Bhavya Lal

RAND School of Public Policy

Dr. Bhavya Lal is a nationally recognized authority on U.S. space nuclear power and propulsion policy, with more than three decades of experience at the intersection of nuclear engineering, space technology, and national strategy. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in public policy from George Washington University.

At the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute, she helped develop National Security Presidential Memorandum-20—the first major update to U.S. nuclear launch safety policy in over 40 years. The resulting performance-based framework replaced legacy guidance and enabled long-constrained government and commercial pathways for radioisotope power, space fission systems, and nuclear propulsion. Her analysis of commercial participation in space nuclear systems directly informed federal policy.

At NASA, she served as Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy, and Strategy and as the first woman to act as NASA’s Chief Technologist. She restored momentum in space nuclear power and propulsion, including securing the first budget line for nuclear thermal propulsion in decades, and redirected surface fission planning toward scalable systems supporting sustained lunar and Martian operations.

Dr. Lal has brought strategic coherence to the national space nuclear enterprise. She served on the National Academy of Sciences committee on space nuclear propulsion for Mars exploration and co-founded the policy track of the American Nuclear Society Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space conference. Her work on a national space nuclear strategy has influenced agency programs and White House direction, and she continues to advise NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and international partners.

Her contributions have been recognized with NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal and the 2025 AIAA Public Service Award. She is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Full Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.