Joseph E. Palaia, IV, MSc.

Joseph E. Palaia, IV, M.Sc. is Vice President of Operations / R&D at 4Frontiers Corporation and is Manager at NewSpace Center, LLC.
 
At 4Frontiers Corporation, Joe served in both engineering and management roles in two comprehensive Mars settlement design efforts. He has coauthored technical papers on the topics of Mars surface nuclear power planet design, Mars settlement architecture and space economics, and recently completed a book chapter on the topic of the economics of energy on Mars. His most recent project, a spin-off venture from 4Frontiers, is NewSpace Center, LLC which is creating a new space-themed attraction and research facility in central Florida.
 
In various appointments throughout his career, he has developed electrical and mechanical systems in robotics, plasma processing and space propulsion applications. He is the recipient of the 2005 Peter Diamandis Leadership Award and the 2007 Young Professionals Entrepreneurship Prize, awarded by the Luigi Gerardo Napolitano Society and the International Astronautical Federation. He also served as executive officer and engineer for the Mars Society’s 2009 FMARS expedition.
 
Joe coauthored Mission to Mars: How to get people there and back with Nuclear Energy, Onboard plasmatron hydrogen production for improved vehicles, Lunar Environment Utilization, A Permanent Settlement on Mars: The Architecture of the Mars Homestead Project, Economics of Energy on Mars, Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) 2009 Crew Perspectives, and The Emerging Inner Solar System Economy.
 
Joe earned a bachelors degree with honors in Electrical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2002 and a master’s degree in Nuclear Science & Engineering from MIT in 2006 with the thesis Empirical aspects of a Mini-Helicon Plasma Thruster Experiment (mHTX@ MIT). He graduated the Harvard program “Executive Education Intensive Course — Launching New Ventures” in 2009.
 
Watch Joseph Palaia on ABC Action News in Tampa 5–11–2010 and New Space Center Florida, Joseph Palaia, Mars Society Convention 2010 parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Read his LinkedIn profile. Visit his Facebook page. Follow his Twitter feed.