Space Portal Staff | Space Portal

NASA Civil Servant Staff

Dr. Dan Rasky
Space Portal Director and NASA Senior Scientist. Co-founder of the Space Portal. Inventor or significant contributor to flight hardware for seven NASA flight systems (Shuttle, DC-XA, SHARP-B1&B2, Mars/Pathfinder, DS-II, MER Spirit & Opportunity, Stardust), including enabling the Stardust comet sample return mission. Former Chief for the Thermal Protection Materials and Systems Branch at Ames. International recognized expert for thermal protection and entry systems. Began professional career working for a small Aerospace Company (Acurex) doing R&D contracting work for the Air Force. Member of the business evaluation team for COTS.
Ms. Lynn Harper
Lead for Integrative Studies. Expert in multidisciplinary and multi-organizational program, project, and product development. Co-founder of Space Portal for Enterprise and Commerce. Primary initiator and co-founder of the science of Astrobiology. Instrumental in investigations flown on the Space Shuttle, Mir, Stardust, and Space Station. Initiated and managed Exobiology Flight Program, CELSS Flight Program, SETI MOP and architected congressional approval of SETI. Former Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of Advanced Life Support overseeing development of air and water recycling systems now in man-rating for ISS deployment. Since 1989, served as Center and/or domain lead for every Human Exploration of Space national team except ESAS.
Mr. Mark Newfield
Deputy Director of Ames Space Portal. Deputy Project Manager for Ames X-33 Thermal Protection System effort. Ames Project Manager for MER Thermal Protection System hardware and certification activities. Project Manager for Honeywell IVHM for 2nd Gen program. Developed Ames TPS effort for X-37. Test Engineer for Ames NASP scramjet propulsion system development. Owned and operated Solar energy company during the 1980's.
Mr. Dan Coughlin
Director for Business Development. Manager, Advanced Projects, Virgin Galactic. Deputy Project Manager, X-37 Project. Space Transportation Liaison, Space Launch Initiative, NASA HQ. Project background in GN&C, X-33, X-34, HLLV, NLS, TOS, IUS
Dr. Allison Zuniga
Facility Coordinator and member of the business evaluation team for COTS. Currently providing full time support to Systems Engineering and Integration team at JSC.
Mr. Greg Schmidt
Lead for the Space Technology Center at Ames. Currently performing an SES PDP with Hewlett Packard.

Alliance for Commercial Enterprises in Space Staff

Mr. Jim Grady
Chief for Strategic Planning. STS-4 Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF) ops lead. Author of DOD STS Lessons Learned. Support of all AFSCF programs. AIAA space ops committee chair (2 terms). Hubble/STS interface lead. Founded satellite imagery commercial space company PhotoGeographic International. Lockheed Martin Strategic Defense Initiative space ops lead. International offset support; lead on commercial space offset programs in Norway (Lockheed Martin), Portugal (General Dynamics), Korea (Boeing) and other countries. Led Sept. 2005 ACES delegation to NASA HQ for COTS development support. NASA Ames Space Portal office development support.
Mr. Bruce Pittman
Director of Flight Projects. In-plant engineer for NASA at Hughes Aircraft Co. on Pioneer Venus, Infrared Astronomy Satellite Focal Plane Tester Dept. Manager, NASA Cyrogenic Grating Spectrometer Project Manager. Member of the entrepreneurial team for both SpaceHab and Kistler Aerospace. Trained over 500 NASA system engineers as part of NASA PPMI. Founder and first Chairman, AIAA System Engineering Technical Committee and former Director of AIAA Engineering and Technology Management Directorate. Director of Operations for the Aerospace Technology Working Group (ATWG). Co-founder and President, Silicon Valley Space Club. Member of the adjunct faculty, Santa Clara University Graduate School of Engineering. Founding member of Alliance for Commercial Enterprises in Space (ACES).