Paul Jaffe
Program Manager
Tactical Technology Office
Dr. Paul Jaffe is a Program Manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, where he oversees the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) project. Prior to joining DARPA, he spent 30 years as an engineer and researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). At NRL he led or held major roles on dozens of space missions and on breakthrough technology development projects for civilian, defense, and intelligence community sponsors, including SSULI, STEREO, TacSat-1, TacSat-4, ORS, MIS, PRAM, CARINA, RSGS, PTROL, S2FOBs, LEctenna, and SWELL. He was responsible for electrical system and spacecraft computer hardware development. He served as coordinator and editor of two seminal solar power satellite study reports and was the principal investigator for ground-breaking power beaming and space solar research efforts.
His past roles include program management and systems engineering of a portfolio of projects. He served as the Deputy Director of The Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Operational Energy Innovation office from 2021-2022. Since 2017, he has taught the course “Introduction to Power Beaming and Space Solar” in the Aerospace Engineering department at the University of Maryland College Park. He has over 60 journal, conference, and patent publications and is the recipient of numerous awards. Dr. Jaffe has made many international speaking and media appearances, including as a TEDx speaker, on MSNBC, CuriosityStream, and the Science Channel’s “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman.” He is also active in educational and STEM outreach.