Lee Mason, a lead technologist for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), will provide a special Trailblazers address at the

Lee Mason, a lead technologist for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), will provide a special Trailblazers address at the Advanced Reactors Summit VI & Showcase @ UC San Diego in January.

Mason, who serves as the Agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate's Principal Technologist for Power and Energy Storage, will provide a Summit highlight on space applications for advanced reactors.

NASA and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recently announced that "they have successfully demonstrated a new nuclear reactor power system that could enable long-duration crewed missions to the Moon, Mars and destinations beyond."

NASA announced the results of the demonstration, called the Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) experiment in a May 2018 news conference, at its Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. According to NASA, the Kilopower experiment was conducted at the NNSA's Nevada National Security Site from November 2017 through March 2018.

Mr. Mason has been a power and propulsion technologist at NASA's Glenn Research Center for almost 30 years. During his career, he has helped to develop advanced radioisotope power systems for deep space science, compact fission reactors for surface power and nuclear electric propulsion, high temperature solar arrays for near-sun missions, solar dynamic power systems for the space station, and high power Hall-effect thrusters for earth orbiting satellites.

Prior to his new assignment as the Principal Technologist for Power and Energy Storage, Mr. Mason was Chief of the Thermal Energy Conversion Branch in the Glenn Power Division. His branch was instrumental in maturing the high efficiency Stirling power convertors and the alkali-metal heat pipes that could revolutionize future space nuclear power systems.

He has written over 100 technical publications on space power and propulsion and generated several patent applications related to space nuclear power. Mr. Mason is the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal (2006), the Rotary National Stellar Award (2010), R&D100 Award (2013) and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2014). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cleveland State University.

NASA is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

###

More on the AR Summit VI & Showcase can be found, HERE.