Head of Space Ventures (Mars Helicopters!), @aerovironment. Co-Founder, @OwensFellowship & @PGSFellowship. Board Member, @OpenLunar. Husband, @FromCaliToMars.
Houston, TX
Joined March 2008
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This is Mars exploration like I’ve dreamed of for 20+ years: a fast, affordable, inspiring mission paving the way for 👩🚀🧑🏿🚀👨🚀. Ingenuity showed this could happen very soon, without breaking the bank.
Thrilled to work w/ brilliant @aerovironment MacCready Works & @NASAJPL teams!
We made history with Ingenuity, the first powered flight on another planet. Now, we’re ready to do it again. Introducing Skyfall: a potential future Mars mission concept developed with @NASAJPL for next-gen Mars Helicopters to help explore resources, scout potential landing sites, and pave the way for America’s first Martian astronauts.
William Pomerantz retweeted
The Aurelia Prize is back, and this time the grand prize is $100K!
Submissions are open through January 15, 2027 for design concepts that advance a sustained human presence on the moon. Learn more and submit: aureliainstitute.org/prize
William Pomerantz retweeted
III. AI-first science: Bio, Neuro, Nano
AI-first approaches that identify a stuck problem in science, diagnose what’s blocking progress, and build what unblocks it: foresight.org/grants/ai-scie…
William Pomerantz retweeted
Four days left to apply for our Request for Proposals.
Up to $100K in grant funding, office space in SF and Berlin, community, and compute for open AI for science and safety projects. Three calls:
• Local Compute
• Coordination and Accountability
• AI-first Science: Bio, Neuro, Nano
Deadline: Oct 31. Apply: foresight.org/grants/ai-scie…
Links to each open call in thread.
William Pomerantz retweeted
There is nothing easy about putting a lunar lander on the Moon. With no air, no lift, and no drag, the only way to brake is to use a rocket. The descent onto the Moon lasts about 12 minutes and the lander's engine burns the whole time as it throttles down. As the lander burns off fuel, its weight constantly shifts, requiring continuous adjustments to the throttle. It's a monstrous challenge that must be handled autonomously. To top it off- just before the lander touches down on the Moon's surface it needs to be moving about 1 meter per second (that's slower than an average walking speed).
William Pomerantz retweeted
By far the coolest part of the Texas Election Code is the chapter allowing astronauts, many of whom live around Houston, to vote from space. 🚀🌕👨🚀
William Pomerantz retweeted
While Artemis is headed to the South Pole first, a new report from @theNASEM just named four other possible Moon sites for future lunar missions:
- Bhabha Crater, on the far side and the most isolated spot humans would ever explore
- Mons Hadley, right by Apollo 15, so crews could check on hardware that's sat there 50+ years
- Orientale Basin, the best-preserved multi-ring impact basin in the solar system
- Aristarchus Plateau, a volcanic region with possible resources
The report also suggests that NASA let astronauts roam past the current 2 km limit on spacewalks, and to build instruments that can survive many lunar nights.
William Pomerantz retweeted
The Japanese MMX mission to #Mars has successfully launched.
This amazing mission will bring back samples from the Martian moon Phobos which will provide key insights into Mars’ history
Will b first round trip demo ever from the Martian system. Super congrats to JAXA!
William Pomerantz retweeted
Happy AstroAccess Anniversary! 5 years ago today, we launched the 1st zero-g mission for space accessibility. 🚀
Since then: 8 zero-g flights, 5 analog missions, an Ambassador in space, & invites from @NASA, the White House, @MIT, @UN, & more.
Here’s to the next 5 years ahead!
ALT Twelve Flight 1 Ambassadors in black flight suits smile on a sunny airport tarmac in front of a white jet with a blue tail and an open cargo door. Five Ambassadors in wheelchairs sit in the front row, with the rest standing behind them. Labeled 2021.
William Pomerantz retweeted
403 kg. The largest American rover ever sent to the Moon, and heavier than every lunar rover launched since 1973 combined.
Apollo’s LRV was built by a few thousand people at Boeing/GM over ~17 months, with a sizable NASA budget behind it.
FLIP went from blank sheet to flight-qualified in a 18 months, with a team of <100, on private capital.
FLIP carries 20 NASA and commercial payloads, runs on much the same core mobility, power, and comms stack as the CLV-1 we’re building for Artemis as part of our broader architecture, and is part of the first Moon Base mission.
Excited to see it fly on @voyagertech_ Griffin lander, launching atop @SpaceX Falcon Heavy late this year!
William Pomerantz retweeted
The Conversations Aerospace Needs Right Now aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/fe…
William Pomerantz retweeted
"We have some good news for Venus."
arstechnica.com/space/2026/1…
William Pomerantz retweeted
Since Ignition, we’ve been working across @NASA and with our partners to accelerate Artemis and return Americans to the Moon in 2028.
Next week, we’ll share major updates on that work, including how Artemis III is coming together and the next steps ahead for Artemis IV and beyond.
nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-t…
William Pomerantz retweeted
NASA (Isaacman, Kshatryia, Parsons) will provide an update on Artemis progress on Friday, Oct 23, at 2:00 pm ET. nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-t…
William Pomerantz retweeted
"The real barrier wasn't in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight."
#OTD in 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound in Bell X-1. Read more on the blog: s.si.edu/3VlyAWa
ALT Chuck Yeager, wearing a leather jacket, stands in front of the Bell X-1, with his hand on the door. The name "Glamorous Glennis" can be seen on the nose of the aircraft.
William Pomerantz retweeted
I was asked to share this job announcement:
The NASA Kennedy Space Center Swamp Works is recruiting individuals with flight development experience in avionics board design, SLAM, ROS, autonomy/localization software, thermal desktop modeling, and Creo CAD designers. We are specifically targeting individuals with a high degree of experience in these areas. These individuals would be hired on as GS-12 or 13 civil servants which are equivalent to 5 or more years of experience in related areas.
Here is the position listing. It just opened yesterday and has a very quick turnaround closing on 10/13.
USAJOBS - Job Announcement: usajobs.gov/job/887878200?_g….
William Pomerantz retweeted
#OTD in 1963, the original Mercury 7 astronauts received the 1962 Collier Trophy for "pioneering manned space flight in the United States." It was the first time the Collier Trophy was awarded to an American space mission.
ALT Group photo of the original Mercury Seven astronauts in their silver space suits, standing against a blue backdrop.
William Pomerantz retweeted
Un abrazo solidario al pueblo hermano de Panamá ante el fuerte sismo que sacudió al país. Nuestra solidaridad con todas las personas afectadas. 🇨🇷 🇵🇦
William Pomerantz retweeted
We’re getting America underway on nuclear power in space and ushering in the era of a Nuclear NASA.
With the signing of an MOU with @ENERGY, we’re taking the next giant leap toward exploring the outer solar system and sending American astronauts to Mars. Fission power will help us travel farther, operate longer, and power more capable scientific instruments.
William Pomerantz retweeted
Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer whose work helped make Apollo and humanity’s first journeys to the Moon possible. The best way to honor her legacy is to finally pick up where her generation left off and never stop going.
We’ve lost an icon. Margaret Hamilton, a computer science pioneer best known for her work at MIT leading development of the flight software for the Apollo missions to the moon, has died at 90. Read about her legacy via MIT News: news.mit.edu/2026/margaret-h…
ALT Margaret Hamilton is reclined inside a NASA spacecraft module, surrounded by control panels and switches.