First Group of Speakers for New Worlds 2015 Conference

The New Worlds Institute has announced their top speakers for the upcoming conference in Austin, TX at Palmer Events Center on October 16 & 17, 2015. Featuring ‘Star Talks’ from commercial space industry leaders, NASA professionals, STEAM Education specialists, and diverse scientific fields, conference attendees will engage with the people, companies and institutions poised to open the space frontier for human development and settlement.
New Worlds Conference 2015 Speakers: Sir Richard Garriott. Vice Chairman of Space Adventures; trustee and “New Spirit” member of the XPRIZE Foundation; and active member of The Explorers Club. Garriott invested in the Zero G Corporation and SPACEHAB (now Astrotech Corporation); explored the Titanic on the ocean floor; and in October 2008, he became the first second generation American (and son of an astronaut) in space, spending twelve days aboard the ISS, performing scientific research and educational outreach, upon which a documentary was filmed — ‘Man on a Mission: Richard Garriott’s Road to the Stars’.
Jeff Greason, Chief Technology Officer and Chairman of the Board, XCOR Aerospace; Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, Personal Spaceflight Federation; serves the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) RLV working group. With nearly 20 years’ experience managing innovative technical project teams at XCOR Aerospace, Rotary Rocket Company (RRC), and Intel Corporation, Greason leads an engineering team that has developed 11 different long life, highly reusable, liquid-fueled rocket engines. Under Jeff’s leadership the company is currently developing the Lynx Mark I suborbital spacecraft, and has developed two generations of piloted reusable rocket aircraft: the EZ-Rocket was flown 26 times, and the X-Racer flew 40 times without mishap. In July 2003, Jeff testified before the joint House/Senate subcommittee hearings on “Commercial Human Spaceflight” that addressed the transition from aircraft regulation to launch vehicle regulation for suborbital vehicles, and 2009 he was named to President Obama’s Human Space Flight Review Committee (Augustine Committee). Greason holds 22 U.S. patents and graduated with honors from California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
This time we go together. This time we take it from no one. This time we give it to everyone. 
Robyn Gatens, Deputy Director and NASA:Technology Demonstration Lead at NASA HQ ISS Division, Robyn will bring expertise in overseeing life support subsystems from waste, water, and atmosphere management. Gatens’ role is instrumental regarding humanity’s primary orbiting outpost alongside the knowledge we’re gaining and applying toward long duration, self-sustaining habitation.
Bill Bruner, Civil/Commercial Space Relationship Manager at Lawrence Livermore National Security; serves as the Principal point of contact for strategic relationships with private sector space companies, including NASA and other other government agencies with missions in space. Bruner is also responsible for establishing a new launch vehicle and suborbital applications line of business at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center.
Rick Tumlinson, Founder of commercial space suit company Orbital Outfitters; co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation, Texas Space Alliance; and Chairman of the Board for Deep Space Industries, EarthLight Foundation(ELF), and New Worlds Institute, Tumlinson led the team which took over the Russian Mir Space Station as the world’s first commercial space facility (documented in the film “Orphans of Apollo”). Rick is also a contributing member of The Overview Institute, whose directive is communicated by the Planetary Collective film ‘OVERVIEW’. In 2015, Rick championed the First Pioneering Space National Summit; and on the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11, set forth the Space Declaration regarding a national effort to develop beyond Low Earth Orbit and expand the human presence in space for the purpose of migration and settlement. Rick will be hosting the New Worlds Conference 2015.

---