Power of Synergy Space Symposium at New Hope Center this week

 

A Power of Synergy Space Symposium will be at New Hope Center in Oak Ridge this week.

The symposium will include leaders from NASA, U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, industry, and academia, a press release said.

The Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop will be hosting the unique symposium in order to promote safe, fast, and affordable human development of the solar system, the press release said. The speakers will discuss and advocate breakthrough technologies to enable routine transportation to permanent colonies on the moon and the first human trips to Mars within a decade.

More information about the symposium can be found on the website at https://tviw.us/tviw-symposium-on-the-power-of-synergy/. Registration is also available on the website; the fee includes breaks, lunches, and receptions, the press release said.

Here is more information from the press release:

Dates

October 23-25, 2018

Location

Y-12 New Hope Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Headliners

John Vonglis is the acting director of the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy. He will be coming from Washington, D.C., to provide a keynote address for the symposium. Morgan Smith, the chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the company that runs Y-12, will open the symposium and discuss the tremendous capabilities and achievements of our area, including the Tennessee Valley Authority and the “Secret City” (Oak Ridge). Alan Icenhour, associate laboratory director at ORNL, will open the second day with a keynote about key applications at ORNL that will be critical for space development.

The Symposium

The symposium is being chaired by John D. G. Rather, internationally known astrophysicist, onetime senior executive at NASA, and president of Rather Creative Innovations Group Inc. Dean S. Hartley III, principal of Hartley Consulting and an internationally recognized operations research analyst in the field of unconventional conflict, is the co-chair. The symposium will be divided into four themes.

Theme 1, led by John Mankins, National Space Society Board of Directors, will set the stage by discussing current concepts that seek to improve space development.  Theme 1 will celebrate the breakthrough accomplishments of James Powell, retired physicist from Brookhaven National Laboratory and inventor of both the Particle Bed Nuclear Reactor and Superconducting MagLev. Other speakers include Franklin Chang-Diaz, astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company, and Joel Sercel, physicist and founder of TransAstra Corp.

Theme 2, led by Jason Derleth, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program executive, will introduce and discuss a set of breakthrough technologies that will enable faster space development. Many of these technologies are related to pioneering research and development at ORNL and Y-12. Theme 2 speakers include Robert Bagdigian, NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center deputy chief engineer for human exploration; Jonathan Witter, chief engineer of advanced technologies, BWXT Technologies; Phil Lubin, physics professor at University of California Santa Barbara and developer of Starshot Initiative Laser Propulsion; and William Peter, director of ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.

Theme 3, led by Matt Hollingsworth, an entrepreneur from the University of Tennessee and Stanford, will introduce and discuss a proposed decadal plan for advanced space development.  Theme 3 speakers include James Early, physicist formerly at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and additional presentations by Dean Hartley, John Mankins, and John Rather.

Finally, Theme 4, led by Catherine Asaro, a noted science fiction author, physicist, and business owner, will discuss future directions for space travel, including possible loopholes in physical laws that declare the impossibility of faster than light travel. Theme 4 speakers include David Brin, scientist and noted science fiction author (e.g., “The Postman” made into a movie); Arlan Andrews, an engineer and science fiction author; Ruth Kastner, quantum physicist at the University of Maryland; and Marc Millis, founder of the Tau Zero Foundation and retired NASA propulsion physicist.

“The symposium will promote collaboration of government labs with private industry because this is a proven key to success in both rapid innovations and creating jobs,” the press release said. “This inspiring endeavor will help define a fantastic new future for world prosperity.”

More information will be added as it becomes available.