Can’t wait for Dent: Space San Francisco to see our speakers onstage? Never fear. We, along with some of the top experts in commercial space travel are headed to California this week for San Diego Comic-Con. Appearing with us at #SDCC is Joe Cassady who is speaking on our panel “Mars Needs People: Putting Humans on the Red Planet”

Joe Cassady is Executive Director of Space Programs in the Washington DC Operations for Aerojet Rocketdyne where he helps oversee strategy development and architectures for future space and launch systems. In this role he is heavily involved in the planning for human missions to Mars. He also serves on the Board of the non-profit Explore Mars, Inc.

Cassady obtained his BS and MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University as well as a Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University. He has 35 years experience in various forms of rocket propulsion and mission and systems analysis and has authored more than 50 technical papers dealing with electric propulsion, power and attitude control systems and mission analysis