Ten Years Hence lecture series examines the new space race
Today’s race to space is decidedly different from the U.S. competition with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. With billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson earning the badge of astronaut, space development in the current age includes commercial opportunities and space tourism, funded by private companies sometimes working with government agencies.
What will the next decade bring in space exploration? Ten Years Hence, an annual lecture series sponsored by the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, will present a fascinating look at the dangers, opportunities and mysteries of outer space. “Life Beyond Earth” features seven distinguished experts on space, interplanetary exploration, near-earth objects, governmental competition and commercialization in space.
The talks take place from 10:40 a.m. to noon on select Fridays in Mendoza’s Jordan Auditorium. The lectures are open to the public and the Notre Dame-Saint Mary’s College-Holy Cross community for in-person attendance with masking and COVID-19 safety guidelines in effect.
Guests also can watch the lectures online by registering for Ten Years Hence via ThinkND, the online learning community sponsored by the Notre Dame Alumni Association.
The full schedule listing the speakers, their titles and names of the ThinkND talks is as follows:
- Jan. 21: Christian Davenport, a Washington Post reporter covering NASA and the space industry, “The Space Barons and the Commercialization of Space.”
- Feb. 4: Eileen Collins, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, NASA astronaut and U.S. Air Force test pilot, “Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars.”
- Feb. 11: William J. Liquori, lieutenant general and the deputy chief of staff for the United States Space Force’s Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs, Requirements and Analysis, “Space Threats and National Security.”
- March 18: Eric Thomas, mission manager for Blue Origin’s New Shepard, “Paving a Way for the Space Revolution.”
- April 1: Robert Jedicke, University of Hawaii professor of astronomy, “Asteroid Mining: A Trillion Dollar Industry for the 21st Century.”
- April 8: Marina Brozovic, radar scientist and an orbital dynamicist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, “Humans vs. Asteroids: Mitigating Risk and Expanding Opportunities.”
- April 22: Benjamin Bahney, senior fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, “Inter-Governmental Competition in Space.”
Now in its 20th year, the Ten Years Hence speaker series explores issues, ideas and trends likely to affect business and society over the next decade. Students, faculty and the community use guest speaker comments as a springboard for structured speculation about emerging issues. Ten Years Hence is sponsored by the O’Brien-Smith Leadership Program made possible by a generous endowment from William H. O’Brien (class of ’40) and his wife, Dee.
Latest Colleges & Schools
- In memoriam: Isabel Charles, assistant provost emerita, first woman appointed dean at Notre DameMarie Isabel Charles, assistant provost emerita and former director of international studies at the University of Notre Dame, died Sunday (Nov. 26). She was 97. Charles joined the University faculty as an associate professor of English and assistant dean in the College of Arts and Letters in 1973. She became dean of the college in 1976 and was the first woman appointed as dean or assistant dean at Notre Dame.
- For Ashlee Bird, Native American video game designer, better representation on screen fosters brighter futureIn her undergraduate course Decolonizing Gaming, Ashlee Bird, an assistant professor of American studies, asks students to consider how video games teach players to behave within digital worlds and to examine colonial narratives around violence, race, gender, sexuality and relationship to the land.
- In memoriam: Michael Montalbano, adjunct assistant teaching professorMichael Montalbano, adjunct assistant teaching professor at the Mendoza College of Business, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday (Nov. 7) at his home in South Bend, Indiana. He was 66.
- Keough School partners with US Department of State on conflict prevention research initiativeThe University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs will work closely with the U.S. Department of State on a new initiative that will enable students to conduct cutting-edge global conflict prevention research. The innovative partnership will provide undergraduate and graduate Keough School students with access to the Department of State’s various databases and research tools to monitor conflict risks and implement evidence-based policies to prevent conflict.
- Rising from the ashesNotre Dame architecture students get a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration of Cathedral of Notre-Dame Twelve University of Notre Dame students were gathered in the offices of Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of France’s national monuments, on the Île de la Cité in Paris — nearly in the shadow of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. They listened, rapt, as Villeneuve described the moment he learned that the cathedral was on fire on April 15, 2019. “When the cathedral burned, I burned also. So, I was destroyed as the cathedral was,” he told them. “It was personal.”
- Accessibility AwarenessND architecture students sample disabilities to learn equitable design Architecture student Ginika Kalu quickly discovered the perils of using a wheelchair: elevator doors that close as you enter, bathroom doors that are hard to open while sitting, and finally, a pile of bricks partly blocking the basement hallway in the Walsh Family Hall of Architecture.…
