Guests: Dr. Pat Patterson, Niel Holt. Topics: SmallSat Conference, small satellites, cubesats, student scholarships, Space Dynamics Lab (SDL). We welcomed Dr. Pat Patterson and the new director of SDL, Niel Holt, to the program to discuss the upcoming Small Sat Conference, August 9-12 in Logan, Utah, the home of Utah State University. Please visit www.smallsat.org for details. In our first segment, Dr. Patterson told us about the conference, we went through the agenda and learned how this year's program differed from previous years. Pat talked about the new logistics for this year's conference as the tents are gone and all the company booths are located in one place along with the conference room. Pat highlighted the keynote address on Monday to be delivered by Dr. Jean‐Michel Contant, Secretary General of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). We then talked about the follow-up program on Tuesday with sessions and panels pertaining to the keynote address. You can find out more about the keynote speaker and his address at www.smallsat.org/keynote. Pat also mentioned that as in previous years, there would be audience participation in the sessions. We discussed the full agenda, the social events, and the registration fees, including special student registration fees. We started the second segment with a description of the Space Dynamics Lab (SDL) and its relationship to the conference, Utah State, and the aerospace industry. Later in the segment, we discussed the hotel situation in Logan given that approximately 1,000 attend this conference of which 90% are from outside the local area. I asked the new SDL Director, Niel Holt, to summarizes the changes in SDL over the 20 years that he has been associated with the lab. In this context, we learned that SDL has launched or participated in five separate spacecraft over recent years, up from just one or two 15-20 years ago. We also talked about using secondary payload capacity on various launchers and how important this was becoming to the small satellite and cubesat industries. Student scholarships for SmallSat were explained and the 2011 key conference dates were provided for those interested in participating in SmallSat for next year. Our third segment began with a discussion about current employment opportunities for aerospace engineering students and our guests suggested those with a STEM education had the most opportunity. ITAR came up as SmallSat has many foreign participants. During this final segment, we went over the additional meetings held both before and after SmallSat. Find out more about these meetings at www.smallsat.org/meetings. Note that registration online is significantly less costly than registration at the door. If you have questions about this year's SmallSat Conference, please visit the Contact page on the SmallSat website for who to contact, www.smallsat.org/contact-info. Finally, for Logan, Utah hotel information, visit www.smallsat.org/hotels.
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The Space Show
