Communications of the ACM
Nasa's Chief Technologist Seeks to Develop Transformative Programs
When Bobby Braun was a Ph.D. student in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford, he couldn't imagine holding the "dream job" he's doing now—NASA's chief technologist, the first person in that role since Braun was at Stanford in the 1990s.
Braun, 44, became one of the youngest senior leaders at the space agency in February when he was named NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's principal adviser for agencywide technology issues. He returned to Silicon Valley on Tuesday to visit NASA's Ames Research Center as part of a national tour to bring attention to his efforts—including a $5 billion Space Technology Program slated to start next fiscal year that would develop transformative new space technologies.
Rather than NASA focusing exclusively on a destination such as the moon or Mars, and then building spacecraft to get there, Braun's goal is to create new technologies that could leapfrog anything NASA can do now and help transport astronauts to any extraterrestrial destination.
From San Jose Mercury News
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