NSRC - The Press Conference

NSRC press conference panel. Left to right: Mark S, Pete W, Michael M, Alan S, Jeff G, Stephen A

On the first day of NSRC (2/18/2010) at 12:00 there was a lunch and a press conference. After hearing about several of the vehicles that will take scientists (and hopefully me) up to near-space, possibly several times a day, it was time to hear a few announcements and ask questions.

I sat next to a table close to the speaker panel with David Masten - CEO of Masten Space Systems, John Gedmark and Matthew Isakowitz from Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Pete Worden from NASA and others. An impromptu discussion between David, Pete, John and Matt over lunch about the fresh NASA budget announcement and its outcomes was cut short by the press conference itself, where Pete was a member of the panel.

The panel was composed of a variety of people representing NASA, commercial suborbital space and research: Mark Sirangelo - Executive Vice President of Sierra Nevada Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Commercial Spaceflight Federation, Pete Worden - NASA Ames Center Director, Michael Mealling - Vice President of Business Development of Masten Space Systems, Alan Stern - Associate Vice President at the Southwest Research Institute, Jeff Greason - President of XCOR and Stephen Attenborough - Commercial Director of Virgin Galactic.

NSRC - Fascinating Stories over Lunch

One of the unexpected delights I had at the NSRC was lunch on Friday. Most of the attendees went to the hotel restaurant and formed a line. I ended up sharing a table with three men - Jin Kang, Gil Moore and Conrad Wall. If you know any one of them you now realize how lucky I was to be grouped with such interesting people.

Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference - The Vehicles

The First NSRC ended a few days ago after two and a half days packed with presentations, ranging from vehicles to researchers, from small companies to NASA. I learned a lot about the benefits, possibilities and options of suborbital research. On a personal level I have new respect for what is seemingly a step backwards from orbital flights and I want to be involved in any way I can. There are several vendors which over the next few years will compete for the attention of the research and education market (REM) for faster recycle time, purity of micro-gravity and payload options. The newly forming direction of NASA,marks in some ways a return to concepts and ways of NASA precursor, NACA, as stated by Simon (Pete) Worden, NASA Ames Center Director during the keynote of NSRC. Even NASA shares the suborbital vision of much cheaper research which is in many cases unique and in other cases relevant to deep space travel. The first day of NSRC mostly entailed presentations by the companies who will produce and launch suborbital vehicles useful for scientific experiments as well as suborbital tourism.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo model

Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference - Reception

I am attending my first space-industry conference this week. As another first, it is the first conference I am attending as a member of the press. How fitting, then, that all these firsts will be at the first Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference? In a time when a lot of vagueness shrouds the future of American space exploration, a new conference breathing wind in commercial as well as government agencies and collaboration between them is very encouraging.

The Paperless Tradeshow

In space, you can't be wasteful. Every bit of extra weight needs to be lifted up. That entails paper, tools and even food and water. Almost the opposite seems to be happening at tradeshows. I recently did some cleaning up of my office at work. Among the items I got rid of were about 2 lbs of flyers, magazines and CDs I got at a couple of trade shows I went to as a part of my job. In software engineering things move (note I didn't say progress...) very fast, and what describes the latest and greatest component or contains a demo of a new release soon becomes stale and outdated.

So here's a simple idea I hope Microsoft, Google or any other company would pick up - the paperless tradeshow. It's a tradeshow without any paper (or any other write-once, read-many media such as CDs or DVDs). Oh, but we love the shiny brochures you say? What do you do with them when you get back from the tradeshow? What do you ever use them for if not as links to online resources? I'm sure you can live without those colorful paper airplanes and find something else to use as a coaster.