NASA Tech Talks: The NASA Force Initiative

Name: NASA Tech Talks: The NASA Force Initiative
Start: 2026-04-23T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-04-23T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Ion

Category: Aerospace, Founders & Startups, General Community

Free

WHEN

Thursday

April 23, 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’s NASA Tech Talk will focus on technology development ideas that JSC has put together for the Agency’s “NASA Force” initiative. “America’s leadership in space depends on extraordinary talent,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “NASA Force will help us attract the next generation of innovators and technical experts who are ready to solve the toughest challenges in exploration, science, and aerospace technology. This partnership strengthens our workforce and helps ensure the United States remains the global leader in space.” Molly Bannon will describe these opportunities, how they were developed, and how you might be able to participate! We’ll also have a little bit of information about the recent flight of Artemis II, and other recent events at NASA.

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

About the Speakers

Molly Bannon is an innovation and strategy specialist for the Business Development and Technology Integration Office at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). In this role, she serves as a key bridge for universities, industry, and international partners, helping them navigate and connect with NASA JSC’s unique capabilities and services to foster strategic partnerships.

She most recently worked as the Concept Engineering Group Lead within NASA JSC’s Engineering Directorate. As part of this role, she led the Forge (JSC’s Concurrent Engineering Team) and was the founder responsible for establishing that capability at NASA JSC. In 2019, she spent one year at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) working on the Europa Clipper Flight System as a systems engineer. Prior to JPL, she spent 10 years at JSC in systems engineering and technical design roles for various human spaceflight programs, including: the Orion Program, the Commercial Crew Program, the Human Landing System Program and the EVA and Human Surface Mobility Program. Molly began her career as a co-op in JSC’s Aerosciences Branch, where she provided aerothermal expertise for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Aerosciences Team, contributing to the successful Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) in 2014.

Molly (White) Bannon received her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University and her M.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, exploring the outdoors with her family and goldendoodle, and picking up (and quickly dropping) new hobbies.

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 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

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CONTACT

Organizer

Ion

Organizer Website

ionhouston.com

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