HAMPTON, Va. — NASA is inviting the public to join agency leaders and innovators from a variety of fields on Nov. 4 to discuss “What Matters Next.” Discussions and presentations on the theme will be the centerpiece of the second TEDxNASA, a daylong event modeled on the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conferences that bring together leading thinkers to create a dialogue on important global challenges.

NASA’s Langley Research Center and the National Institute of Aerospace, both in Hampton, Va., are sponsoring TEDxNASA at the Ferguson Center for the Arts in nearby Newport News. It is free and open to the public and will be streamed on the TEDxNASA website. Registration opens on Oct. 11 and runs through Oct. 24. For more information on the event and how to register, visit: http://tedxnasa.com

“At TEDxNASA we’re able to bring together artists and engineers, rocket scientists and musicians,” said Lesa Roe, director of Langley. “Together we can create extraordinary conversations about what matters next and ideas to help us meet world challenges.”

More than 20 top speakers — focusing on education, innovation, family, technology, literature and art — will share inspiring and thought-provoking stories at TEDxNASA, as they do at a full TED event. The challenge of those presenting is to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less, based on the theme. NASA’s Chief Technologist Bobby Braun and Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington are among those slated to speak.

Green will present at the same time NASA’s EPOXI spacecraft is flying by and snapping close-up images of comet Hartley 2, more than 11 million miles away from Earth.

Last year’s TEDxNASA event attracted international best-selling author Mitch Albom, Carnegie Hall humorist and guitar virtuoso Mike Rayburn and Virginia Tech robotic pioneer Dennis Hong, among others.

Reporters interested in attending the event should contact Kathy Barnstorff at kathy.barnstorff@nasa.gov.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to “ideas worth spreading.” Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. Conference presentations are made available for free at TED.com.

TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Sir Richard Branson, and many others. The “x” in TEDxNASA indicates it is an independently organized TED event.

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov