Louis Friedman holds a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT. He has worked on deep-space missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and he co-founded The Planetary Society with Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray, serving as the organization's executive director for thirty years. He was co-leader of the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) Asteroid Retrieval Mission and Interstellar Medium Exploration Studies at Caltech.
Dr. Friedman makes a passionate case for targeting Mars as the end point for human solar-system exploration. Beyond Mars, he argues for humanity to utilize solar sail propelled small-robot spacecraft to provide us earthlings with virtual human presence beyond our solar system. These views come from a person who has had a long and distinguished career dedicated to space exploration. A very interesting read of a different vision. Daniel S. Goldin, former Administrator of NASA