Invitation Nets Impressive Proposals for Papers and Sessions
Now the fun begins!
With the close of the 2021 ASCEND Call for Content (CFC) on 6 April, a team of 50 AIAA volunteer professional members is sorting through more than 400 technical presentations and 100-plus ideas for collaborative sessions to cull the best-of-the-best for the November apex event.
“The CFC is the grassroots pipeline for a significant percentage of ASCEND program sessions,” said ASCEND Executive Producer Rob Meyerson. “In the spirit of community and collaboration that defines our event, this year, representatives of more than 200 institutions in 26 countries responded to our call with high caliber content and highly accomplished presenters.”
The ASCEND technical program focuses on advances spanning the art and science of space technology, exploration, economics, and more, as defined by these Technical Topic Areas.
Abstracts selected from the CFC will be developed into full-blown presentations. During ASCEND, each topic area will host technical sessions and co-host multidisciplinary joint sessions featuring these presentations to advance progress toward building humanity’s off-world future.
Ideas for collaborative sessions at 2021 ASCEND will be selected from the CFC for their potential to spur large-scale discussions of the trends, economic forces, and technical challenges facing every member of the space ecosystem in these Session Topic Areas.
Collaborative sessions will bring together public and private sector participants to achieve common objectives and outcomes, solve shared challenges, and leverage collective opportunities in an environment of trust, respect, empathy, and openness. Of particular interest will be sessions that serve to grow the space community by exploring space-related applications and opportunities across adjacent industries, including aerospace, agriculture, construction, entertainment, finance, hospitality, manufacturing, mining, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and others.
“The ASCEND Collaborative Sessions are really a paradigm shift from heritage conferences, enabling facets of the space community to gather, hear insights from the domain leaders and collectively wrestle with the challenges, policy questions, or issues we face,” said John Reed, chief technologist at United Launch Alliance and co-chair of the ASCEND Call for Sessions. “Especially in a world where most information is a one-way, livestream flow, it’s great to have the chance to gather in small breakout groups and openly discuss our thoughts and concerns with peers across the community.”
The results of this adjudication process and the 2021 agenda are scheduled to be announced 10 June.
