Bob Richards Email & Phone Number

Bob Richards is a commercial space entrepreneur with roots in music and entertainment. He is a founder of the International Space University, Singularity University, SEDS, the Space Generation Foundation, Odyssey Moon, Moon Express, Artemis Music and most recently PlanetaryX, a global impact venture focused on the well being of people and planet where he serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Science Officer. His business ventures have spanned space, music, digital media, retail, hospitality, automotive, communications and publishing.Bob studied aerospace and industrial engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University; physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto; and space science at Cornell University where he became special assistant to Carl Sagan.Bob led key science and technology development for Canada's participation in NASA's 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander and OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return missions. In 2005 Bob turned his attention to the Moon, curating and co-chairing the International Lunar Conference that gathered over 300 global scientists, policy makers and space agency officials in Toronto to address the scientific and economic potential of the Moon.In 2008 Bob joined Peter Diamandis, Ray Kurzweil and other leading thinkers in the founding of Singularity University at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, focused on solving humanity's grand challenges with exponential technologies.In 2010 Bob founded Moon Express to develop a commercial lunar industry in partnership with NASA and in 2016 received the first ever federal authorization for a private mission to the Moon. Bob has testified to the US Congress on the value of the Moon and the Outer Space Treaty and has supported UN debates on international cooperation in lunar development.Bob blended his music roots with space in cofounding Artemis Music in 2019 and PlanetaryX in 2022 to focus on the well being of people and planet through the development of a nature-positive global economy.Bob is a recipient of the K.E. Tsiolkovski Medal (Russia, 1995), the Space Frontier “Vision to Reality” Award (USA , 1994), the Arthur C. Clarke Commendation (Sri Lanka, 1990) and the Aviation & Space Technology Laurel (USA, 1988). He is a contributing author of "Blueprint for Space" (Smithsonian Institution 1992); "Return to the Moon" (Apogee Books 2005) and "The Farthest Shore" (ISU Press 2009). In 2005 Bob received a Doctorate of Space Achievement (honoris causa) from the International Space University for “distinguished accomplishments in support of humanity’s exploration and use of space.”