AEROSPACE SESSIONS AT 2026 ASCEND

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PANELS

All times are listed in Eastern Time (ET)
 

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. — Edge Compute and Orbital Data Centers: From Concept to Competitive Domain
This Hub talk addresses the emerging space sector interest for orbital computing and data infrastructure, potential use cases, and technical and economic challenges the community must address for a viable market to emerge. 

Location: AIAA Hub (expo floor) 

  • Kelley Litzner, Systems Director, Commercial Programs - The Aerospace Corporation (Presenter)
     

4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. — ASC: Into the LUNAverse: Join America's Cislunar Digital Engineering Collective
LUNAverse is a consortium advancing integrated, ecosystems-level approaches to lunar exploration and development. This workshop will highlight LUNAverse initiatives at various stages of maturity and emphasize the role of common frameworks, best practices, and AIAA standards.

Location: Georgetown East & West

  • Dennis Paul, LUNAverse Senior Project Leader - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Lee Steinke, Chief Operating Officer - CisLunar Industries (Facilitator)
  • Michael Mealling, General Partner - Starbridge Venture Capital (Facilitator)
  • Dan Dumbacher, Professor of Engineering Practice, Aeronautics and Astronautics - Purdue University (Facilitator)
     

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. — ASC: Safety and Security in Orbit: Advancing Space Domain Awareness 
Panelists will share lessons learned from transitioning innovations into operations with U.S. Space Command, Space Systems Command, and international partners and will highlight pathways for commercial industry integration.

Location: International Ballroom - Center

  • Kevin Bell, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Technology Group - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Todd Bacastow, VP, Marketing Development and Partnerships - LeoLabs
  • Mark "MJ" Jeffries, Senior Manager, Commercial Space Programs - Anduril
  • Dr. Adrian Thompson, Chief AI and Innovation Officer - Slingshot Aerospace
  • Justin Mikolay, Vice President, Government Affairs - Turion Space
     

10:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. — ASC: Racing to vLEO: Next-Generation Operations in Very Low Earth Orbit
This session will explore the benefits and difficulties of vLEO with an emphasis on how small satellites, agile manufacturing, and responsive launch models are driving operational experimentation.

Location: International Ballroom - Center

  • Brian Cameron, Deputy Chief Technology Officer - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Spence Wise, Vice President, Missions and Platforms - Redwire
  • Steven Shepard, Co-Founder & CEO - Vaxon Space
  • Dr. Gillian Bussey, Deputy Chief Science Officer - USSF
     

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — ASC: Advancing Safe Space Nuclear Capabilities
This roundtable will address critical-path technical and policy challenges related to human, operational and system safety for space nuclear power solutions, featuring speakers from NASA, Zeno Power, Idaho National Lab and Viridian, Inc.

Location: Lincoln West

  • Brian Weeden, Director of Civil and Commercial Policy, Center for Space Policy & Strategy - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Dr. Bhavya Lal, Senior Strategy Consultant - Idaho National Laboratory (Facilitator)
  • Steve Sinacore, Program Executive, Fission Surface Power - NASA
  • A.C. Charania, Senior Vice President of Space Business Development - Zeno Power
  • Dr. Tabitha Dodson, Program Manager - DARPA
     

2:15 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — ASC: Building the Cislunar Infrastructure: Enabling Technologies for Civil Science, Exploration and National Security Priorities at the Moon
This session will bring together key government stakeholders and industry representatives to discuss their cislunar priorities and how these flow into specific needs that industry can address.

Location: International Ballroom - Center

  • John Troeltzsch, Exploration Systems Architect - BAE Systems (Moderator)
  • Ronald Birk, Principal Director, Civil Systems Group - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Michael Johansen, Acting Deputy Program Manager, NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD)
  • Justin Kugler, Senior Director of Business Development - Intuitive Machines
  • Ron Lopez, President, Astroscale U.S. Inc.
     

Thursday, May 21, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. — STT-AERO: Building Enduring Hybrid Architectures for Space
Space leaders explore how innovation, interoperability, and collaboration can sustain U.S. leadership in Earth orbit and beyond.

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Kevin Bell, Senior Vice President, ETG - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Dr. Adrian Thompson, Chief AI and Innovation Officer - Slingshot Aerospace
  • Paul Tilghman, Chief Technology Officer - Voyager Technologies
  • Dr. Gillian Bussey, Deputy Chief Science Officer - U.S. Space Force
  • Ethan Haase, Vice President, Government Solutions - Iridium
     

10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. — STT-AERO: Launching into the Perfect Storm: When Rockets, Ranges, and Constellations Collide
Hear directly from launch providers about going faster, innovating, aligning investment, and ensuring access to space as demand surges, new vehicles emerge, and infrastructure constraints persist.

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Randy Kendall, Vice President, Launch, Missiles and Mobility - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Clint Hunt, Director, Intelligence and Defense Programs - ULA
  • Laura Maginnis, VP, New Glenn Mission Management - Blue Origin
  • Devon Papandrew, VP of Business Development - Stoke Space
  • Andy Bunker, VP, Government Operations & Business Strategy - Rocket Lab
     

11:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — STT-AERO: Accelerating America's Space Industrial Base
This panel will tackle going faster, synchronizing investment, and building innovation ecosystems in light of the government call to move faster and scale production to wartime footing.

