NASA Tech Talks – Rice Space Institute

Name: NASA Tech Talks – Rice Space Institute
Start: 2025-04-24T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-04-24T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Ion

The event has passed

Category: Aerospace, Founders & Startups, General Community

Free

Past Event

WHEN

Thursday

April 24, 2025

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CDT

WHERE

Ion

4201 Main Street
Houston, TX 77002 + Google Map

what

We want HOU! Join us to discover NASA’s toughest tech challenges—and apply your skills and expertise to solve them.

This month NASA Tech Talks is once again partnering with the Rice Space Institute.

In an ambitious effort to fuel startup growth, drive research and forge international partnerships, the Rice Space Institute, in partnership with Business France, the French Space Agency CNES and the French Consulate in Houston have launched the Texas-France Space Hub that aims to unite academic institutions and private enterprises to expand commercial space presence in both countries. The first cohort of companies arrived at The Ion in early April and will be participating as part of the Rice Nexus over the next 2 months. This first cohort consists of Absolut Sensing, which specializes in high-precision satellite data for methane emissions detection; Geeglee, a software platform designed to enhance decision-making in architecture and systems engineering; Agena Space, which develops in-orbit mobility solutions powered by green propulsion; and Watt & Well, a company focused on designing high-performance power electronics for space applications. Join us to learn more about the Texas-France Space Hub, and to hear from each of these companies.

About NASA Tech Talks

In these presentations, occurring the fourth Thursdays of the month, Mr. Montgomery Goforth and other aerospace subject matter experts will discuss the technology development challenges faced by NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the surrounding Aerospace community in our ongoing efforts as the hub of human spaceflight. Presentations will focus on the ways in which these challenges, and the associated opportunities, can be leveraged by Houston’s innovation community. We will continue to identify potential space/terrestrial technologies of interest to Human Spaceflight. Past NASA Tech Talks have included topics such as:

From Space to Startup: Leveraging NASA Technology and Innovation to Propel Your Growing Enterprise
Disruptive Filter Technology for Spacecraft Water Treatment: The New Promise of Graphene
Lunar dust capture using novel multiplexed inertial filter
Lunar Passive Fuel Cell Technologies:
Microbes in Space

About the Houston Spaceport Frontiers Lecture Series

This public lecture series was begun by the Rice Space Institute to introduce students and the general public to the wide array of issues involved in the pursuit of an advanced presence in space: international policy, technology innovation, commercialization, biological impacts, space science, etc.

About the Speakers

Montgomery B. Goforth has more than 40 years of experience as both Engineer and Manager in a variety of highly technical space and defense-related efforts. After working for a small defense contractor specializing in anti-submarine warfare, he joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1990. He has held leadership positions in multiple JSC Directorates and Program Offices. In his current role as Assistant Director of the JSC Engineering Directorate, he has established a framework to better focus Engineering’s efforts towards Human Spaceflight technology and systems development consistent with JSC and Agency goals for exploration. He has used this framework to guide Engineering’s internal investments and external partnerships supporting Lunar and Mars Exploration. Mr. Goforth was born in East Texas, raised in Southern California and Arizona, and graduated from Rice University (BSME 1982, MSME 1987).

PARKING

Ion District Parking Garage

Enter 4111 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to this parking garage, located a block from the Ion. Parking in the Ion District Garage is free for the first two hours.

Red Parking Lot

Enter 4203 Fannin Street into your GPS for directions directly to the red parking lot, located across the street from the Ion. This lot is for overflow guest parking and tenant parking and is free for the first three hours.

For information and access to pay online for parking in the red lot, click here.

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CONTACT

Organizer

Ion

Organizer Website

ionhouston.com

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