Dr. Michael Nayak
Program Manager
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Michael “Orbit” Nayak is a science-fiction author, and a Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). At DARPA, he starts and runs programs in atmospheric science, astronomy, cislunar and lunar technology, high-energy physics, parachute technology, radio science and more. He has worked as a space shuttle engineer; flight director for multiple experimental spacecraft; a skydiving instructor; a planetary scientist at NASA Ames; research section chief for the DoD’s largest telescope; instructor flight test engineer and instructor pilot. He has flown an X-plane, worked as a Space Shuttle engineer, deployed to the South Pole as a U.S. Antarctic Program principal investigator, was a semi-finalist to be a NASA astronaut, and is a US Air Force Test Pilot School graduate with 1,000+ hours of flight time in 40+ aircraft. His debut science fiction novel, “Symbiote”, is now available from Penguin Random House.
Related Sessions
Cislunar Space: Strategy, Science, and Synergy
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
2:15 pm - 3:00 pm
Track: Symposium Program