CASI ASTRO in Quebec City April 23rd - 26th

Steve MacLean.

The Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI), a nonprofit technical organization for aeronautics, space and remote sensing, is diligently putting the final preparations in place for its 2012 CASI Astronautics (ASTRO '12) conference, scheduled for next week in Quebec City at the Fairmont le Château Frontenac Hotel.

The upcoming ASTRO '12 conference is the first CASI event since the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) announcement two weeks ago that CASI would host the 2014 International Astronautical Conference (IAC 2014) and will likely mark the beginning of formal planning for the larger event. IAC 2014 is expected to attract "3500+ Advocates, Scientists, Space Agency Heads & Experts in Toronto for IAC 2014" as outlined in my April 3rd, 2012 post.

Iain Christie.

Of course, the ASTRO '12 speakers and panelists are already a good preliminary step towards the larger event in 2014. They include Dr. Steve MacLean, the president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA); John Karas, the VP and general manager for human space flight at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company; Mike Pley, the CEO of COM DEV International; Iain Christie, the president of Neptec Design Group; Dr. John Olson, the director of the strategic analysis and integration division for the human exploration and operations mission directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Oleg A. Saprykin, the head of manned programs for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos); Norimitsu Kamimoru, the director of the Washington DC office of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); Dr. Andreas Diekmann, the director of the Washington DC office of the European Space Agency (ESA) and quite a few others.

Klaus Schilling.

The conference, scheduled for April 24th - 26th, will be preceded by one day Nanosatellite Workshop on April 23rd.

Workshop speakers include Prof. Klaus Schilling from Wurzburg University in Germany who will give the keynote presentation on "the UWE Program: Pico-satellites for Education and Research in Networked Space Systems" and Dr. Alfred Ng, from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) who will provide a wrap-up of recommendations for nano-sat research in Canada.

The conference will also include the John H. Chapman Award of Excellence reception and dinner, which will culminate in the presentation of the 2012 John H. Chapman Award for Excellence.