Event
Aerospace Engineering Seminar Series: Dr. Bhavya Lal, NASA
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
1105 Kim Engr. (Pepco Room)/Hybrid
Brent Barbee
bbarbee@umd.edu
TITLE: America’s Return to the Moon
SPEAKER: Dr. Bhavya Lal,
NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS)
TOPIC: Between NASA, international space agencies, and commercial actors, there are more than twenty missions planned to the Moon between now and 2026. While the Moon is a big place, half of these missions are targeting the lunar south pole, and even there, the real targets are likely to be a handful of interesting and accessible locations of interest. In this talk, Bhavya Lal, the Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy and Strategy in the Office of the NASA Administrator will comment on the implications of multiple missions operated by multiple entities from multiple countries in proximity to each other for the first time ever on a celestial body other than Earth. She will identify key policy issues that would emerge from growing a human and robotic presence on the Moon, suggest a range of options available, as well as steps NASA and other space actors might take to ensure responsible behavior on the Moon a reality – and create a precedent for future generations as we go ever deeper into space.
BIO: Dr. Bhavya Lal is the associate administrator for the NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) within the office of the NASA administrator. She provides executive leadership, direction, and evidence-driven advice to NASA leadership on internal and external policy issues, strategic planning, and technology investments. Lal also previously served as the acting chief technologist of NASA and was the first woman to hold the position in over 60 years of NASA history. Before her current role and in the first 100 days of the Biden Administration, she was the acting chief of staff at NASA, directing the agency’s transition under the administration of President Biden. Lal has over 20 years of experience as an active part of the space technology and policy community, having worked for government sponsors, federal departments, and agencies, and chaired, co-chaired, or served on multiple committees. She has more than 50 papers published in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Lal received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a second master’s from MIT’s Technology and Policy Program. She earned her doctorate in Public Policy and Public Administration from George Washington University.
ZOOM: https://umd.zoom.us/j/2226271754?pwd=RWhyUnUxMG1Hc2IvcHJMTWwrWXpodz09
