Denver Cafe Scientifique - March 22, 2023

Published: March 17, 2023

Where: FlyteCo Tower (Central Park) - 2nd floor
3120 Uinta St, Denver, CO 80238

Dr. George Sowers photo

Who:  Dr. George Sowers

What:  Space Resources, How Space Can Save Earth

There’s a race to get back to the Moon. Why? Resources! Iron, aluminum, titanium, helium-3, and most importantly, water. Dr. Sowers will explain the many challenges we face when mining on the Moon, why we’re going (and who is going), and how lunar operations could benefit Earth. Dr. Sowers will cover:

      •     What are Space Resources? Why are they important?

      •     Water, the Oil of Space

      •     The Moon is the first economically viable source of water and other space resources

      •     Other lunar resources

      •     Space solar power: unlimited, inexhaustible, clean energy

George Sowers has 30 years of experience in the space transportation field. During a continuous span working for Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin, and the United Launch Alliance (ULA), including a stint as the chief systems engineer for Atlas V development, Dr. Sowers helped develop more than a dozen launch systems. He recently retired from his position as vice president and chief scientist of ULA, where his team developed an architecture for fully reusable in-space stages fueled by propellant mined, refined, and distributed in space. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Georgia Tech and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado. Dr. Sowers is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics