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There are profound forces affecting the space enterprise. Up to now, to operate in space has required expensive launchers and exquisitely manufactured systems leading to expensive, slow systems. There are disruptions on the horizon consisting of much cheaper launch, small capable relatively inexpensive satellites and servicing of systems in space. The talk will discuss the advent of these in the context of how they affect properties of the systems design such as flexibility and adaptability. The possible future of the space enterprise in light of these disruptions is also discussed.

Speaker: Daniel Hastings, Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biography

Professor Hastings is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Education, and Head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT since Jan. 1 2019. Prior to this assignment, he spent five years as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. He earned a Ph.D. and an S.M, from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1980 and 1978 respectively, received a B.A. in Mathematics from Oxford University in England in 1976. He joined the MIT faculty in 1985, and became a Full Professor in 1993. He served as Director of the Technology and Policy Program from 2000-2003, and Directorship of the Engineering Systems Division from 2001 to 2005. He is also part of MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS).

As Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems, Prof. Hastings has taught courses and seminars in plasma physics, rocket propulsion, advanced space power and propulsion systems, aerospace policy, technology and policy, engineering education, and space systems engineering. He served as chief scientist to the U.S. Air Force from 1997 to 1999. In that role, he advised the chief of staff and the secretary of defense, and provided assessments on a wide range of scientific and technical issues affecting the Air Force mission. He led several influential studies on where the Air Force should invest in space, global energy projection, and options for a science and technology workforce for the 21st century.

Prof. Hastings’ research has concentrated on issues with global education and with aerospace systems, and has also focused on issues related to spacecraft-environmental interactions, space propulsion, space systems engineering, and space policy. He has published many papers and a book in the field of spacecraft-environment interactions and several papers in space propulsion and space systems. He has led several national studies on government investment in space technology as well as science and technology (S&T) policy for the government.