Louis Friedman, Engineer and Leader in Space Policy and Exploration

The triumph of space exploration in the modern era rests on the ideal combination of important science objectives, overcoming impossible engineering challenges, and mustering the sufficient administrative, budgetary, and political support to ensure mission success from proposal to orbit. Lou Friedman has worked in all of these realms, and his positive influence has touched many of the most significant space missions over the past half century.

Raised in the Bronx, Friedman pursued an applied mathematics degree at the University of Wisconsin at dawn of the space age, and he completed his dissertation at MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics when the Cold War infused space exploration with a sense of existential urgency. Friedman worked as a guest at MIT's Lincoln Labs, and subsequently moved to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Advanced Projects Group, where he contributed to planning and execution of the Lab's flagship missions, including Voyager and Galileo, investigations for Venus, and the rendezvous with Halley's Comet.

Reading the tea leaves at the end of the 1970s, Friedman recognized that absent an infusion of political and budgetary support in Washington, the age of space and planetary exploration could wither as fast as it had grown. Along with JPL director Bruce Murray, and planetary scientist Carl Sagan, Friedman formed The Planetary Society to ensure an ongoing golden age in space science. As the founding executive director of the Society, Friedman lobbied Congress to increase funding and to expand NASA's purview and capabilities, and he helped lay the groundwork for JPL's Mars rover missions. His work on solar sails may one day open new possibilities in long-range space travel, and his advocacy for the importance of research on near-Earth objects has vastly improved the field of planetary defense.

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