AIAA convenes yearly forums; publishes books, technical journals, and Aerospace America; hosts a collection of 160,000 technical papers; develops and maintains standards; honors members and celebrates their achievement; and advocates on policy issues. AIAA serves aerospace professionals around the world—who are shaping the future of aerospace—by providing the tools, insights, and collaborative exchanges to advance the state of the art in engineering and science for aviation, space, and defense. Visit aiaa.org.

AIAA has a long history as a platform for high-value conferences, forums, and expositions in space and aviation. These events are known around the world for technical excellence and high-value programming—responding to an AIAA call for papers is part of the regular rhythm of a successful aerospace engineer’s year.

ASCEND, launched online in 2020, is built around the mission of driving the space economy forward, together.

AIAA’s long-term members and event attendees know that we recently retired AIAA SPACE Forum, last held in September 2018. SPACE Forum was crucial to the trajectory of space innovation for many years—however, after conversations with our attendees, partners, and advisors, we recognized that our impact could be even greater. This recognition drove the launch of ASCEND.

ASCEND retains all the best parts of the AIAA SPACE Forum experience. We still open a call for papers and build the program on a foundation of technical excellence. But ASCEND takes that experience to the next level, opening the door to more interdisciplinary collaboration and conversation.