Robert D. Richards

For other people named Robert Richards, see Robert Richards (disambiguation).
Robert D. Richards

Robert (Bob) Richards
Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Institutions Moon Express
Education Ryerson University, University of Toronto and Cornell University
Known for Private spaceflight industry

Robert D. Richards is a Canadian-born space entrepreneur. He is co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, Inc., a U.S. company awarded a $10M commercial lunar contract by NASA and a competitor in the Google Lunar X PRIZE.[1] He is also the founder and former CEO of Odyssey Moon Limited,[2] an Isle of Man based commercial lunar enterprise and the first official contender in the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition.[3] From 2002-2009 he was the Director of the Space Division at Optech Incorporated.

In 1987 Robert Richards founded the International Space University (ISU) together with Todd B. Hawley and Peter Diamandis and he served as the university's first Associate Administrator for Strategic Planning and chaired the board's administrative and strategic planning committees during ISU's first phase of development. In 2005 Robert Richards 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.”

As a student in the 1980s Robert Richards co-founded the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) together with Todd B. Hawley and Peter Diamandis. After coining the term "Space Generation", symbolizing a common bond among people born since the beginning of the space age, Robert Richards also co-founded the Space Generation Foundation with Hawley and Diamandis, now succeeded by the Space Generation Advisory Council.

In 2008 Robert Richards joined Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil and others in the founding of Singularity University, an institution based at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, California, focused on graduate and executive level education about exponentially advancing technologies. Robert Richards remains an active supporter of these organisations.

In October 2014, Robert Richards and Naveen Jain will both be speakers at Techmanity,[4] a Silicon Valley technology and innovation conference produced by The Fast Company and IDG World Expo.

  1. ↑ "MoonEx aims to scour moon for rare materials". Los Angeles Times. 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2011-04-10. MoonEx's machines are designed to look for materials that are scarce on Earth but found in everything from a Toyota Prius car battery to guidance systems on cruise missiles. ... The company is among several teams hoping to someday win the Google Lunar X Prize competition, a $30-million race to the moon in which a privately-funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon's surface and have it explore at least 1/3 of a mile. It also must transmit high definition video and images back to Earth before 2016. ... should be ready to land on the lunar surface by 2013
  2. ↑ "Reaching for the Moon: Interview with Robert Richards". CNN. 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  3. ↑ "CBC National Newsclip - Odyssey Moon" (Video). CBC News. Retrieved 2008-11-09.
  4. ↑ http://www.techmanity.com
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