A Chief Scientist's Take, with Dr. Ellen Stofan (The Smithsonian)

Pathfinder

This week’s Pathfinder podcast features Dr. Ellen Stofan, the Under Secretary of Science and Research at the Smithsonian. She oversees its science research centers and the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History and the National Zoo.

Dr. Ellen Stofan is an American geologist and former NASA scientist who specialized in the geology of Venus, Mars, and Saturn's moon Titan. Ellen has held several key positions at NASA, including Chief Scientist from 2013 to 2016. During her tenure as Chief Scientist, she was instrumental in the development of a long-term plan to get humans to Mars and worked on strategies for NASA's science programs and science-related strategic goals and objectives.

Ellen is now the Under Secretary for Science and Research at the Smithsonian. She oversees its science research centers and the National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History and the National Zoo.

Today, Mo, Rachael and Ellen discuss:

• Ellen’s work at NASA and the Smithsonian
• NASA’s approach to collaboration with commercial space
• The privatization of the ISS
• NASA’s strategy around Mars and Starship
• Governance structure for off-planet habitation
• And much more…

• Chapters •

00:00 - Intro

01:03 - Ellen as Chief Scientist of NASA

06:11 - Were you destined to work at NASA?

07:51 - Changes in the space industry since Ellen's tenure at NASA

10:39 - Ellen's career post-NASA

13:59 - Managing expectations of the public

16:09 - Marrying the goals of NASA and the commercial space industry

26:56 - How has NASA's Mars strategy changed?

29:39 - How do you gauge the public's interest in space projects?

31:26 - What technical problems remain for a crewed Mars mission?

33:21 - Impact of Starship on Mars?

34:54 - Will Starship change mass and design decision for science missions?

38:17 - Other noteworthy innovations from commercial space?

39:45 - Most interesting place for humans to visit outside of Mars?

41:33 - If we colonize Mars, what type of government should be instituted?

43:22 - "For All Mankind" and Space Race 2.0

46:11 - Favorite piece/installation from the Smithsonian

47:33 - Where would you go in the Solar System and what ship would you take?

48:20 - Will we find evidence that there is life on Mars?

• Show notes •

Smithsonian's socials — https://twitter.com/smithsonian

Rachael's socials — https://twitter.com/RachaelZisk

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)