NASA Tech Talks: Texas-France Space Hub Business Accelerator Initiative (Spring 2026 Cohort)

Name: NASA Tech Talks: Texas-France Space Hub Business Accelerator Initiative (Spring 2026 Cohort)
Start: 2026-05-28T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-05-28T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Ion

Category: Aerospace, Founders & Startups, General Community

Free

WHEN

Thursday

May 28, 2026

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 (RSI) in their efforts to fuel startup growth, drive research, and forge international partnerships. Last year, RSI joined with Business France, the French Space Agency CNES and the French Consulate in Houston to launch the Texas-France Space Hub, aiming to unite academic institutions and private enterprises to expand commercial space presence in both countries.

The second cohort of French space companies will be in Houston May 4 to June 12, and we are looking forward to hearing from them at our NASA Tech Talk on May 28.

3IPK: Advancing Trusted Data for Aerospace and Defense

Watt&Well: Pioneering High-Performance Power Electronics for Critical Applications

Infinity Space Providers (ISP): Enabling Scalable Hybrid Propulsion for the Next Generation of Space Mobility

Join us to learn more about the Texas-France Space Hub, and to hear from each of these companies.

Please join us after the talk for drinks and networking at Second Draught!

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 previous role as Assistant Director of the JSC Engineering Directorate, he established a framework to better focus Engineering’s efforts towards Human Spaceflight technology and systems development consistent with JSC and Agency goals for exploration. Mr. Goforth is now serving as Acting Director of the Business Development & Technology Integration Office at JSC, and as the JSC Chief Technologist. In these capacities he will be helping to expand the Houston Aerospace Community through the identification of opportunities to develop space/terrestrial technologies of interest to JSC and Human Space Exploration. Mr. Goforth was born in East Texas, raised in Southern California and Arizona, and graduated from Rice University (BSME 1982, MSME 1987).

About the Rice Space Institute

The Rice Space Institute (RSI) at Rice University is an interdisciplinary coordinating hub that fosters collaboration in space science, technology, and policy. Formed in 2000, it builds on Rice’s deep history in space exploration, which includes opening the first space science department in the U.S. in 1963 and hosting JFK’s famous 1962 “Moon Speech”.

Primary Missions

Interdisciplinary Research: RSI supports research into the origins of planetary habitability and sustaining human life beyond Earth.

Education & Leadership: The institute trains future leaders in space science and advocacy through programs like the Professional Science Master’s (PSM) in Space Studies.

Public Outreach: RSI maintains an international reputation for public engagement, including public lecture series and managing the Rice Campus Observatory.

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

CONTACT

Organizer

Ion

Organizer Website

ionhouston.com

RSVP

29 Going

RSVP Here

Going

Event Calendar