Space Access '11

Overview
Thu April 7 afternoon
Thu April 7 evening
Fri April 8 morning
Fri April 8 afternoon
Fri April 8 evening
Sat April 9 morning
Sat April 9 afternoon

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These are notes I took from the presentations at the Space Access 2011 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Space Access '11 Overview

Space Access has become the go-to conference for commercial (as well as educational and amateur) access to space. To try to capture what it was like to be there, I got photos of every speaker and at least some notes from every presentation at the 3-day conference. The topics include a range from proposals which may or may not ever fly (which continues the legacy of where this conference started in 1993) to the companies who are currently building, testing and flying commercial rockets. Space Access also continues to be a good place for newcomers interested in the NewSpace industry to come to meet people and make contacts.

However, I should also say that these notes on the technical talks can't convey the whole atmosphere of the conference. It's impressive to have all these people in one place, to meet them and make new friends there. Though the conference is organized as a single track of presentations, there are unofficial secondary and tertiary tracks with all the business meetings and media interviews that take place on the side from it. And the social environment with like-minded space advocates, engineers and other specialists is fun. I look forward to Space Access every year.

The conference is organized by the Space Access Society

Thursday afternoon, April 7, 2011

1:30 pm Henry Vanderbilt, Space Access Society, with Announcements, and A Quick Welcome
1:35 pm Henry Spencer, on Destinations (and Pit Stops) Beyond LEO
2:35 pm Dennis Stone/NASA, COTS/CCDev update
3:20 pm Students for the Exploration and Development of Space/Sara Meschberger
3:30 pm break
4 pm Orbital Outfitters/Jeff Feige
4:20 pm SpaceX/Gwynne Shotwell
5:10 pm Misuzu Onuki, on Japanese Space Activities, including commercial and media
5:30 pm Gary Hudson, on t/Space's CCDEV2 proposal

Thursday evening, April 7, 2011

8 pm James Reuther/NASA, on NASA Space Technology Roadmaps And The Shape Of Future NASA
8:45 pm George Herbert, on An In-Situ Resources Manufacturing Proof-Of-Concept
9:05 pm Gary Hudson, on "It's A Trap!" Monopsony and NewSpace
9:30 pm Tethers Unlimited/Gerry Nordley
9:45 pm Alex Bruccoleri, on Propellant Density Effects on Hydrogen Thermal Rockets
10 pm end of Thursday sessions

Friday morning, April 8, 2011

9 am XCOR Aerospace/Jeff Greason
9:50 am Educational Outreach/Teachers in Space - Terri Carroll
10 am Rick Wills, on REFPROP
10:20 am Microlaunchers/Charles Pooley
10:30 am break
11 am Charles Miller and Bruce Pittman/NASA, on Propellant Depot Progress & Market Implications
11:45 am Space Frontier Foundation/Ryan McLinko
12 pm ISP Systems/Max Vozoff

Friday afternoon, April 8, 2011

2 pm Max Vozoff, on A Model for Successful Commercial Crew Procurement
2:40 pm Stellar Exploration Ltd/Tomas Svitek
3 pm Garvey Spacecraft/John Garvey
3:30 pm break
4 pm FAA AST/Mike Kelly
4:45 pm Altius Space Machines/Jon Goff
5:15 pm KC Space Pirates/Frank Smith
5:35 pm NanoRacks/Rich Pournelle
5:50 pm Rick Tumlinson/Texas Space Alliance

Friday evening, April 8, 2011

8 pm Bruce Pittman/NASA Ames Space Portal
8:20 pm Masten Space Systems/Dave Masten
9 pm StratoFox/Ian Kluft
9:20 pm Keith Henson, on High Volume/Low Cost Bases On New Semiconductor Lasers
9:40 pm Donovan Chipman, on Mars To Go: A Minimal Manned Mars Sample Return Mission
10 pm David Luther, on LEAP: Launcher Evolution Advanced Prototype
10:10 pm end of Friday sessions

Saturday morning, April 9, 2011

9 am Reaction Engines/Roger Longstaff
9:30 am Frontier Astronautics/Timothy Bendel
10 am SpeedUp/Bob Steinke
10:15 am Osa Fitch, on The Rocket Test Co.
10:30 am break
11 am Jim Muncy, on Some Relevant Government-Industry Interactions
11:40 am Armadillo Aerospace/Russ Blink

Saturday afternoon, April 9, 2011

2 pm Unreasonable Rocket/Paul Breed
2:30 pm Space Studies Institute/Lee Valentine
2:40 pm Panel: "Gagarin Plus Fifty, Tito Plus Ten - What Next? Three Views" - Jeff Foust, Clark Lindsey, Douglas Messier
3:30 pm break
4 pm Competitive Space Task Force/Rand Simberg
4:20 pm Sugar Shot To Space/Rick Maschek
4:45 pm Joe Lee, on An Open Source Launch Vehicle Project
5:05 pm Panel: "NASA Reform: The Art Of The Possible" - Jim Muncy, Rand Simberg, Henry Spencer, Henry Vanderbilt