Space, Policy and Society
Research Group
Events
The MIT Space, Policy and Society Group
holds regular seminars and workshops
Here is a sample from the past year or so:
Fall Semester, 2007
October 31, 2007, Dr. Melchor J. Antuñano
Director, Civil Aerospace Medical Institute FAA
Talk 5:00-7:00pm
Title: Regulatory Medical and Safety Aspects of Space Tourism
November 7, 2007, Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese
Chair, Department of National Security Studies, Naval War College
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title: U.S. Space Policy: An Overview and Assessment
November 14, 2007, Dr. John Logsdon
Talk: 3:00-4:30pm, 33-419
Journal Club: 4:30-5:30pm
SPS meeting: 5:30-7:00pm
Title: Reflections on the Past Half-Century in Space
December 5, 2007, Dr. Robie Samanta-Roy
Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics, OSTP
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title:The Vision for Space Exploration - Current Status and Future Outlook
January 8, 2008
Title:The STS-107 Columbia Accident: Why did it happen, and what changes did it bring about?
Captain Dan Burbank, USCG and NASA Astronaut
Prof. Sheila Widnall, former secretary of the Air Force, member of the CAIB
Talk: 2:00-3:30pm
Spring Semester, 2008
February 6, 2008, Janet Vertesi
Cornell
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title: "Seeing Like a Rover": Imaging and Interacting on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission
Associated paper:
Vertesi, Janet. "Seeing Like a Rover: Embodied Interaction on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission." In Proceedings of CHI, ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York: ACM Press, 2008. 2523-2532.
February 15, 2008, Roger Launius, Ph.D.
Division of Space History, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Talk: 2:00-3:00pm
Title: Robots and Humans in Spaceflight: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel
February 20, 2007, Dr. John Logsdon
SPS meeting: 5:00-7:00pm, 33-116
Discussion of recent Stanford conference, update on Vision for Space Exploration
March 12, 2008, Dr. Natalie Jeremijenko
Director, xdesign Environmental Health Clinic, New York University
Talk: 5:30 - 7:00pm
Title: The Urban Space Station
March 19, 2008, Amy Kaminski
NASA Program Examiner, Office of Management and Budget
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title: Where Bucks Meet Buck Rogers: The OMB-NASA Relationship
April 9, 2008, Dr. John B. Charles
Program Scientist for the Human Research Program, NASA Johnson Space Center
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title: ISS and Exploration Update: Implications for Human Research in Space Flight
April 16, 2008, Mark Bitterman
Senior Vice President, Government Relations, Orbital Sciences Corporation
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm
Title: A Commercial Space Industry Perspective on U.S. Space Policy: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
April 23, 2008, Dr. Dave Finkleman
Senior Scientist, Center for Space Standards and Innovation, Analytical Graphics, Inc.
Aero/Astro seminar: 3:00-4:00pm
Title: Space Debris -- Birth to Death
SPS seminar: 5:00-7:00pm
April 30, 2008
From “Godspeed, John Glenn” to Rovers on Mars: Space, Media and Public Perception
John Schwartz, New York Times
Mike Cabbage, NASA Public Affairs Office
Phil Hilts, incoming director of the Knight Science Fellows
Talk: 5:00-7:00pm, 32-155
May 5, 2008, Scott Pace
NASA Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation
Talk: 2:00-3:30pm, 37-252
Title: The NASA Constellation Program and Post-Shuttle Transition
Fall Semester, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008: Dean Cheng
Senior analyst, China Studies Division, CNA
“The Great Leap Upward: A Review of China’s Space Program”
5:00-7:00 SPS talk, followed by Q&A
Spring Semester, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009: Wilfried K. Hofstetter
MIT graduate student
“Moon / Mars Exploration Architecture Review”
12:00-1:30 SPS journal club meeting
Tuesday, March 10: Dr. Mark J. Lewis
Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park
former Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force
“The role of the Chief Scientist and the Impact of S&T Professionals on the Air Force”
1:00-2:00 Talk
Monday, March 16: Prof. Joanne Gabrynowicz
Director, National Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law
The University of Mississippi School of Law
“An Overview of Space Law”
5:00-7:00 Talk
Wednesday, April 22: Col. Dave Scott
Gemini 8, Apollo 9 and Commander of Apollo 15
12:30-2:30 Engineering Apollo class Q&A led by David Mindell
Wednesday, April 29: John Connolly
Vehicle Engineering Manager, Altair Project Office, NASA Johnson Space Center
“Beyond Apollo: From the LM to Altair”
5:00-7:00 Talk