on understanding the chemical evolution of the solar system and the formation of organic molecules essential for life.

Co-Founder & CEO, AstroForge 

Matthew Gialich is an experienced engineering leader with over a decade of experience leading high-performing engineering teams. At Virgin Orbit, he was responsible for building and hiring across all aspects of avionics and led the flight software and GNC teams during his tenure. After Virgin, he joined Bird scooters as Director of Vehicle Software, where he led the team through the development of the Bird 2 and 3 vehicles.

President & CEO, TransAstra

Joel Sercel is the CEO and Founder of Trans Astronautica Corporation (TransAstra). Sercel is a six time NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Fellowship awardee and one of the first two selected NIAC Phase 3 award winners. Sercel presently has 14 patents pending in the area of space resources technology and in space transportation and is known as the inventor of Optical Mining™, a practical method for extracting the ingredients in rocket propellant from asteroids. Sercel is also the lead inventor on the Radiant Gas Dynamic (RGD) method of lunar water harvesting and the Sunflower™ power tower architecture for providing low cost electric power to lunar polar regions likely where the regolith is likely to be water rich. Sercel was the Founding CTO of Momentus Inc. 

TransAstra is dedicated to ethically accelerating the process of human exploration and industrialization of cislunar space and near Earth asteroids. Funded by a combination of private sector investment plus NASA grants and contracts, TransAstra is building the technology to provide in-space transportation and related services with a fleet of reusable space tugs supplied by propellant derived from asteroid and lunar resources. TransAstra’s first customer is NASA, but soon after the company will support the new asteroid mining industry for returning valuable resources to cislunar space and then to Earth itself. Space tourism, space solar power, and then space based manufacturing will follow quickly. 

Joel spent 14 years at JPL and taught systems engineering and space mission and satellite design at the graduate level at Caltech for 12 years. While at JPL for the year 2000 Sercel received awards from NASA for innovations in diverse areas including databases to support space mission projects, focusing systems for plasma beams, engineering team productivity tools, and advanced space propulsion technologies.Dr. Sercel led the conception and definition of the NSTAR ion propulsion system currently in use on the Dawn spacecraft in orbit around the asteroid Ceres. Subsequently he held a Senior Government position in the Air Force as the Chief Systems Engineer of TSAT, a $22B military satellite system that was under development. Sercel has served on many engineering and science review boards and teams including in 2016 the National Academy of Science Air Force Studies Board on “The Role of Experimentation Campaigns in the Air Force Innovation Life Cycle” and the NASA ARM Formulation Assessment and Support Team (FAST). Sercel was also the Founding CTO of Momentus, a silicon valley space technology company. 

Dr. Sercel has worked with the Advanced Technology Institute, Alliance Space Systems, Boeing, ITT Gilfillan, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Systems, Space Systems Loral, TRW, Blue Origin, the United States Air Force, United Technologies, and many others. He has delivered over 100 invited lectures to Fortune 500 companies, NASA centers, and elements of the US Intelligence Community and has lectured in three hemispheres. Sercel is a certified practitioner of KAI, a scientifically rigorous theory of human cognitive processes that explains how different people and groups innovate and collaborate in the creative process. Sercel has measured the thinking styles of hundreds of individuals in his consulting practice including corporate boards and advised them on how best to work together to innovate. Dr. Sercel received his PhD and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology with a doctoral dissertation in plasma physics as applied to space propulsion. His bachelor's degree was in Engineering Physics from the University of Arizona. 

Senior Policy Advisor, Axiom Space

Shiv Patel is a Policy Advisor at Axiom Space, where he works at the intersection of commercial space development, national policy, and legislative action. He engages directly in congressional, appropriations, and interagency processes that shape whether emerging space capabilities move from concept to funded reality. His portfolio includes policy work related to Orbital Data Centers and other commercial infrastructure with implications for national security, economic development, and U.S. industrial leadership. By translating technical programs into actionable policy positions, he has contributed to efforts that secured tangible public investment and elevated commercial space issues within federal decision-making.

At Axiom Space, Shiv develops and executes legislative strategies across the House of Representatives, managing a broad portfolio of committees and issue areas with jurisdiction over space, defense, and technology. He has played a central role in shaping the policy narrative around Orbital Data Centers, helping stakeholders understand their national security, economic, and technological implications. Endorsers note that this work culminated in a major milestone: contributing to the successful effort to secure more than $5 million in funding from the Texas Space Commission’s Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund, enabling the construction and operational launch of Orbital Data Centers in Texas.

Prior to joining Axiom Space, Shiv built a strong foundation in government affairs and national security space through roles spanning civil, commercial, and defense sectors. He developed deep familiarity with the federal authorization and appropriations process and successfully advocated for policy wins across multiple companies. Earlier experiences at organizations including SpinLaunch, the Satellite Industry Association, and the Commercial Space Federation gave him a sector-wide perspective that informs his current work and enhances his credibility with policymakers.

