by Sarah Manea
One of Canada’s most important general interest space conferences takes place in Ottawa from November 14th - 15th.
At the Canadian Space Society’s (CSS) annual Space Summit, the nation comes together to discuss all that is new, revolutionary, and important in Canadian space sciences.
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| Walter Natynczuk. Photo c/o DND. |
With two full days of speakers and keynote presentations focused on "the economics of space," the 2013 Summit program will attempt to merge the financial, and political sides of the industry, with the technological and research aspects.
Speaker tracks focusing on low/near-Earth orbit, planetary exploration, law & policy, education & outreach, as well as space commercialization will all be covered during the event with a variety of knowledgeable speakers including:
- Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Walter Natynczyk. Previously Canada's chief of defence staff from 2008-2012, Natnczyk has dealt with events such as the Afghanistan mission, Iraq war, humanitarian support to Haiti and the NATO mission over Libya before taking over his current portfolio.
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| William Gerstenmaier. Photo c/o NASA |
- William H. Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator for human exploration and operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Gerstenmaier currently provides direction for all of NASA's human exploration of space and space communications/launch vehicles.
- Paul Bush, the senior vice president of corporate and business development at Telesat. The Telesat state-of-the-art fleet consists of 14 satellites plus the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1 with another satellite under construction. Telesat also manages the operations of additional satellites for third parties.
- Steven Staples, a Canadian policy analyst and president of Public Response, a digital agency that services non-profit organizations and trade unions in the fields of online engagement and government relations. Staples also leads the Rideau Institute, an advocacy group which specializes in defence and foreign affairs policy.
- Chuck Black, from the Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA), who will discuss opportunities resulting from the growing commercialization of the space industry.
- Wade Larson, the president of UrtheCast, whose company will be putting HD cameras on the International Space Station, allowing for easily accessible images of the Earth to the general public.
Many other amazing presentations will be given, all of which can be found on the summit agenda at http://www.css.ca/canadian-space-summit/summit-agenda.
Overall, it looks like it will be an incredibly informative and important meeting of Canadian space leaders, working to propel our country’s space program forward into a bright future.
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Sarah Manea is an aspiring astrophysicist, currently completing a specialist in physics and astronomy at the University of Toronto.
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