Home / Science / NASA and Private Astronaut to Reveal Plans for Long-Term Space Habitats
NASA and Private Astronaut to Reveal Plans for Long-Term Space Habitats
12 Nov
Summary
- NASA's chief medical officer to discuss challenges of living in space
- First female commercial spaceship pilot to join panel discussion
- Scotland to host largest-ever space industry event in December 2025
Next month, in December 2025, industry leaders will gather in Scotland for the largest-ever Space-Comm Expo Scotland. The event, hosted at the SEC in Glasgow, will feature a panel discussion on the challenges of creating sustained human habitats in space, on the moon, and on Mars.
Leading the discussion will be JD Polk, who has served as the chief health and medical officer at NASA since 2016. Polk will share insights on what it will take to live and work in space for the long term, including the practicalities of constructing scalable habitats, ensuring human wellbeing in extreme environments, and building sustainable supply chains.
Joining Polk on the panel will be Dr. Sian Proctor, the first female commercial spaceship pilot, who flew on SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission in 2021. Proctor, known as the "astronaut artist," also supports student art projects through her Space2Inspire initiative.
The Space-Comm Expo Scotland is expected to attract over 2,300 delegates, 100 speakers, and 80 exhibitors, showcasing the breadth of expertise across the UK's thriving space sector. Companies based in Scotland, such as Orbex and Skyrora, are building rockets to meet the growing global demand for space launches, while the country's only licensed vertical-launch spaceport is located on the Shetland Islands.
