Broadcast 1832 (Special Edition)

Guests: Dr. Trevor Sorensen, Jeff Laube. Topics: AIAA Space 2012 Conference & Exposition. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed our two guests to the program, Dr. Trevor Sorensen & Jeff Laube, to discuss the upcoming AIAA Space 2012 Conference to be held in Pasadena, CA from Sept. 11-13, 2012. For full conference information, the agenda, technical sessions, keynote speaker information, conference and hotel registration, please visit www.aiaa.org/SPACE2012. You can also follow along with us via the specific web pages pertinent to our discussion. Our one hour no break discussion started with an overview of Space 2012 with Dr. Sorensen. We covered keynote speakers at the lunches, the conference and hotel logistics. We highlighted some of the tracks and then with Jeff, we talked about the special sessions including those dealing with space entrepreneurship, space access, Cislunar development, space mining, and more. You can see the full agenda which has yet to be finalized here: www.aiaa.org/Secondary.aspx?id=4571. We also talked about the Special Events including the Young Professionals Networking Reception, the Pickering Lecture, and the Monday evening conference reception. I asked about the Exhibit Hall this year and we talked about the Poster Session. Several policy questions were asked of our two guests given that this is an election year. We did learn that both presidential candidates have been invited to talk about their space policy plans at the conference. We noted that this is a pivotal year for DOD Space, civil space, and private space for the future, a fact which makes this year's Space 2012 Conference very important and significant. A listener asked if sequestration and the coming job losses of skilled workers was part of the formal program. It was not but as you will hear in my comments, I am quite sure it will show up in many ways throughout the questions, networking sessions, and possibly even the planned talks and panel discussions as it is a very important issue facing all aspects of our space program. Our final questioner wanted to know if for this year there would be another Smartphone App as there was last year. We did not know the answer but I suggested the AIAA App would be updated for Space 2012 when the agenda becomes finalized. If you have comments/questions, please post them on the blog above. Conference questions should be addressed to custserv@aiaa.org or through contact information on the conference website.