Caption: Mark Simons, the inaugural director of the Brinson Exploration Hub and the John W. and Herberta M. Miles Professor of Geophysics; Gary Brinson, founder and chair of The Brinson Foundation; Suzann Brinson, a director with The Brinson Foundation; Laurie Leshin , JPL director and Caltech vice president; Thomas F. Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics; and David Tirrell, Carl and Shirley Larson Provostial Chair and Ross McCollum-William H.
“The Brinson Hub is not just about building missions but figuring out how to best go about this at a faster cadence and an acceptable tolerance of risk,” Simons said. “We’re trying to supply the scientists with a $100 million dollar blank canvas if you will, let them paint that canvas with their expertise and hopefully the benefits will flow from that exploration activity,” Brinson explained.
Simons explained that these projects could range from launching instruments on balloons, taking ships to Antarctica to deploy tech below the ice or “launching things in space, either around the earth or even beyond to the moon or to an asteroid.” JPL Director Laurie Leshin outlined some of the benefits JPL will receive in this partnership in addition to the outcomes of the research itself.
This philosophy of taking risks and learning from failure will be a motivating factor at the Brinson Exploration Hub.