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Satnews Daily
May 2nd, 2016

Space Tech Conference... Bringing Together Experts + Their Expertise In A Convenient One-Stop Event 


Conferences are an efficient way to gather as much information as possible with sought-after speakers assembled to share their expertise. And so it is with Space Tech Conference in less than four weeks—May 24-26, in Pasadena, California. Here's a sampling of the speakers, their credentials, and the subject matter they each will be presenting.   

The Space Tech Conference agenda examines how military and government organizations can deliver space missions by working closely with the commercial sector to leverage the sessions examining the plethora of on-orbit services and emerging technologies.


Michael Gazarik

Theses six leading speakers share their insights on the space-to-space market, commercializing space technologies, ground systems architecture and space debris ahead of their sessions on the program. To hear the full presentations, you must pre-book your pass online.

Michael Gazarik, VP of Engineering, Ball Aerospace: Michael Gazarik shares information about his role at Ball, current and past SSA programs, and Ball’s position in working with government and industry to improve future space operations. "The landscape of aerospace is rapidly changing with new commercial players and budget pressures. For example, the role of National Laboratories and NASA centers has significantly changed over the years, and we are working hard to understand and find novel ways to work with them to solve some of the nation’s most pressing and difficult challenges." Read more


Simon Halpern

Simon Halpern, CEO, Phase Four: Simon, founder of Phase Four, will inform the audience about breaking into an industry dominated by established players, and getting the latest on the CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster being developed for DARPA. "A key challenge is taking a laboratory experiment and turning it into a commercial product. I live for the opportunity to do something that’s never been done before, something that can make a difference and have a real impact on businesses and lives on Earth." Read more       


Erik J Eliasen

Erik J Eliasen, Vice President, National Security Space Programs, Universal Space Network: Erik discusses the key challenges he currently faces, the importance of cross-domain solutions, and the impact of SCC’s Infinity Service on Air Force and government-run satellite ground networks, and more. "Every challenge presents an opportunity! I applaud the Air Force for considering a new Enterprise Ground Segment (EGS) architecture, which can easily include a commercial services component. The challenge is that the imperative to make EGS happen is pushing against the status quo." Read more      


Justine M Kasznica

Justine M Kasznica, Special Counsel, Saul Ewing LLP: Justine comments about the past five years in which there have been huge changes in the commercial space sector. The success of companies like SpaceX in the launch market has begun to transform how we think about access to space; the role of NASA and its international counterparts has shifted to support the new model of commercial activity in low Earth orbit. Read more


Paola Leoni

Paola Leoni, Senior Partner and CEO, Leoni Corporate Advisors:  The accumulation of artificial debris in orbit around Earth is one of the greatest potential challenges to the future exploitation of space. In the six decades since the Space Age began, low Earth orbit (LEO) in particular has become alarmingly crowded. “Today on orbit we have a huge asset for humankind—more than a thousand active satellites and two space stations, and we expect those numbers to significantly increase,” explains Paola Leoni of Geneva-based Leoni Corporate Advisors (LCA). Read more    


David Barnhart

David Barnhart, CEO and founder of Arkisys: Believes that allthough today’s commercial space business is built largely around “space-to-data” applications such as satellite communications and remote sensing, a range of key space players from ambitious startups to established names are predicting the growth of new industries around maintenance and manufacture of orbital infrastructure, and the development and utilization of physical resources. “On-Earth small business accounts for at least 50 percent of the US industrial engine, most in the services sector," says David. Read more

You can view the conference agenda here