Key People To Watch In The Space Sector In 2024

Amid the success of the United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope spacecraft, Al Amiri is leading new scientific endeavors including a mission to Venus and an ambitious initiative to survey seven asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. She also is accelerating investment in commercial industry. The UAE has set up an $817 million fund to support domestic startups and welcome international space companies to the country.

Aschbacher has worked hard to spur development of a commercial space industry in Europe, but he faces challenges in reaching a chief goal: restoring Europe’s sovereign launch capability. Key questions loom: Will the agency’s new Ariane 6 rocket have a successful first flight? Will it and other new European rockets make it in the competitive world market?

Fox, who took control of NASA’s science directorate in early 2023, oversees more than 100 programs including the agency’s high-profile Mars missions and the search for life beyond Earth. By early 2024, NASA plans to update its flagship Mars Sample Return initiative, which faces increased costs and technical complexities. The multispacecraft campaign is expected to kick off in 2027.

A longtime technology executive, Limp comes to Blue Origin after leading Amazon product lines that included the Kuiper satellite business, its Alexa personal assistant device and the Zoox autonomous vehicles program. Limp takes the reins at Jeff Bezos’ rocket company during a time when its BE-4 engine and New Glenn rocket have yet to show results and as its New Shepard rocket returned to flight after being grounded for more than a year.

Nakanose officially relocated his space robotics company from Japan to Torrance, California, in November to tap into the larger U.S. space sector. The startup is hoping to win business for its robots automating work on space stations and lunar bases, as well as for on-orbit satellite servicing. It will be demonstrating a robotic arm performing in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing tasks on the outside of the International Space Station in 2024. The coming year may show whether relocating Gitai to the U.S. bears fruit.