Dr. Joseph N. Pelton is Chairman of the Alliance for Collaboration in the Exploration of Space (ACES Worldwide https://acesworldwide.org He is also Director of Academics and Research for the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and chairman of IAASS Academic Committee and member of its Executive Board. He is the Dean emeritus and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Space University with its main campus in Strasbourg, France. He is also the Director Emeritus of the Space and Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) at George Washington University where he was also Director of the Accelerated M.S. Program in Computers and Telecommunications. In earlier positions he was Director of Strategic Planning for Intelsat and held other management positions at Intelsat and Comsat. He also served as Professor and Director, Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder where he was also Director, Center for Advanced Research in Telecommunications &Technology (CARTT).
He is the award-winning author and editor of over 50 books and over 300 articles in the field of telecommunications and networking, space systems, future technologies, and urban planning. His book Global Talk won a Pulitzer Prize nomination and won the Eugene Emme Literature Award of the International Association of Astronautics. In July 2013 he received in the United Kingdom British Interplanetary Society International Award known as “The Arthur” in honor of Arthur C. Clarke. He also received the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2001 and the IAASS “da Vinci Award” for lifetime achievement. Most recently he won the Guardian Award of the Lifeboat Foundation which was previously won by Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Warren Buffet.
He is the Founder of the Society of Satellite Professionals (Now known as the Space and Satellite Professionals International), the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and played a key role in the founding of the International Space University. He announced the formation of the Clarke Foundation at the White House in 1983 while he was acting a Managing Director of the National Committee for World Communications Year —A US Presidential Appointment. He played a role in the formation of the Arthur C. Clarke Center on the Human Imagination at the University of California-San Diego in 2012 as well as a new STEM education exhibit at the National Electronics Museum that opened in September 2018. His most recent books include: Space Systems and Sustainability (2021) (Springer Press) The Handbook of Small Satellites (2020) (Springer Press); Space 2.0: Revolutionary Advances in the Space Industry, (2019), Praxis Press, Chichester, U.K.; The Farthest Shore: A 21st Century Guide to Space (2nd Edition) (2018).