Dr. Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute

Biography:

Dr. Alan Stern is a planetary scientist, aerospace executive, speaker, and author. His work has taken him to numerous astronomical observatories, to the South Pole, and to the upper atmosphere aboard high-performance military aircraft. He is an expert in planetary science, space commercialization, and space policy.

Prior to his current service at SwRI, in 2007 and 2008, Dr. Stern led NASA’s entire Earth and space science program, consisting of 93 flight missions and over 3000 grants with a budget of $5.4B. Since 2009, Dr. Stern has been the Associate Vice President of the Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) Space Science and Engineering Division. He also serves on the advisory board of Lowell Observatory and on the board of directors of Voyager Space Holdings and KinetX Corp. In 2016 and 2017, he was elected board chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. In 2018, he was named by the Administration to a six-year term on the U.S. National Science Board. In 2019, he led NASA’s Planetary Protection Independent Review Board

Dr. Stern is based in Boulder, Colorado. Previously, from 2003-2007, he was Executive Director of the Department of Space Studies at SwRI. From 1997-2003, he was Director. Prior to that, from 1994-1997, he was the leader of the Geophysical, Astrophysical, and Planetary Science Section in SwRI’s Space Sciences Department. From 1991-1994, he was the leader of the Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Group at Southwest Research Institute’s main campus in San Antonio. From 1983-1991, he held positions at the University of Colorado in the Center for Space and Geoscience Policy, the office of the Vice President for Research, the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA).

Before receiving his Doctorate in 1989, Dr. Stern completed twin Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Atmospheric Sciences, and then spent seven years as an Aerospace Systems Engineer, concentrating on spacecraft and payload systems at the NASA Johnson Space Center, Martin Marietta Aerospace, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado. His undergraduate degrees are in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas.

Dr. Stern has been involved as a researcher in 29 suborbital, orbital, and planetary space missions, including 14 as Principal Investigator, and he has led the development of eight scientific instruments for NASA space missions. His research has focused on studies of our solar system’s Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud, comets, the satellites of the outer planets, Pluto, and the search for evidence of solar systems around other stars. He has also worked on space policy, spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and studies of tenuous satellite atmospheres, including the atmosphere of the Moon.

With over 35 years of experience in instrument development and a strong concentration in ultraviolet technologies, Dr. Stern was a Principal Investigator (PI) in NASA’s UV sounding rocket program, and was the project scientist on a Shuttle-deployable SPARTAN astronomical satellite. He was the PI of the advanced, miniaturized HIPPS Pluto breadboard camera/IR spectrometer/UV spectrometer payload for the NASA/Pluto-Kuiper Express mission.

NASA’s New Horizon’s Pluto- Kuiper Belt mission was launched in 2006 and made the first exploration of Pluto in 2015 and then went on to do the first flyby of any Kuiper Belt Object in early 2019. Dr. Stern is the PI of this mission, as well as the PI of the ALICE UV spectrometer and the former PI of the Ralph Visible Imager/IR Spectrometer on New Horizons.

From inception through 2016, Dr. Stern was also the PI of the ALICE UV Spectrometer for the ESA/NASA Rosetta comet orbiter, launched in 2004, and he was the PI of the LAMP instrument on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, which was launched in 2009, from its inception through 2013. He is also a Co-Investigator on both NASA’s Lucy mission and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, both currently in development.

Dr. Stern was a member of the New Millennium Deep Space 1 (DS1) mission science team, and is a Co-Investigator on both the ESA SPICAM Mars UV spectrometer launched to Mars in 2003, the SPICAV UV spectrometer launched in 2005, and the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS).

Dr. Stern was also the PI of both the SWUIS ultraviolet imager, which has flown two Shuttle missions (STS-85, STS-93), and the SWUIS-A airborne astronomical facility. From 1998 to 2002, Stern flew numerous WB-57 and F-18 airborne research astronomy missions using SWUIS-A.

Dr. Stern has been a guest observer on numerous NASA satellite observatories, including the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the International Infrared Observer (ISO), and the Extreme Ultraviolet Observer (EUVE). He has in the past been a regular user of various ground-based optical and sub-millimeter radio telescopes.

Dr. Stern’s interests include hiking, camping, gardening, and writing. He is an instrument-rated commercial pilot and flight instructor, with both powered and sailplane ratings. He has two daughters and a son; he makes his home near Boulder, Colorado.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., Astrophysics and Planetary Science, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989

M.S., Atmospheric Science, University of Texas at Austin, 1981

M.S., Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1980

B.A., Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, 1980

B.S., Physics, University of Texas at Austin, 1978

PUBLICATIONS: Dr. Stern has published over 350 technical papers and 50 popular articles. He has given over 400 hundred technical talks and over 200 popular lectures and speeches. He has written three books, The U.S. Space Program After Challenger (Franklin-Watts, 1987), Pluto and Charon: Ice Worlds on the Ragged Edge of the Solar System (Wiley 1997, 2005), and Chasing New Horizons (Picador, 2018). Additionally, he has served as editor on three technical volumes, and three collections of scientific popularizations: Our Worlds (Cambridge, 1998), Our Universe (Cambridge, 2000), and Worlds Beyond (Cambridge, 2003). Recently published is The Pluto System After New Horizons (University of Arizona Press, 2021), with Stern as lead editor.

HONORS & AWARDS: In 1995, Dr. Stern was selected to be a Space Shuttle mission specialist finalist, and in 1996 he was a candidate Space Shuttle Payload Specialist. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Explorer’s Club, and the International Academy of Astronautics. He was awarded the 2016 Von Braun Aerospace Achievement Award by the National Space Society, and was named to the Time 100 in both 2007 and 2016. In 2015, he received the Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 2016, Stern received the Carl Sagan Memorial Award from the American Astronautical Society, the Cosmos Outstanding Public Presentation of Science Award of the Planetary Society, and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. He was also inducted into the Space Foundation’s Colorado Space Heroes Hall of Fame. In 2017, he received the SPIE George W. Goddard Award and was elected a National Fellow of the Explorers Club. In 2018, he received the National Award of Nuclear Science and History and the Explorer’s Club Lowell Thomas Award. In 2019, Dr. Stern and the New Horizons Team were awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for International Space Achievement, among others. He has been awarded distinguished alumnus awards from the St. Mark’s School of Texas, the University of Texas, and the University of Colorado. In 2021 he was elected to be an Associate Fellow of the AIAA and a Fellow of the AGU. He is also a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.