Dan Rasky is the co-founder and chief of the Space Portal, which has had a significant role in establishing several notable and successful NASA programs, including the Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program, the Vascular Tissue Centennial Challenge, and the Frontier Development Lab. He is recognized as an expert on advanced entry systems and thermal protection materials. In the 1990s, he and his research colleagues at NASA Ames invented a heat-shield material called Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA).