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SUMMARY:NASA Tech Talks: NASA Technology Prizes and Challenges
DESCRIPTION:We want HOU! Join us to discover NASA’s toughest tech challenges—and apply your skills and expertise to solve them. \nFor our last NASA Tech Talk of 2026\, we’re going to delve into how we do prizes and challenges at NASA\, and provide an example of an exciting upcoming challenge. \nThrough NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation and Centennial Challenges\, NASA has brought problems\, big and small\, to the public to advance NASA’s mission for 20 years. With these two programs now combined\, NASA continues to provide open innovation as a service to NASA personnel and much of the US federal government\, with opportunity for you to help solve NASA’s pressing needs. \nA new challenge is coming to NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration efforts. The NASA Deep Space Autonomous Robotics Challenge (NASA DSpARC) will challenge participants to create groundbreaking autonomous robotics software designed to advance NASA’s exploration capabilities. There will be RFIs coming out with partnerships opportunities to the community\, in addition to competing. \nPlease join us after the talk for drinks and networking at Second Draught! \nAbout the Speakers \nRyon Stewart serves as the Program Manager for NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI)\, working to increase the use of open innovation tools at NASA and enhance the utilization of crowdsourcing by NASA and much of the federal government. \nRyon has an Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering degree from the University of Washington and has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center since 2008. He spent the first two years as a Co-op for mission operations facilities\, engineering GN&C\, and engineering robotics. For eight years\, he worked full time in ISS Flight Operations as an Attitude Determination and Control Officer (ADCO) flight controller and instructor. In this role\, he supported more than 2\,200 hours of real time execution supporting activities including visiting vehicle dockings\, undockings\, reboosts\, and more. He also worked as an instructor teaching flight controllers\, instructors\, and astronauts about the ISS motion control system and soft skills required for the job. \nEmma Zemler is the project manager of Dexterous Robotics in the Robotics System Technology Branch (ER4) at NASA Johnson Space Center. In her ten years at NASA\, Emma has lead several robotics software projects within the Software\, Robotics and Simulation Division (ER) ranging from autonomous task planning for in-space robotics to space habitat supervised autonomy robotic maintenance. Her current roles include leading the Deep Space Autonomous Robotics Challenge and is a subject matter expert for moon Base. Emma serves as the chief architect of the iMETRO facility\, a NASA JSC robotics facility for terrestrial robotic technology adaption to space exploration use cases\, including logistics maintenance and science utilization. \nMontgomery 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). \nAbout NASA Tech Talks \nIn 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: \n\nFrom Space to Startup: Leveraging NASA Technology and Innovation to Propel Your Growing Enterprise\nDisruptive Filter Technology for Spacecraft Water Treatment:  The New Promise of Graphene\nLunar dust capture using novel multiplexed inertial filter\nLunar Passive Fuel Cell Technologies:\nMicrobes in Space
URL:https://iondistrict.com/event/nasa-tech-talks-23/
LOCATION:Ion\, 4201 Main Street\, Houston\, TX\, 77002\, United States
CATEGORIES:Aerospace,Founders & Startups,General Community
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