NASA Tech Talks: Galactic Gold Rush: Tapping into the Space Economy

Name: NASA Tech Talks: Galactic Gold Rush: Tapping into the Space Economy
Start: 2025-02-27T18:00:00-06:00
End: 2025-02-27T19:30:00-06:00
Location: Ion

The event has passed

Category: Aerospace, Founders & Startups, General Community

Free

Past Event

WHEN

Thursday

February 27, 2025

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm CST

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 partnering with the Rice Space Institute to bring you Kelli Kedis Ogborn, the Vice President for Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at the Space Foundation, speaking on the “Galactic Gold Rush: Tapping into the Space Economy”. This talk will provide an overview of the major players, markets, capabilities, and macro trends influencing and influenced by the evolving space economy. Topics covered will address the tangential industries relevant both now and in the future for growing and sustaining its potential.

We will have a reception starting at 6pm, and begin the talk at 6:30pm. Please join us after the talk for drinks and networking at Second Draught!

About the Speakers

Kelli Kedis Ogborn’s leadership has played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of companies entering the space market. With extensive experience in R&D and cutting-edge technology applications for the U.S. government and private sector, her methodologies guide organizations and companies that are transitioning from development ecosystems to market capitalization.

In her role as Vice President of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at Space Foundation, Kedis Ogborn leads Space Commerce Institute, an initiative aimed at providing valuable insights and actionable programming to empower countries, individuals, and companies to carve out their niche and thrive in the rapidly expanding space economy.

Prior to joining Space Foundation, Kedis Ogborn was President and Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Rockets Corporation (an aerospace company specializing in hypersonic flight), President and Chief Executive Officer of H.S. Dracones (a consulting company specializing in technology commercialization) and was contracted as the Congressional Liaison to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In the DARPA liaison role, she provided advice to senior leadership and technical offices on Congressional engagement strategies to maintain the agency’s position and reputation as a premier science and technology organization.

Kedis Ogborn is an often-published author and speaker on the market applications of innovation and has worked extensively as an authoritative voice within the emerging space economy – qualifying and quantifying the economic drivers and technology trends driving the industry forward and shaping its investment potential and growth. She is also a frequent panel reviewer and technology assessor for commercialization merit of government R&D proposals and mentor for entrepreneurs.

She holds an International Security and Conflict Resolution Bachelor’s Degree from San Diego State University, a Political Science Bachelor’s Degree from Stockholm University, and a Master’s Degree in Government and Security Studies from The Johns Hopkins University.

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).

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.

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.

Download Map

CONTACT

Organizer

Ion

Organizer Website

ionhouston.com

Event Calendar