Information, Communication

Douglas Isbell is a professional science communicator who has worked in space exploration and astronomy for more than 35 years. Doug begin his career as a journalist covering NASA for Space News, and then served as a media relations officer at NASA Headquarters for planetary science during one of the busiest and most productive periods in the agency’s history, including the Mars Pathfinder mission that landed the first robotic rover on Mars and the high-profile launch of the NASA-ESA Cassini mission to Saturn. He then spent nearly a decade working in public engagement about astronomy as a member of the senior management team at the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which operates world-class telescopes in in Arizona, Hawaii, and Chile. During this period, Doug was the co-leader of the diverse U.S. contributions to the 2009 International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), including membership in the IAU’s executive committee for that global celebration of 400 years of astronomy, and he co-authored a popular science book for the University of Arizona Press, “Observatories of the Southwest: A Guide for Curious Skywatchers.”

For more than 15 years, Doug worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena as a risk communication expert on topics ranging from the launches of space missions carrying radioisotope power systems (nuclear batteries)—such as NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers—and on the ambitious NASA-ESA plan to safely return carefully collected samples of Mars to Earth under strict biological containment.

Under the nickname “AstroDoug,” he also presents and hosts family friendly talks on space and astronomy to public audiences around Los Angeles, frequently including telescope views of the Moon and the planets.