Founding Trustee, Singularity University

Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards is a space entrepreneur and futurist. He is a Founding Trustee of Singularity University as well as a Founder of the International Space University (www.isunet.edu) and Google Lunar X PRIZE contender Odyssey Moon Limited (www.odysseymoon.com), where he currently serves as CEO. Bob is an evangelist of the “NewSpace” movement and has led a number of commercial space ventures. He directed Optech’s Space Division from 2002-2009, sending the company’s technology to orbit in 2004 and to Mars in 2007 aboard the NASA Phoenix Lander mission, where it made the first discovery of Martian falling 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. He is a contributing author of “Blueprint for Space”, “Return to the Moon” and “The Farthest Shore”. 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.”