Angel Abbud-Madrid

Director, Space Resources Program
Professor of Practice, Mechanical Engineering

Angel Abbud-Madrid

Angel Abbud-Madrid is the Director of the Center for Space Resources at the Colorado School of Mines, where he leads a research program focused on the human and robotic exploration of space and the utilization of its resources. He is also the Director of the Space Resources Graduate Program, aimed at educating scientists, engineers, economists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers in the field of extraterrestrial resources. He has over 35 years of experience conducting experiments in NASA’s low-gravity facilities, such as drop towers, parabolic-flight aircraft, the Space Shuttle, and the International Space Station. In 2004, he received the NASA Astronauts’ Personal Achievement Award for his contributions to the success of human space flight.

Dr. Abbud-Madrid is the President of the Space Resources Roundtable, an international organization that brings together interested parties to discuss all aspects of space, lunar, asteroidal, and planetary resources. In 2018, he was appointed as an Observer and Technical Panel member of The Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group and in 2020 as member of the Committee on Planetary Protection of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. From 2019 to 2023 he served as external faculty in the Interdisciplinary Space Master at the University of Luxembourg and in 2023 he received an honorary Adjunct Professor position at The University of Adelaide in South Australia.

At the undergraduate level, Dr. Abbud-Madrid is the Director of the Space and Planetary Science and Engineering Area of Special Interest and Colorado School of Mines Affiliate Director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, as well as faculty advisor of the Colorado School of Mines AIAA student chapter, Astronomy Club, and Rocket Club. He also holds a Private Pilot license for single-engine-land airplanes.

Contact

General Research Lab 234C
1310 Maple St.
303-384-2300
aabbudma@mines.edu

Research Centers and Programs

Education

  • B.S.E. in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Monterrey, México, 1983
  • M.S.E. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 1990
  • Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 1996

Research Areas

  • Space Resources
  • Microgravity Science
  • Aerospace Technology
  • Combustion Phenomena
  • Planetary Science

Recent Courses

  • Introduction to Space Exploration and Resources (MEGN 408)
  • Space Resources Seminar (SPRS 503)

Recent Publications

View full list of publications on Google Scholar

2024

  • Philipp Reiss, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Philip Arm, Valentin T. Bickel, Florian Kehl, Hendrik Kolvenbach, Gabriela Ligeza, Beth Lomax, and Paul Zabel, “Technologies for Prospecting, Extraction, and Utilization of Space Resources,” Frontiers of Space Technology, 30 October, 2024, Sec. Space Exploration, Volume 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/frspt.2024.1493494, 2024.
  • Clive R. Neal, Antonino Salmeri, Angel Abbud-Madrid, James D. Carpenter, Anthony Colaprete, Karl A. Hibbitts, Julie Kleinhenz, Mathias Link, and Gerald Sanders, “The Moon Needs an International Lunar Resource Prospecting Campaign,” Acta Astronautica, Volume 214, Pages 737-747, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2023.11.017, 2024.

2023

  • Abbud-Madrid, A., “Space Mining Technologies,” in Space in our Hands book, David Brown, Ed., Mimesis International, 2023.

2022

  • Amanda Hendrix, Joseph Alexander, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Anthony Colaprete, Michael Daly, David Fidler, Sarah Gavit, Andrew Horchler, David Karl, Eugene Levy, Robert Lindberg, Margarita Marinova, A. Deanne Rogers, Gerhard Schwehm, and Trista Vick-Majors, “Planetary Protection Considerations for Missions to Small Bodies in the Solar System,” Report Series–Committee on Planetary Protection, The National Academies Press, https://doi.org/10.17226/26714, 2022.
  • Kevin M. Cannon, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Christopher Dreyer, George Sowers, “Space Resources: Leading the Way to a Prosperous Future,” New Space, https://doi.org/10.1089/space.2022.29042.kmc, 2022.

 2021

  • Amanda Hendrix, Joseph Alexander, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Anthony Colaprete, Michael Daly, David Fidler, Sarah Gavit, Andrew Horchler, David Karl, Eugene Levy, Robert Lindberg, Margarita Marinova, A. Deanne Rogers, Gerhard Schwehm, and Trista Vick-Majors, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Report Series: Committee on Planetary Protection: Evaluation of Bioburden Requirements for Mars Missions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26336, 2021.
  • Nicholas Proctor, Ensieh Shojaeddini, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Peter Maniloff, and Ian Lange, “Feasibility of Space Solar Power for Remote Mining Operations,” Acta Astronautica, 186, pp. 183-189, 2021.

2020

  • Joseph Alexander, Angel Abbud-Madrid, Anthony Colaprete, Michael Daly, David Fidler, Sarah Gavit, Amanda Hendrix, Andrew Horchler, David Karl, Eugene Levy, Robert Lindberg, Margarita Marinova, A. Deanne Rogers, Gerhard Schwehm, and Trista Vick-Majors, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Report Series: Committee on Planetary Protection: Planetary Protection for the Study of Lunar Volatiles. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26029, 2020.
  • Atkinson, J., Prasad, M., Abbud-Madrid, A., Dreyer, C.B., “Penetration and Relaxation Behavior of JSC-1A Lunar Regolith Under Cryogenic Conditions,” Icarus, 346, 113812, 2020.

2019

  • Christensen, I., Lange, I., Sowers, G., Abbud-Madrid, A., and Bazilian, M., “New Policies Needed to Advance Space Mining,” Issues in Science and Technology, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, p.26, Vol. XXXV, No. 2, Winter 2019.

2018

  • Abbud-Madrid, A., “Space and Planetary Resources,” chapter of book entitled Planetary Geology, Rossi, A. P. and Van Gasselt, S., Editors, Springer, 2018.
  • Bernardini, F., Putzig, N., Petersen, E., Abbud-Madrid, A., and Giacinti, V., Implications for Resource Utilization on Mars: Recent Discoveries and Hypotheses, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 71, 186–189, 2018.
  • Dreyer, C. B., Abbud-Madrid, A., Atkinson, J., Lampe, A., Markley, T., Williams, H., McDonough, K., Canney, T., and Haines, J., “A New Experimental Capability for the Study of Regolith Surface Physical Properties to Support Science, Space Exploration, and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU),” Review of Scientific Instruments 89, 064502, 2018.

Recent Outreach Presentations