Upcoming Events and Steve MacLean at the U of T

There are three specific space focused events going on in Toronto over the next week, each of which is focused on next generation space technologies and it seems like I'm participating in all three.

I'll be writing about two (either here, or as part of my duties at SpaceRef.ca) and making the actual presentation at the third event.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA and CSA President Steve MacLean renew their long term co-operative agreement in Paris, December 2010. Photo c/o SpaceRef.ca.

Here's a short list in order of occurrence.

• Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President Steve MacLean will be speaking on March 1st at the JJR MacLeod Auditorium in Toronto, Ontario as part of a two day CSA symposium to discuss "Canada's Space Program - Current and Future Prospects." This event is part of the University of Toronto space program space cluster and open to the public on the first day. Other themes being discussed include:

• Generating new space technologies for aerospace,communications technology, systems control, and microgravity.

• Understanding and sustaining the global environment.

• Facilitating space travel and exploration.

• The next Canadian Space Society Lecture Night will be held on March 2nd at the Canadian Air and Space Museum in Downsview Park, ON and will focus on "Our Next Breakthrough Space Technologies," which is a topic I'm becoming more and more familiar with. This is a good thing, since I'm the one speaking on the topic.

• Dr. Bob Ryerson, an acknowledged expert in the field of geomatics (the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic or spatially referenced information), thinks that his area of expertise is the real breakthrough technology that we should be learning more about and has even put his money where his mouth is by co-authoring a book with Stan Aronoff titled "Why "Where‟ Matters: Understanding and Profiting from GPS, GIS and Remote Sensing." He'll be discussing his book and the broader issues arising out of understanding and profiting from our growing GPS, GIS and remote sensing capabilities at York University on Thursday afternoon, March 3rd.

 Of course, according to the Atomic Rockets website section on Rocketpunk and Macguffinite, the real "elephant in the room" during any discussion of breakthrough space technologies is that, if we ever expect to expand into the solar system, we're not going to get there by rocket ship, at least not the conventional kind.

A rocket is too inefficient.

But of course, there are Canadian's working on that problem too, at least according to this recent CBC News report.