Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has long been at the forefront of space exploration and discovery. On September 30, that storied legacy met the future at RPI’s Space Science and Technology Day.

As part of RPI’s yearlong Bicentennial celebration honoring RPI’s rich history and the promising years to come, this event invited the Capital Region community to hear from alumni, students, and researchers propelling humanity’s space endeavors.

“We’ve all looked up at a starry night and wondered, what’s out there? Our researchers, students, and alumni work every day to answer that question,” said Martin A. Schmidt ’81, Ph.D., president of RPI.  “They are using their passion and dedication to help humankind, a true extension of our founding principal, first articulated 200 years ago, to apply science and technology to the common purposes of life.”

The event featured inspiring talks from RPI alumni, including NASA Astronaut Rick Mastracchio ’87, veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and two ISS expeditions.

Attendees also heard from 

• Norm Eng ’87, manager of engineering and manufacturing personnel for the James Webb Space Telescope
• Michael Meyer ’74, Ph.D., retired lead scientist at NASA’s Mars Exploration and Mars Sample Return programs
• Charles Norton, Ph.D. ’96, deputy chief technologist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/CalTech
• Naveed Hussain ’89, vice president and chief engineer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security

After their individual presentations, the alumni speakers participated in a panel discussion and Q & A with the audience. 

“From the time of George Low, who played a critical role in landing astronauts on the moon, to today, when we have Commander Reid Wiseman preparing to lead the Artemis II mission, RPI alumni have been instrumental in a staggering number of NASA and commercial aerospace programs,” said Kurt Anderson, professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering and associate dean for undergraduate studies. “We are grateful to have this stellar group of accomplished alumni back on campus to share their stories.”

Earlier in the day, attendees learned about current RPI research and student projects focused on space. 

• Karyn Rogers, Ph.D.: “Astrobiology at Rensselaer – Four Decades Searching for Life’s Origins”
• Leonid Pogorelyuk, Ph.D.: “Future Space Instruments to Search for Life Outside the Solar System”
• Yong Zheng, Ph.D.: “Mapping Gaseous Galaxy Halos with Space Telescopes”
•  Sandeep Singh, Ph.D.: “Spacecraft Trajectory Design Leveraging Natural Pathways in Astrodynamical Systems”
• Heidi Newberg ’87, Ph.D.: “The Milky Way Galaxy in Motion”
• Rensselaer Rocket Society: “Ascending the Kármán Line: Design of a Two-Stage Sounding Rocket to Space”

“As an institution we’ve had a remarkable influence on all things space — and there is a lot more on the horizon,” said Antoinette Maniatty ’87, Ph.D., professor and head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering. “We are thrilled to have members of the local community and the RPI campus hear directly from the people making big contributions to the field.”