The Aerospace Corporation will join the space community at the 2022 ASCEND conference Oct. 24-26 live at Caesar’s Forum in Las Vegas. ASCEND is powered by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Cislunar trends have a particular influence on the 2022 ASCEND agenda, and Todd Nygren, Aerospace Senior Vice President for Engineering & Technology, helps kick off programming as part of a keynote panel, Partnering for Innovation in Cislunar Exploration, joining NASA’s James Free and Thomas Zurbuchen, Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the U.S. Space Force, and Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX.

AIAA will also announce at ASCEND an intensified focus on cislunar development issues, to include a working group dedicated to the development of cislunar depots. Aerospace, which will chair this working group, led a recent ASCENDxCislunar webinar and companion in-person workshop on this topic and will offer a report out of those workshops with AIAA at ASCEND.

Later in the program, Aerospace will convene government and industry leaders on a space safety panel to discuss the recommendations put forth in the first-ever Space Safety Compendium, produced by Aerospace’s Space Safety Institute to put forth recommendations for high-priority space safety issues which the U.S. should address over the next few years.

In total, Aerospace experts will join 18 panel and technical paper sessions on critical topics important to the future of space exploration and the growing space economy, including:

•   U.S. commercial space capabilities and the future industrial base
•   In-space rescue capabilities
•   Space traffic management and debris
•   Accelerating space nuclear fission initiatives
•   Satellite orbital safety best practices

The full 2022 ASCEND agenda is available here. Register to attend ASCEND virtually or in-person here. For media inquiries related to ASCEND, please contact DRamirez@aero.org.

Insights from Space Safety Institute

The Space Safety Institute (SSI) leverages Aerospace's longstanding technical and policy expertise to research and address space safety issues. The Space Safety Compendium describes priority issues and recommendations for the future sustainability of space operations. SSI also produced a report recommending a future-proof framework for commercial human spaceflight safety, based on an analysis of other transportation sectors, with a roadmap to an ideal future where human spaceflight is a common practice.

Both publications are available to download.

2024 Space Safety Compendium Commercial Human Spaceflight Safety

The Space Safety Institute at The Aerospace Corporation

Aerospace is establishing a Space Safety Institute to deliver independent technical support and assessments to enhance the safety of space and space-related activities for government, commercial, and international customers.

Visit SSI Home Fact Sheet

The Space Policy Show: Assessing Commercial for Government Space

Government agencies are increasingly looking to the commercial sector to meet their space mission needs. What are the drivers toward this hybrid architecture? How can government assess commercial readiness? Are there best practices the commercial sector could install? In this episode Aerospace’s Ronald Birk talks to Clare Grason, Chief of US Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office and Phil McAlister, Director of NASA’s Commercial Spaceflight Division.

View Episode The Space Policy Show

CSPS Paper: The In-House Space Rescue Credibility Gap

The In-Space Rescue Credibility Gap

The lessons of Apollo, Skylab and the space shuttle with respect to the rescue of astronauts in space seem to have been forgotten as the United States enters a new era of space flight that includes commercially provided spacecraft, space tourism, and the return of U.S. astronauts to the moon. The U. S. has the wherewithal to establish space rescue capabilities and to do so with a sense of urgency. This paper from Aerospace's Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS) seeks to raise awareness of the need to revisit space rescue policies and close capability gaps.

Read Paper

Charting a Course Through Cislunar Master Planning

Interest in the cislunar region is steadily growing. Creating a framework where all stakeholders can coordinate infrastructure investments will reduce duplication of efforts, maximize the impact, and ensure likelihood the community’s interests are met. This paper from Aerospace's Center for Space Policy and Strategy (CSPS) discusses the need for a cislunar master planning effort and proposes establishing a domestic cislunar master planning entity to engage and coordinate with like-minded nations on cislunar planning on a broader scale.

Read Paper

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The Aerospace Corporation Takes the Stage at 2022 ASCEND