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Space entrepreneur. Orphan of Apollo. A founder of International Space University, Singularity University and Google
Lunar X PRIZE competitor Odyssey Moon Limited. BIOGRAPHY Dr.
Robert (Bob) Richards is the Founder and CEO of Odyssey Moon Limited, a commercial lunar transportation company and the first official contender in the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE. As Director of the Optech
Space Division from 2002-2009, Bob led the company's technology into orbit in 2004 and to the surface of Mars in 2007
aboard the NASA Phoenix Lander, making the first discovery of falling Martian snow.
Bob studied aerospace and industrial engineering
at Ryerson University; physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto; and space science at Cornell University, where
he became special assistant to Carl Sagan. In 1987 Bob co-founded the International Space University ( ISU) with Peter Diamandis and Todd Hawley; today a global institution with a central campus in Strasbourg, France. While a student
in the 1980's Bob also co-founded the Space Generation Foundation and the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space ( SEDS).
In 2008 Bob joined Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil and other leading thinkers in the founding
of Singularity University, an institution dedicated to preparing humanity for accelerating technological change, based at the NASA Research Park in
Silicon Valley.
Bob is an evangelist of the "NewSpace" movement and has been a catalyst
for a number of commercial space ventures. He is the recipient of the K.E. Tsiolkovski Medal (Russia, 1995), the Space Frontier
“Vision to Reality” Award (USA , 1994), the Arthur C. Clarke Commendation (Sri Lanka, 1990) and Aviation &
Space Technology Laurel (USA, 1988). He is a contributing author of " Blueprint for Space" (Smithsonian Institution 1992); " Return to the Moon" (Apogee Books 2005) and " The Farthest Shore" (ISU Press 2009).
In 2005 Bob received a Doctorate of Space Achievement (honoris causa)
from the International Space University for “distinguished accomplishments in support of humanity’s exploration
and use of space.”
AFFILATIONS: Founder & CEO, Odyssey Moon Limited
Founder & Trustee, International Space University
Founding Trustee, Singularity University
Former Director, Space Technology, Optech Incorporated
Founder & Board of Directors, Space Generation Foundation
Founder & Board of Trustees, SEDS
Member & Former Vice President, International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG)
Co-Chair, International Lunar Conference 2005
Advocate, Space Frontier Foundation
Member, International Institute of Space Law
Board of Directors, GeoSpace Planetarium
Board of Advisors, Continuum Aerospace
Board of Advisors, Mars Institute
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