CSA, MDA, Com Dev, Telesat, DND, Neptec, Bigelow, Academics and Others at Space Summit

Nobody goes to a conference without first knowing the topics being discussed and the speakers leading the discussions.

It's therefore timely that the Canadian Space Society has finally gotten around to releasing the list of speakers for the 2010 Canadian Space Summit,.being held at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa from November 19th - 21st.

Keynote and featured speakers include Dr. Iain Christie, the president of the Neptec Design Group; Colonel Andre Dupuis, the director of space development for the Department of National Defence (DND); Dr. Jim Fergusson, the director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies and professor in the department of political studies at the University of Manitoba; Douglas Bancroft, the director general of the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS); Jean-Claude Piedboeuf, the head of exploration planning at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA); Dr. Nadeem Ghafoor, the manager of planetary exploration at Macdonald Detwiller (MDA) and Mike Gold, the Director of DC operations for Bigelow Aerospace.

The conference is structured around a series of distinct sessions, each focused on a specific area of expertise. Session chairs include:

• Alfred Ng from the CSA who is chairing the Earth orbital sessions.
• Marie-Claude Williamson from Geological Survey of Canada who is chairing the planetary exploration session.
• Jaymie Matthews from the University of British Columbia (UBC) who is chairing the astronomy session.
• Minh On from the CSA who is chairing the law and policy sessions.
• Philomena Bonis from the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario who is chairing the education and outreach sessions.
• Alan Scott from ComDev International who is chairing the life sciences sessions.
• Marc Boucher from Spaceref.ca who is chairing the commerce and commercialization sessions.

Altogether 36+ speakers are expected to give short presentations. The full speaker list should now be available on the Space Summit website but if it's not, send me an e-mail at mr.chuck.black@gmail.com and I'll send you out the spreadsheet I received from Wayne Ellis of Appspace Solutions, who is one of the organizers.

As well, the Canadian Alumni of the International Space University (CAISU) are also setting up shop in the Lord Elgin on Friday, November, 19th where they will be holding their National Space Awareness Workshop.

It's focused on "ISS to Commercialization: Canada's Future Contributions" and the speaker topics revolve around media awareness issues, the public perception of space, commercialization of space focused activities and the potential to utilize the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030 (which seems to be a little later than it's officially scheduled to operate).

Speakers for these sessions include Paul Bush, the VP of North American Sales for Telesat and Dr. Elliott Coleshil, the software systems lead of the Com Dev mission development group (which has control over the Com Dev exactEarth Ltd. subsidiary).

Some tickets are still available at the door for those looking to attend both the CAISU and the CSS sessions but I'm told the Saturday night banquet is sold out (and I'm also told I'm having chicken).

I'll also be speaking in the Sunday afternoon commerce and commercialization session on the topic of "Two Billion for the Canadian Space Agency: Historical Antecedents, Available Options and a Realistic Appraisal." I'll be right after the guy from ComDev who is right after the guy from Bigelow Aerospace.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with such illustrious company.