The George H. and Fay C. Sparks Forum on Ethics and Engineering

Considering Responsible Space Exploration in the New Era of Space Exploration

Dr. Zachary Pirtle

Senior Policy Analyst | NASA

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
3:00-4:30pm
Scholars Event Theater | Price Gilbert 1280

Join us after the talk for pizza and conversation.

 This event is supported by the Sparks Memorial Fund and organized by the School of Public Policy in conjunction with ETHICx.

Over his fourteen years at NASA, Dr. Pirtle has supported major initiatives including the Space Launch System, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), which recently led to the first U.S. landing on the moon in over fifty years. His talk will reflect on the challenges and opportunities for changing engineering culture at a boundary organization such as NASA Headquarters, which operates at the interface of policymaking and technical expertise. In particular, Dr. Pirtle will discuss recent NASA efforts to explore responsible use of the Moon to Mars architecture

Bio: 
Dr. Pirtle is a researcher, engineer, and science policy practitioner. He is Program Executive, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and has supported both lunar science and human space exploration. As part of NASA's Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, he led the creation of the report "Artemis, Ethics and Society". Dr. Pirtle has also served as an adjunct professor of Systems Engineering for George Washington University and regularly publishes research touching on engineering ethics, policy and innovation studies.