Live Today! Join Space.com's 25th Anniversary Virtual Panel: The Next 25 Years of Space Exploration - To the Moon, Mars and Beyond

In the 25 years since Space.com first launched its space news mission on July 20, 1999, humanity has accomplished amazing feats in astronomical research and spaceflight. But what lies ahead in the next quarter century?

Join Space.com as we celebrate our 25th anniversary by looking to the future of humanity's reach into the cosmos with the live virtual panel "The Next 25 Years of Space Exploration - To the Moon, Mars and Beyond" on July 17 at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT/9 am PT/5 p.m. BST) on this page and on the Space.com homepage.

See more 25th anniversary features:

Check out a list of Space.com's special 25th anniversary week stories in our hub linked here!

Moderated by Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik, a 23-year veteran of Space.com, our panelists will discuss the great strides to date in the fields of exoplanet research, the search for life, human spaceflight and astronomical discoveries, and how giant new observatories, new spacecraft and technical advances could yield even more advancements. 

Our panelists will be:

  • Dr. Sara Seager, astrophysicist and professor of planetary science, physics and aeronautics and astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; 
  • Dr. John Mulchaey, director of the Carnegie Observatories overseeing the Giant Magellan Telescope; 
  • Dr. Tom Marshburn, chief medical officer for Sierra Space and former NASA astronaut and three-time spaceflyer.

Be sure to join us at Space.com on July 17 for what promises to be an amazing discussion on the future of space exploration and astronomy. 

Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.