Agenda: SpaceTech 2026

The Space Innovation Ecosystem

Tuesday, April 7
9:00am – 4:00pm
Register here

Agenda

9:10 AM | Welcome and Intro
Prof. Julie Shah, Department Head

9:15 | Opening remarks
Emcee: Prof. David Mindell, Frances and David Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing

9:30 | Keynote
David Miller, Professor Post-Tenure and Director, Space Systems Lab

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 | Break

11:30 | Panel: Alumni Startups
Moderator: Dava Newman, Apollo Program Professor, MIT
Rodrigo Diez, Co-Founder and CEO, Novo Space
Ariel Ekblaw, Founder and CEO, Aurelia Institute; co-founder and inventor, Rendezvous Robotics
E. Michael Fincke, NASA astronaut
Jordan Wachs, Co-Founder and CEO, SpaceRake

12:30 PM | Lunch | AeroAstro SpaceTech Expo and Networking

1:30pm | Lightning Talks
Ireland Brown, PhD student
Eric Elias, SM student 
Carol Klingler, SM student
Lanie McKinney, PhD student

2:00 | Research Presentations
Daniel Gochenaur, PhD student, Engineering Systems Lab, MIT
Rachel Morgan, Optical Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
Jianping Pan, Professor of Computer Science, University of Victoria

2:50 | Break

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
Paulo Lozano, Miguel Alemán Velasco Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

3:45 | Student Lightning Talk Awards

4:00 | Closing

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