2026 Duke Space Symposium - Imagining Futures

Please join the Duke SPACE Initiative for the 2026 Duke Space Symposium - "Imagining Futures" on Thursday, March 19th and Friday, March 20th. This year's symposium brings together Duke faculty, researchers, students, and alumni from across the university working in outer space related fields and industries to explore topics that range from cosmology and the quest to understand dark matter - to the role of science fiction in imagining humanity's future in space - to the potential for human and non-human life off Earth, the new space race, managing space debris, and preventing conflict in space. Register here: https://bit.ly/2026DukeSpaceSymposium_ImaginingFutures Schedule: Thursday, March 19th 8:00 AM Coffee & Registration 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM What's Out There? Cosmology & The Human Quest to Explore the Unknown Human Challenges in Space 12:30 PM Lunch Extremophiles - Alien Life and the Risk of Forward and Backward Contamination Commercialization & Emerging Space Economies 4:30 PM Reception Friday, March 20th 8:00 AM Coffee & Registration 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM Space Sustainability Space Security TThis year's symposium brings together Duke faculty, researchers, students, and alumni from across the university working in space-related fields and industries to explore topics that range from cosmology and the quest to understand dark matter - to cultural history and the role of science fiction in imagining humanity's future in space. We will explore the challenges and risks of human settlement off Earth and the search for alien life, the engineering challenges, opportunities, and risks of the new space race, and how we can preventing armed conflict in space, among other topics. This event is being organized by the Duke SPACE Initiative (Science and Policy to Advance Cosmic Exploration). The Duke SPACE Initiative is located in the Department of Physics in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Its members include faculty and researchers from across departments in Trinity, and the university including, the Department of History, Department of Biology, the School of Medicine, the School of Law, the Pratt School of Engineering, and the Sanford School of Public Policy, which is providing a space for this year's symposium.