Colleagues describe Shiv as an effective and accessible communicator for congressional staff working through highly technical issues. He is frequently relied upon as a go-to resource on Capitol Hill and has led numerous member site visits, enabling lawmakers to engage directly with commercial space capabilities and operators. In parallel, he co-founded and co-hosts a monthly forum in Washington, DC that convenes nearly every major space company with a local presence alongside the full range of government agencies responsible for space policy, creating a rare venue for sustained cross-sector dialogue.

Beyond his professional responsibilities, Shiv serves as Education Committee Chair for the Washington Space Business Roundtable. In this role, he directs funding toward underserved communities across the DMV region, supporting STEM exposure for elementary, middle, and high-school students. To date, his efforts have helped allocate approximately $15,000 to enable student visits to the National Air and Space Museum.

Director, Arizona Space Institute

Dr. Erika Hamden is a tenured professor of astrophysics at Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona. She has been the Director of ASI since 2023. She specializes in building space and stratospheric telescopes and developing technology to make telescopes better.

Dr. Hamden is a leader in the field of space astrophysics, and has created programs to teach early career scientists how to develop their own space missions (NASA's PI Launchpad). She is the PI of Hyperion, a MIDEX Mission Concept, and the PI of Eos, a SMEX mission Concept to be proposed in 2025. She is the deputy principal investigator of Aspera, a NASA Pioneers SmallSat telescope in development for launch in 2025. She is also the Institutional PI of FIREBall-2, a UV multi-object spectrograph Balloon mission.

Dr. Hamden received a bachelors in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Harvard in 2006. She worked as a chef for a year before beginning grad school at Columbia University. She worked with Prof. David Schiminovich, finishing her PhD in 2014. She moved to Caltech for a postdoc, working with Prof. Chris Martin and was an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow and the R.A. and G.B. Millikan Prize Postdoctoral Fellow in Experimental Physics at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Hamden was awarded a Nancy Grace Roman Technology Fellowship for her detector work in 2016. She received a PECASE award in 2019 and has received numerous other awards from NASA. She is a TED Fellow, a AAAS If/then Ambassador, an aspiring astronaut, and a social media influencer.

Mission Area Executive, Civil Space Flight, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Donya Douglas-Bradshaw is the mission area executive for Civil Space Flight within the Space Exploration Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). A nationally recognized resource for program and organizational management as well as complex space system engineering, she leads a mission area that oversees APL civil space flight programs in development and operation. She is also the primary interface with the Laboratory’s civil space sponsors. Prior to her current role, Douglas-Bradshaw served as NASA’s program manager for the Lunar Commercial Transportation System, where she led the development of NASA’s strategy for enabling commercial human transportation to and from lunar orbit. From 2019 to 2022, she led a multi-institution team in executing NASA’s Lucy mission, ushering the key science mission to launch and through early spaceflight operations on schedule and under budget. In 2021, Douglas-Bradshaw served as deputy director for the Engineering and Technology Directorate at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her honors include NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal, the agency’s highest honor, and she has authored or coauthored more than 20 publications in research and development on capillary pumped loops, loop heat pipes, and variable emittance coatings. She earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland.

President, Space Dynamics Laboratory, Utah State University 

Dr. Jed Hancock is the director of the Space Dynamics Laboratory’s Civil Space Division at Utah State University. He oversees a portfolio of sensor system and small satellite projects for government, academic, and commercial customers. Dr. Hancock has a successful record of leading research, including development of IR, visible, and UV systems such as NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Camera Suite (OCAMS) detector assemblies and cameras for the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. He is currently the system engineer for the NASA Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) instrument and is developing future instrumentation to search for life on the surface of Europa.

Dr. Hancock received an undergraduate degree and a Master’s of Science in electrical engineering from Utah State University. He earned a PhD in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona where he was class valedictorian. Dr. Hancock loves to share his enthusiasm for the sciences and learning by teaching classes at the University and serving in his community. He lives in Wellsville, Utah with his wife Natalie and their six children.

Associate Professor, Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences Department, University of Colorado-Boulder

Dr. Shannon Curry is an Associate Professor in the Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences (APS) Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is currently the Principal Investigator of the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Prior to this, she served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Planetary Science at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focus is on the evolution of planetary atmospheres, specifically atmospheric escape from weakly magnetized planets. She is also involved in mission concepts, mission design and instrument development for future flight missions to other bodies in the solar system. She is currently a science team member on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission, Project Scientist for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission (phase D), and a collaborator on NASA’s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) program. She also serves on NASA’s Planetary Advisory Committee (PAC).

ssociate Director for Business Development & Manager, Strategic Planning & Integration Office, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory