Scott Manley

Scott Manley is one of the original participants of Asteroid Day and a keynote speaker at the inaugural event in 2015. He also hosts Asteroid Day’s regular “Asteroid Update” segments.

 Known as an “astronogamer” by his followers, Scott Manley is best known for his space-themed YouTube channel where he teaches the math and minutia behind rocket science and commentates while playing video games such as Kerbal Space Program. Over the last decade, his videos have generated over 250 million views and attracted almost 1 million subscribers. He addresses questions such as: “Can you see a laser pointer from the ISS?,”  “Why do so many American rockets use Russian engines?,” “What is a Hoverslam?”, “Is Elon Musk’s latest idea feasible,” and “Why did that rocket explode?”. 

 Scott is more than a YouTube personality though, he is also a programmer and astrophysicist. 

He grew up in Scotland and spent a decade in academia studying astrophysics and computational physics at the University of Glasgow and worked at Armagh Observatory focusing on small bodies in the solar system, specifically the probabilities of collision and worst-case scenarios. Scott has notably consulted with author Anne McCaffrey on the effects of asteroid impacts for her book The Skies of Pern and for the movie Stowaway directed by Joe Penna. Scott left research in 1999 to work in the technology industry in California where he was hired by Topsy Labs in 2009 which was acquired by Apple Inc. In recognition for his work, asteroid 33434 Scottmanley was named after him in 2019 at an official naming citation.

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Watch Scott’s videos:
How could we deflect an asteroid?
2019 Asteroid Day LIVE from Luxembourg – Panel 10: Storytelling Tools for Complex Science
2018 Asteroid Day LIVE from Luxembourg – Session 13
#AsteroidDay2018​ Kick off Event | February 15 at 8AM PST / 5PM CET
Asteroids In The Solar System | Scott Manley
Asteroids In Video Games | Scott Manley