The Mars Society is pleased to announce that renowned NASA engineer Dr. Adam Steltzner will deliver the keynote address at the Saturday evening banquet (September 24th at 7:00 pm PST) during the 2026 International Mars Society Convention, taking place October 22–24 at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
One of the most prominent engineering leaders associated with NASA’s exploration of Mars, Dr. Steltzner is an Engineering Fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and has played key roles in some of the agency’s most ambitious missions to the Red Planet.
Dr. Steltzner is perhaps best known for leading the team that developed the revolutionary Sky Crane landing system that successfully delivered NASA’s Curiosity rover to the Martian surface in 2012. He later served as Chief Engineer for the Mars 2020 mission and its Perseverance rover, helping lead the development of one of the most sophisticated robotic explorers ever sent to another world.
His NASA career has included work on numerous major missions, including Galileo, Cassini, Mars Pathfinder, the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. His contributions to planetary entry, descent, and landing have helped transform NASA’s ability to deliver increasingly complex spacecraft safely to the surface of Mars.
In May 2026, Dr. Steltzner took on a major new leadership assignment when NASA named him HQ Chief Engineer for Special Projects, placing him at the engineering forefront of several of the agency’s highest-priority exploration initiatives.
His responsibilities encompass Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, an ambitious effort to advance nuclear power and propulsion capabilities for future missions; NASA’s Moon Base initiative, aimed at establishing an enduring human presence on the lunar surface while developing technologies needed for eventual crewed missions to Mars; and other priority initiatives across the agency.
The new assignment builds on Dr. Steltzner’s decades of engineering leadership at NASA and JPL, expanding his role from landmark robotic exploration of Mars to ambitious new technologies and programs intended to shape NASA’s future exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
His Saturday evening keynote will offer convention attendees a special opportunity to hear directly from one of the engineers who helped shape the modern era of Mars exploration — and who is now helping develop technologies and systems for NASA’s next generation of exploration.
The 2026 International Mars Society Convention will bring together leading scientists, engineers, aerospace executives, policymakers, and advocates for three days of discussion about Mars science, exploration, technology, commercial space, and the future human settlement of the Red Planet.
There’s still time to join us! Registration remains open for the full three-day convention, with discounted rates available for students and seniors. Tickets are also still available for the Saturday evening banquet.
Join us at USC this October for three days focused on humanity’s future on Mars — capped by an evening with one of the engineers who helped redefine how we land on the Red Planet.
