SpaceCom 2019

Douglas Stetson
President
FreeFall Aerospace, Inc.


Doug Stetson is President and CEO of FreeFall Aerospace, Inc. Prior to establishing FreeFall, Doug spent 25 years at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a variety of technical and management positions including several assignments at NASA Headquarters. He led the early mission and system design for a number of high-profile planetary missions including the Cassini mission to Saturn as well as missions to Mars, Jupiter, and asteroids and comets. Later Doug was responsible for development of all new planetary mission concepts and programs, led the development of a number of science and technology “roadmaps” for the national science community and NASA leadership, and established new initiatives for mission and system innovation. After leaving JPL, Doug spent 10 years as a consultant to a number of large aerospace companies, universities, and national laboratories. During that time he led proposal development for several missions that have been selected by NASA for flight, including the GUSTO mission at University of Arizona and, most recently, the Dragonfly mission that will deliver a robotic drone to search for evidence of habitability and life on Saturn's moon Titan. Doug was also project manager of LightSail-1 for The Planetary Society, overseeing the first successful deployment of a solar sail in Earth orbit. He has been a member of several National Academy of Sciences committees on the future space program and national technology strategy, and helped to establish new university initiatives for space exploration and education. Doug holds a B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. He is the author of numerous technical papers and the recipient of a number of local and national awards, including the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, several NASA Group Achievement Awards, and the JPL Award for Excellence in Leadership.

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