Dr. Robert Zubrin is President of the Mars Society. In 1996 he founded Pioneer Astronautics, an aerospace R&D company which he led for 27 years until selling it in 2023. He holds a M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington. He is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and former Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Space Society.

Zubrin is the author of 20 patents and over 200 published papers in the field of space exploration and technology. Dr. Zubrin authored twelve books, including "The Case for Mars: How We Shall Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must," (1996) “Merchants of Despair,”(2012) “The Case for Space,”(2019) “The Case for Nukes,”(2023) and “The New World on Mars.” (2024).

As President of Pioneer Astronautics, Dr. Zubrin led over seventy research and development projects in areas including spacecraft and launch vehicle propulsion systems, in-situ resource utilization technology, EVA, and robotic exploration systems. As leader of the Mars Society he led the construction of two Mars analog research stations – one in the Canadian high Arctic in 2000 and the other in Utah in 2001 - and has since overseen over 290 simulated Mars exploration missions at those stations. Prior to founding Pioneer Astronautics, he worked as a Senior Engineer at Lockheed Martin, in thermonuclear fusion research, nuclear power plant safety, and as a high school science teacher.

Jeff Greason is a commercial space innovator with over 25 years of experience in all aspects of the commercial space transportation industry. He is chief technologist of Electric Sky, where he has invented technologies for the transmission of wireless power to aircraft and spacecraft and its use for propulsion and other purposes. Through work with the Tau Zero Foundation and Interstellar Research Group, he has developed a number of technologies for advanced space propulsion applicable to interstellar flight and solar system exploration.

Jeff was a founder of XCOR Aerospace and served as its CEO from 1999 to early 2015. There, he led the development of many different reusable rocket engines and two rocket-powered piloted aircraft, demonstrating $900/flight operating cost and an operational tempo of seven flights in one day, with 66 total flights. Prior to XCOR, he was the team lead at Rotary Rocket for engine development, and an engineering manager in computer processor development and semiconductor technology at Intel.

Jeff has been active in the U.S. regulatory regime for commercial space, through work with FAA/AST. He helped shape the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 and the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015. He co-founded the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and served as a director for many years.  Jeff was a member of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee (Augustine Committee) in 2009.  He has given a number of speeches on strategies for expanding human presence out in to the Solar System and beyond.

Jeff is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a Governor of the National Space Society and a recipient of an Intel Achievement Award, the company’s highest recognition. He was named a Time magazine Inventor of the Year in 2002 and holds 30 U.S. patents.

Michael Pawlyn is an architect, writer and public speaker. He has been described as an expert in regenerative design and biomimicry. He established his firm Exploration Architecture in 2007 to focus on high performance buildings and solutions for the circular economy. The company has developed a ground-breaking office project, an ultra-low energy data centre, a zero waste textiles factory and progressive solutions for green cities. Michael Pawlyn jointly initiated the widely acclaimed Sahara Forest Project; the latest version of which was opened by the King of Jordan in 2017.

• Prior to setting up Exploration, Michael Pawlyn worked with Grimshaw for ten years and was central to the team that designed the Eden Project. He is regularly booked as a keynote speaker on innovation and his TED talk has had over 2 million views.

• He has written two books - Flourish: Design Paradigms for Our Planetary Emergency (co-authored with Sarah Ichioka) and Biomimicry in Architecture – both of which have been the respective publisher’s best-selling title. In 2019 he jointly initiated ‘Architects Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency’ – a global call to action which has spread to 28 countries with over 7,000 firms signed up.

• He has delivered a numbered of high profile lectures including as part of the following programmes: Cambridge University Darwin College Lecture Series, The Genius of Nature Series at the Natural History Museum of Utah, The CE100 Annual Summit organised by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

• He has been featured in The Financial Times, National Geographic, The Economist, Wired and The Guardian as well as in a large number of design magazines. His television and radio appearances include ‘Animal Einsteins’ on BBC television and a number of programmes on BBC Radio 4.