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Dr. Jamie Morin, Vice President, Defense Strategic Space - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Clay Mowry, CEO - AIAA
  • Alyssa Goessler, Vice President - AE Industrial Partners
  • David Cavossa, President - CSF
     

1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. — ASC: Cyber-Resilient Systems Engineering for Aerospace 
As aerospace missions increasingly rely on tightly coupled systems-of-systems, cyber resilience must be treated as a core system property rather than a bolt-on security feature. This panel will examine cyber-resilient systems engineering approaches that integrate adversary models, threat-informed requirements, and secure-by-design architectures across the full mission lifecycle. 

Location: Jefferson East and West

  • Paul de Naray, Principal Engineer, Cybersecurity Architecture & Engineering - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Kristina Miller, Research Aerospace Engineer - Air Force Research Laboratory
  • James Curbo, Chief Scientist of the Constrained Cyber Solutions Group - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • Stephen Kuhn, Program Manager, DARPA Information Innovation Office - DARPA
  • Ashok Prajapati, Assistant Chief Technologist, Science Mission Directorate (HQ) - NASA (Moderator)


1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — STT-AERO: Strategic Innovation Sandbox: Interactive Roundtables Experience
In an immersive and cross-sector interactive experience, Aerospace experts will lead roundtable discussions aimed at priming and honing America’s space industry to solve the challenges at the heart of today’s moment.

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Kara Cunzeman, Principal Director, Enterprise Lab - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Jen Stein, Director, Strategic Foresight - The Aerospace Corporation (Facilitator)
  • Michelle Herman, Senior Policy Analyst, Strategic Foresight - The Aerospace Corporation (Facilitator)
  • David Geye, Senior Policy Analyst, Strategic Foresight - The Aerospace Corporation (Facilitator)
  • Paul Frakes, Project Leader, Strategic Foresight - The Aerospace Corporation (Facilitator)
     

3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — STT-AERO: Leveraging the Private Sector for Space Exploration and Science
As NASA's Artemis program advances toward the increased mission cadence and expanded surface operations of Moon Base, the role of industry has never been more integral to the agency's success. In this discussion two of NASA's foremost exploration and science leaders reflect on the achievements of Artemis II, examine the expanding partnerships between NASA and commercial partners, and look ahead to what an accelerating lunar architecture means for industry. 

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Mary Christian Chester, Systems Director - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • George Nelson, Chief of Staff, Strategy and Architecture Office, ESDMD - NASA
  • Brad Bailey, Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, NASA HQ - NASA

 

4:30 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. — STT-AERO: Commercial at the Core – STS Debrief, RTs Outbrief and Next Steps
The closing panel for the Space Transformation Track distills the main themes and takeaways, with reactions from industry leaders on actionable next steps.

Location: International Ballroom - West

  • Kara Cunzeman, Principal Director, eLab - The Aerospace Corporation (Moderator)
  • Al Tadros, Chief Technology Officer - Redwire
  • Caryn Schenewerk, Chief Policy Officer - Vast
  • Josh Martin, VP, Government Affairs - Varda
    Dave Gauthier, Chief Strategy Officer - GXO, Inc.
     

TECHNICAL PAPER PRESENTATIONS

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. — TECHPAPER-04: Space Autonomy, AI and Robotics I
Location: Monroe

  • Rachel Morford, Co-Chair - The Aerospace Corporation

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — TECHPAPER-07: Space Autonomy, AI and Robotics II
Location: Monroe

  • Rachel Morford, Co-Chair - The Aerospace Corporation

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. — TECHPAPER-11: SmallSats
Location: Lincoln East

  • Rachel Morford, Chair - The Aerospace Corporation
     

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. — TECHPAPER-14: Emerging Threats and Challenges in National Security
Location: Monroe

  • Robert Sherwood, Chair - The Aerospace Corporation

9:50 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. — Digital Transformation for Space Systems: Interoperability and Integration for Mission Assurance
Location: Monroe

  • Robert Sherwood, Author - The Aerospace Corporation

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — TECHPAPER-20: Policy and Strategy for the New Space Economy
Location: Cardozo

1:40 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. — Solving the Puzzle of Evolving Space Ecosystems
Location: Cardozo

  • Ronald Birk, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Cristina Guidi, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Dennis Paul, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • David B Spencer, Author - The Aerospace Corporation

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. — TECHPAPER-21: Next-Generation Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Systems
Location: Holmead East & West

3:50 p.m. to 4:10 p.m. — Combinatorial and Adaptive Stress Testing for Spacecraft Runtime Assured Neural Network Control Systems
Location: Holmead East & West

  • Gabriel Behrendt, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Alexandra Mangel, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Kerianne L. Hobbs, Author - The Aerospace Corporation

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. — TECHPAPER-22: Propulsion Systems
Location: Gunston East & West

3:30 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. — A Survey of Hydrazine Monopropellant Thrusters
Location: Gunston East & West

  • James Morehart, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
     

Thursday, May 21, 2026

9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. — TECHPAPER-27: Space Ethics, Policy, and Lessons Learned
Location: Cardozo

  • Rachel Morford, Co-Chair - The Aerospace Corporation

1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — TECHPAPER-32: Sustainable Space: Policy, Licensing, and Planetary Protection
Location: Cardozo

2:20 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. — Understanding the Elephant: Developing an Actionable Model for Space Sustainability
Location: Cardozo

  • Miles Lifson, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Brian Weeden, Author - The Aerospace Corporation
  • Marlon Sorge, Author - The Aerospace Corporation