About Us

Tariq Malik, Managing Editor

Responsible for Space.com's editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the managing editor of Space.com since 2009 and has covered space news and science for 13 years. He joined Purch's Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.

Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate "vomit comet" ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.

Michael Wall, Senior Writer

Michael Wall joined Space.com in 2010 as a senior writer reporting on Mars exploration, exoplanet discoveries, astrophysics and space technology. For Space.com, Mike has wandered through California's Mojave Desert with scientists on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity mission and helped launch balloon missions through Earth's auroras in Alaska. He's based in San Francisco, where he chronicles the space tech revolution in Silicon Valley.

Prior to joining Space.com, Mike was a science writer for the Idaho National Laboratory and interned with Wired.com, The Salinas Californian newspaper and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Mike has also worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Calla Cofield, Staff Writer

Calla Cofield joined the crew of Space.com in October, 2014. She enjoys writing about black holes, exploding stars, ripples in space-time, science in comic books, and all the mysteries of the cosmos. She has been underground at three of the largest particle accelerators in the world. She'd really like to know what the heck dark matter is.

Prior to joining Space.com Calla worked as a freelance science writer. Her work has appeared in APS News, Symmetry magazine, Scientific American, Nature News, Physics World, and others. From 2010 to 2014 she was a producer for The Physics Central Podcast. Previously, Calla worked at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (hands down the best office building ever) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Calla studied physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is originally from Sandy, Utah.

Sarah Lewin, Staff Writer

Sarah joined Space.com in June, 2015, and writes about astronomy, spaceflight and science fiction. She enjoyed Space Camp and likes space operas, but dislikes space ice cream.

Prior to joining Space.com, Sarah's work has been featured by Scientific American, IEEE Spectrum, Quanta Magazine, Wired.com, The Scientist, Science Friday and WGBH's Inside NOVA. She has an MA from NYU's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and an AB in mathematics from Brown University. When not writing, reading or thinking about space, Sarah enjoys musical theatre and mathematical papercraft.

Tom Chao, Producer

Tom Chao has contributed to Space.com as a producer and writer since 2000. Among his production duties, he has researched and written the Space.com Image of the Day feature for several years. As a writer and editor, he has worked for the Voyager Company, Time Inc. New Media, HarperCollins and Worth Publishers.

Tom holds a bachelor's degree in Cinema Production from the University of Southern California, and a master's degree from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He is based in New York City.

Dave Brody, Executive Producer – Visual Content Team

Dave Brody joined Space.com in 1999 and serves multiple roles as science / technology writer and presenter, as well as Executive Producer leading the Visual Content Team for parent company Purch. As on-air talent, Dave has presented space stories on NBC's Today Show, CNN, BBC, Discovery Science, MSNBC, NPR, Fox News, CNBC and others.

Dave is a former Supervising Producer of Original Programs for SyFy, where he ran the weekly half-hour aerospace news-feature show "Inside Space." Brody created, wrote and hosted the Starry Night series of astronomy software, multimedia and educational DVDs. He's written for Space News, Ad Astra (NSS), and other aerospace periodicals. Dave has also developed on-line training materials for Orion Telescopes and Binoculars. He enjoys presenting space and science programs in elementary and secondary schools, and giving public astronomy presentations. He is a Civil Air Patrol Aerospace Education Senior Member, and an Advocate and Advisor to the Space Frontier Foundation.

Dave graduated from the New York Institute of Technology’s electronic journalism program and has won three Telly Awards, a Monitor Award and a Broadcast Design Association Silver Award. Brody is Space.com's longest continuous employee, having started as development consultant to the company prior to its launch in July of 1999.

Karl Tate, Infographics Artist

Karl Tate was born in New Orleans but considers the Big Apple his home. Karl has more than 20 years of experience as a professional designer with credits including information graphics and illustrations for The Associated Press, SPACE.com , Livescience.com , LAPTOP magazine and others. Karl currently works for Purch.com and its online properties.

Karl is active in the prop replica collecting hobby, where his focus is cool gadgets and weapons from sci fi films and TV shows. He also has a small collection of vintage robots, ray guns and space toys.

Karl served as Associate Producer and Designer on the 2007 film Toys Are Us: A Revolution in Plastic" and as Senior Producer/Production Designer on the 2013 documentary Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys."

Steve Spaleta, Video Producer/Editor

Since 2007, Steven Spaleta has produced and edited space, science and entertainment-related videos for Space.com and Live Science; preceded by a decade of video, audio and live stage production for Pal Television East, Inc. In addition to producing space and science news, Steve is producer/editor of Space.com's CosMix series on space-enthused artists. Guests have included guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Grace Potter and Claudio Sanchez, founder of Coheed and Cambria. Steve is also a bass guitarist and songwriter. He studied psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is originally from Zadar, Croatia by way of Astoria, New York.

Additionally, Robert Roy Britt, who began as a reporter at Space.com in 1999, remains at the helm as Editor in Chief of Space.com and its sister site, Live Science, and Chief Content Officer of the parent company, Purch.