Igor Moric is an Associate Research Scholar in the Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) at Princeton University. Prior to joining Princeton, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the MIMAC and PandaX dark matter detectors at Tsinghua University in Beijing and SJTU in Shanghai, respectively. During his PhD at CNES and Paris Sorbonne he worked on characterization and optimization of the space atomic clock PHARAO. He also holds an advanced master in “Space Systems Engineering” from ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse.
Research Interests
My research focuses on developing technical and policy frameworks to assess and mitigate risks from nuclear weapons.
My work includes studying how satellite Earth observation capabilities, coupled with artificial intelligence tools, can enhance nuclear arms control verification and how evolving transparency impacts nuclear stability and decision-making processes of nuclear-weapon states. To evaluate capabilities of novel hypersonic boost glide vehicles, I have performed simulations on their flight and visibility to space-based detectors. Recently, I researched and published on the feasibility, cost-effectiveness and strategic implications of deployment of U.S. ballistic missile defense, examining systems that may become part of the Golden Dome missile defense architecture.
As a member of the SGS Emerging Technologies Working Group, I co-organized a workshop in 2023 convening scientists, scholars and policy specialists to better understand the compounding factors and risks associated with the rapid development, militarization, and deployment of novel technologies. In 2024, in collaboration with the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, I co-organized an international workshop in Berlin, focusing on missile defense and its policy implications for Europe.
Currently my interests include examining the use of emerging and disruptive technologies demonstrated on the battlefields of Ukraine, particularly focusing on the introduction of autonomy in drone navigation and targeting. I am also investigating how advanced remote-sensing capabilities can support verification for a New START follow-on treaty, without relying on on-site inspections.
Publications
Igor Moric, Dome of Delusion: The Many Costs of Ballistic Missile Defense, Arms Control Today, June 2025.
Igor Moric, Timur Kadyshev, Forecasting Costs of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Against a Major Nuclear Strike, Defence and Peace Economics, 1–26, September 2024.
Igor Moric, Advances in Earth Observation Capabilities and their Impact on Nuclear Deterrence, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, January 2024.
Igor Moric, Nuclear Stability in a World with Overhead Transparency, Comparative Strategy, Volume 42, July 2023.
J. Hoster, S. Al-Sayed, F. Biessmann, A. Glaser, K. Hildebrand, Igor Moric, and V. Nguyen, Using Game Engines and Machine Learning to Create Synthetic Satellite Imagery for a Nuclear Verification Tabletop Exercise, INMM & ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, Vienna, May 2023.
Igor Moric, How Commercial Satellite Imagery Could Soon Make Nuclear Secrecy Very Difficult—If Not Impossible, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July 2022.
Igor Moric, Capabilities of Commercial Satellite Earth Observation Systems and Applications for Nuclear Verification and Monitoring, Science & Global Security, 30, 2022
Y. Tao, C. Beaufort, Igor Moric, et al., Dark Matter Directionality Detection Performance of the Micromegas-based TPC-MIMAC Detector, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Volume 1021, 1 January 2022.
T. Kojic, Igor Moric, et al., Virtual Reality in Support of Nuclear Disarmament: Interactivity, Curveballs, and Gameplay, INMM/ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, August 2021.
Y. Tao, C. Beaufort, Igor Moric, et al., Track Length Measurement of 19F+ ions with the MIMAC Directional Dark Matter Detector Prototype, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 985, January 2021.
P. Laurent, Igor Moric, et al., Qualification and Frequency Accuracy of the Space Based Primary Frequency Standard PHARAO, Metrologia, 57 (5), September 2020.
A. Tartari, B. Bélier, N. Bleurvacq, M. Calvo, D. Cammilleri, T. Decourcelle, A. Monfardini, Igor Moric, M. Piat, D. Prêle, G.F. Smoot, LEKIDs as mm-Wave Polarisation Analysers: Fabrication, Test Bench and Early Results, Proceedings, 16th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors, July, 2015.
Igor Moric and P. Laurent, Status of the flight model of the cold atoms space clock PHARAO, Conference: European Frequency and Time Forum & International Frequency Control Symposium (EFTF/IFC), 2013
Igor Moric et al, Magnetic shielding of the cold atom space clock PHARAO, Acta Astronautica 102(4):287–294, September 2014
Igor Moric et al, Hysteresis prediction inside magnetic shields and application, The Review of scientific instruments 85(7):075117-075117-8, July 2014
Igor Moric et al, A Closer View of the Radio-FIR Correlation: Disentangling the Contributions of Star Formation and Active Galactic Nucleus Activity, The Astrophysical Journal 724(1), November 2010
Talks and Workshops
UNIDIR "Demonstrative Verification Workshop", Palais des Nations, Geneva, May 2025.
“Cost of Missile Defense”, lecture for course on “Physics and Politics of Missiles and Missile Defense”, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), December 2024.
"Impact of Overhead Transparency on Nuclear Stability", Princeton School on Science and Global Security, October 2024.
"Forecasting Costs of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Against a Major Nuclear Strike", lecture for course "Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and AI (SPI/MAE 353)" at Princeton University, October 2024.
Talk on "Forecasting Costs of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Against a Major Nuclear Strike", Workshop by the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) on "Assessing Missile Defense Technology and Policy Half a Century After the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty", Berlin, August 2024.
Talk on "Advances in Earth Observation Capabilities and their Impact on Nuclear Stability", American Physical Society (APS) Meeting, Sacramento, United States, April 2024.
"Machine Learning is Boring", lecture for course SPI 593G, Topics in Policy Analysis (Half-Term): Satellite Imagery for Policymakers, People, and the Planet, Princeton University, December 2023.
"Next generation satellite nuclear monitoring and nuclear stability", Workshop at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics on "The Increasing Danger of Nuclear Weapons: How Physicists Can Help Reduce the Threat", Trieste, Italy, October 2023.
"Emerging sensing capabilities from space", Workshop at Princeton University “The Emerging Technologies Arms Race, Nuclear Weapons, and Global Security”, June 2023.
"Revolutions in Earth Observation", Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons “Rethinking Nuclear Disarmament Verification: Revisiting Societal Verification”, United Nations, August 23, 2022.
"Development and Capabilities of Commercial Satellite Earth Observation Systems: Applications for Nuclear Verification and Monitoring", Global Security Technical Webinar Series, June 14, 2022.
UNIDIR, Verification Exercise Workshop, Palais des Nations, Geneva, April 2022.
The George Washington University Boot Camp on Nuclear Security Policy, June 2021.
Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference’s Young Professionals’ Track (YPT), June 2021.
"Satellite-based tracking and monitoring, lecture for course SPI 353 MAE 353", Science and Global Security: From Nuclear Weapons to Cyberwarfare and Artificial Intelligence, Princeton University, May 2021.
“Satellite-based tracking and monitoring: applications for nuclear arms control and nonproliferation”, Program on Science and Global Security Seminar, March 3, 2021.