George Sowers                                                                                                                                
Professor of Practice, Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines,
Former United Launch Alliance (ULA) President and Chief Scientist

One of the first economically viable uses of Space Resources will be propellant distilled from ice found near the poles of the Moon.  An architecture for a lunar mining and propellant production operation at the lunar poles has been developed by researchers at the Colorado School of Mines.  Both commercial and US Government customers for propellant have been identified.  The business case closes in the sense that the investment for the operation generates positive returns at prices the customers would be willing to pay. Furthermore, the availability of low cost propellant in space reduces transportation costs for all space activities, jump starting the creation of a robust space economy.

Dr. George Sowers has 30 years of experience in the space transportation field working for Martin Marietta, Lockheed Martin and the United Launch Alliance (ULA). He recently retired from his position as Vice President and Chief Scientist at ULA where his team developed an architecture for fully reusable in-space stages fueled by propellant mined, refined and distributed in space. Dr. Sowers has now joined the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines as part of a newly created graduate program in space resources.  He holds a BS in Physics from Georgia Tech and a PhD in Physics from the University of Colorado.  Dr. Sowers is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).