The Mars Society is pleased to announce that veteran NASA engineer Humphrey “Hoppy” Price will serve as a plenary speaker at the 2026 International Mars Society Convention, scheduled for October 22–24 at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
A leading figure at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mr. Price currently serves as Chief Engineer for NASA’s Robotic Mars Exploration Program, where he has played a central role in advancing mission architectures and technologies aimed at expanding humanity’s reach deeper into the solar system. His expertise spans robotic and human Mars exploration, advanced propulsion systems, entry-descent-landing technologies, and long-duration interplanetary mission planning.
Over the course of his distinguished career at JPL, Mr. Price has contributed to several landmark space missions, including serving as Project System Engineer for NASA’s GRAIL lunar mission and Configuration Engineer for the Cassini Saturn orbiter. He is also well known within the space community for helping develop innovative “minimal architecture” concepts for future human missions to Mars, including a proposed crewed Mars/Venus orbital flyby mission targeted for the 2030s.
The international convention will bring together leading scientists, engineers, policymakers, educators and space advocates from around the world to discuss the latest developments in Mars exploration and humanity’s future on the Red Planet. For additional information about the three-day event, including registration and program updates, please visit the Mars Society website.
