Jacob Haqq Misra is the director and senior research investigator at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science. He is also the Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of the 501(c)(3) organization Blue Marble Space. His research focuses on understanding the conditions that allow life to survive on Earth, the possibility of detecting signatures of extraterrestrial biology or technology, and the possible futures of life in the solar system. He is the author of the book Sovereign Mars: Transforming Our Values through Space Settlement, which examines the emergence of sovereignty in space and develops models that could maximize the transformative potential of Mars Settlement. He also leads Project Janus, an ongoing study of Earth’s long-term future, based on a set of 10 unique scenarios of Earth and the solar system 1000 years from now.
Jacob was elected as a full member of the International Academy of Astronautics in 2025. He also belongs to the American Geophysical Union and the International Astronomical Union, and serves on the advisory council of METI International. His research has attracted attention by mainstream media, and he periodically interviewed for science news, radio, and television. His writing has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Scientific American. He works from his home office in Delaware.