Agenda: SpaceTech 2026

Space Innovation Ecosystem

Tuesday, April 7
9:00am – 4:00pm

Agenda

9:30 AM | Welcome and Intro
Prof. Julie Shah, Department Head

9:35 AM | Keynote
David Miller, Professor Post Tenure, Space Systems Lab; Chief Technologist for the Astronomy and Fundamental Physics Directorate at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

10:30 | Panel: Space Systems Lab: Roots and Branches of Innovation
Moderator: Oliver de Weck, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics, MIT
Rebecca Masterson, Program Office Director, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Javier de Luis, Founder and former President, Payload Systems
Soon-Jo Chung, Bren Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology
Alvar Saenz-Otero, Associate Teaching Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics, University of Washington

11:15 | Student Lightning Talks

11:30 | Panel: Alumni Startups
Moderator: Dava Newman, Apollo Program Professor, MIT
Ariel Ekblaw, Founder and CEO, Aurelia Institute; co-founder and inventor, Rendezvous Robotics
Marc Berte, Founder and CEO, Overview Energy

12:15 PM | Lunch | AeroAstro SpaceTech Expo and Networking

1:30pm | Student Lightning Talks

1:45 | Afternoon keynote
Katie Rae, CEO and Managing Partner, The Engine Ventures

2:45 | Student Lightning Talks

3:00 | Panel: MIT’s Innovation Network
Moderator: Dan Hastings, Cecil (1923) and Ida Green Professor in Education
Fiona Murray, William Porter (1967) Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT School of Management
Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship

3:45 | Student Lightning Talk Awards
George Lordos, Research Scientist, Engineering Systems Lab

4:00 | Closing

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SpaceTech is part of MIT Space Week, which also includes the Beyond the Cradle and New Space Age conferences.