Research Unplugged will feature Michael Paul, a space systems engineer at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) and team leader of Lunar Lion, presenting "Lunar Lion: Penn State Enters the Private Sector Race to the Moon" from noon to 1 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the Penn State Downtown Theatre.
The event is free and open to the public. Local downtown restaurants provide free refreshments.
Paul will discuss the Penn State Lunar Lion team, which was established by the University to participate in the Google Lunar-X Prize Competition to land a privately-funded spacecraft on the moon by 2015. The team is composed of students, faculty and engineers from ARL.
Paul's research focuses on advanced autonomous vehicles and space systems development. Previously, he worked at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and was the spacecraft systems engineer for NASA's Messenger mission to Mercury. He also worked on NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Observatories and the Comet Nucleus Tour.
Research Unplugged is held every Wednesday at noon in the fall and spring. The goal of the series is to create public dialogue and conversations about relevant issues. For more information visit www.rps.psu.edu/unplugged/.