Space Access '06
April 20-22, Phoenix Arizona
Conference Information
This is our final mailing on the Space Access conference getting
underway this Thursday in Phoenix, with useful last-second info plus the
definitive conference agenda (subject only to on-site changes needed.)
Quick notes:
- Space Access conference style ranges between casual and business
casual. The forecast for our dates is sunny, breezy, and dry, afternoon
highs in the high eighties to low nineties, overnight lows high sixties
to low seventies. Bring your swimsuit and sunblock, and a hat isn't a
bad idea either if you plan any long walks in the sun.
- Speaker info: If you have a computer presentation, we'll have a
video projector with sound to plug your laptop in to, native resolution
1024x768 and it can fake moderately higher resolutions. We'll also have
a DVD player, a VHS VCR, and a viewgraph projector. Talk to our A/V
volunteer ahead of time if you have any questions.
- Hotel Details: The Grace Inn address is 10831 S 51st St, Phoenix
Arizona, and its local phone is 480 893-3000. The Grace has wireless
internet coverage in the public spaces with some coverage in the lower
floors. Other than that, they tell us some rooms have wired net access
and some don't - call them or ask at the desk.
- Getting there: The Grace Inn is a bit under ten miles from the
Phoenix Airport, depending on the route. They have a free airport
shuttle available from 6 am to 10 pm, by request rather than on a
regular circuit - call the hotel at 480 893-3000 to make arrangements
once you're in the airport. If you're in a hurry or if you have one or
two other people to travel with, a cab isn't a bad deal either.
- Driving there: Elliot Road is at I-10 exit 157, about twelve miles
east of downtown Phoenix. From I-10 east, take the Elliot Road offramp,
turn right at the top of the ramp onto Elliot, take the first left onto
51st st, take the immediate next left off 51st, drive a hundred yards,
and you're there.
- Rooms: Latest word is our hotel is sold out for the nights of our
conference. If you don't yet have a room, it's still worth calling to
see if something has opened up (keep in mind the Grace Inn's
cancellation policy is 72 hours notice; if you are unable to come, be
sure to cancel in time so you don't get charged, and to free the room up
for someone else.) Call 1 800 843-6010 for room reservations, and
mention "space access" for our $99 taxes-and-breakfast-included rate.
- By far the most convenient overflow hotel is the Clarion, right
across Elliot Rd, a short walk away. (Old hands may recognize the
Clarion; it used to be the Quality Inn South Mountain, where we held
Space Access a couple of times earlier in the decade.) The Clarion is
at 5121 E La Puente, 480 893-3900 for reservations.
Final Conference Agenda
(Subject to change in emergency - speakers who hit a travel snag or
otherwise can't make your scheduled time, contact us ASAP via email to
space.access@space-access.org, or after Wednesday at the hotel direct
via 602 432-5022 and we'll try to figure out a way to fix it.)
Thursday April 20th
1 pm - Registration and Hospitality open (we may have them open as
early as noon, depending on how setup goes, but no guarantees.)
2 pm - Space Access '06 sessions open with a brief welcome
2:10 - Henry Spencer with a survey of Space Access Basics. Interested
in this field, but not sure what all the Isp's and delta-V's
mean? Catch this session.
3:30 - midafternoon break
4 pm - George Herbert, Venturer Aerospace: One Approach To COTS
4:40 - Andrew Turner, Space Systems-Loral: Trading Off Reliability And
Cost - A Different Approach
5:20 - Sam Dinkin, SpaceShot Inc
6 pm - break for dinner
8 pm - Leik Myrabo: Beamed Energy Propulsion Prospects And Projects
8:40 - Andrew Tubbiolo, Old Pueblo Instruments: New Entrant In The Biz
9:00 - Alex Bruccoleri: Microwave Thermal Rocketry at Caltech, and
Collegiate Rocketry Regulations - Two Brief Reports
late - Hospitality closes
Friday April 21st
8 am - Registration and Hospitality open
9 am - Jess Sponable, FALCON Program Chief Engineer, AFRL/VA, Wright
Patterson AFB: FALCON Quick Reach Project
9:40 - Secretary Rick Homans, New Mexico Economic Development, New
Mexico Spaceport
10:20 - midmorning break
10:50 - John Carmack & Co, Armadillo Aerospace
11:30 - Chuck Lauer, Rocketplane-Kistler
12:10 - Special Announcement, from the new Teachers In Space initiative
12:20 - break for lunch
2 pm - Jeff Hamilton, Marshall Space Flight Center
2:40 - Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace
3:20 - midafternoon break
4 pm - George Nield, FAA AST
4:40 - Dave Masten, Masten Space
5:20 - Barbara Thompson, Goddard Space Flight Center: Space Weather -
Situational Awareness For Commercial Operators
6 pm - break for dinner
8 pm - Jerry Pournelle
8:40 - Timothy Bendel, Frontier Astronautics
9:10 - Reda Anderson: A Customer's Perspective
9:30 - Panel: Common Economic Fallacies - Sam Dinkin, Kevin Greene,
Joan Horvath, Joe Pistritto, Rand Simberg
late - Hospitality closes
Saturday April 22nd
8 am - Registration and Hospitality open
9 am - Steve Harrington, Flometrics
9:40 - Panel: Alt.Space Investing: From Leaps Of Faith Toward Solid
Metrics - Esther Dyson, Stephen Fleming, Joe Pistritto
10:30 - midmorning break
11 am - Len Cormier, PanAero
11:40 - Mike Kelly, Personal Spaceflight Federation
12:20 - break for lunch
2 pm - Will Pomerantz, X-Prize Cup/Lunar Lander Challenge
2:40 - Brant Sponberg, Centennial Challenges, NASA HQ: Commercial
Opportunities In The VSE
3:30 - midafternoon break
4 pm - Pat Bahn, TGV Rockets
4:40 - Berin Szoka, Institute For Space Law & Policy: The National
Security Case For Space ITAR Reform
5:10 - Panel: ALL The Regs, From Local Zoning To International Tech
Transfer - Randall Clague, Jim Muncy, Berin Szoka, TBA
6 pm - break for dinner
8 pm - Jim Muncy, PoliSpace, on various subjects
8:40 - Panel: Policies & Politics, Where To Next?
Jim Muncy, Rick Tumlinson, Lee Valentine, TBA
9:30 - Conference Wrapup with The Usual Suspects
late - Hospitality closes
Space Access '06 registration once again holds steady at $120 at the
door, $10 off for anyone who's ever been a paid SAS member, $30 Student
rate, no member discount. Day rates available. We'll be accepting
credit cards, checks, or cash at the door. (If you haven't already sent
your preregistration, might as well pay at the door - it'd have to be
at our mailbox tomorrow Wednesday the 19th, and the difference won't
cover the cost of overnighting it.)
See you there!