SSI 50: First Conference Panel Lineup Announced

June 3, 2019

The Space Studies Institute has announced the first full panel lineup for its upcoming conference, SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise, which takes place September 9-10 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.
The Extraterrestrial Resources panel will be chaired by Dr. George Sowers, professor of space resources at the Colorado School of Mines.
The other speakers on the panel will be Chris Lewicki, former president and chief engineer of the asteroid mining company Planetary Resources; Dr. Philip Metzger, who pioneered techniques for using lunar regolith at NASA’s Swamp Works laboratory; Rob Meyerson, CEO of Delalune Space and former president of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin; and Dennis Wingo, lunar resources researcher and president of SkyCorp, Inc.
The two-hour panel will discuss strategies for using space resources (including the Moon and asteroids, as well as recycled space “junk” from early space missions) for future space stations and settlements.

 About the Speakers

Prior to joining the Colorado School of Mines, Prof. Sowers worked in senior positions at United Launch Alliance and Lockheed Martin Corporation, including chief scientist and vice president of advanced programs at ULA, vice president of human launch services at ULA, and director of advanced programs at Lockheed Martin.
Chris Lewicki recently joined ConsenSys Space from Planetary Resources, where he was CEO and chief engineer for PR’s audacious plan to explore and and mine asteroids for use in fueling the space economy. Under his leadership, Planetary Resources raised over $50M in revenue and equity and launched three satellites. Prior to Planetary Resources, Chris Lewicki worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he served as flight director for the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and surface mission manager for the Phoenix Mars Lander.
Dr. Philip Metzger is a researcher in the Planetary Sciences Group at the University of Central Florida. He previously worked for NASA at Kennedy Space Center where he co-founded the KSC Swamp Works, a technology innovation lab which developed extraterrestrial excavators, regolith conveyers, dust mitigation systems, lunar/martian landing pads and other planetary surface systems technology.
Rob Meyerson has more than 30 years of experience in the space industry. For 14 years, he served as president of Blue Origin, managing development and flight of four unique rocket-powered vehicles and in-house developed liquid rocket engines. Meyerson stepped down from that position to serve as Blue Origin’s senior vice president for advanced development, responsible for a portfolio of systems and concepts included the Blue Moon lander, Earth entry vehicles, in-space habitats, space tugs and transfer stages. His new venture is Delalune Space, whose name means “of the Moon.” Delalune’s goal is to enable a future where lunar resources will seed and grow our human presence in space.
Dennis Wingo is a long-time lunar resource advocate who led the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project at NASA Ames Research Center, a digital archeology project that recovered and restored images from the 60’s-era Lunar Orbiter program. Dennis has more than 30 years experience designing avionics and space systems, including the first Macintosh computer to fly in space

 About the Conference

SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise celebrates the 50th anniversary of the High Frontier vision of space settlement created by Princeton University physics professor and Space Studies Institute founder Gerard O’Neill. Professor O’Neill demonstrated that it was possible to build very large space habitats using extraterrestrial materials and foreseeable technologies. O’Neill’s vision inspired a generation of followers, including one young Princeton student, Jeff Bezos, who went on to found Amazon and Blue Origin.
SSI 50 marks the kickoff for a multi-year effort by the Space Studies Institute to update the High Frontier vision, incorporating new technologies, new knowledge of solar system resources, and new commercial space capabilities developed by companies such as Blue Origin.
SSI 50 will include six two-hour panel sessions. In addition to Extraterrestrial Resources, panels will cover Habitats and Facilities, In-Space Construction, Transportation and Logistics,  Space Health and Life Support, and Economic Prosperity.
Additional panel lineups will be announced in the near future.
Interest in the conference has been strong, and early ticket sales have been brisk. Early Bird tickets sold out quickly, and about 25% of the available conference tickets have already been sold. The Space Studies Institute urges all interested parties to act quickly to ensure ticket availability.
Online registration is available at: http://ssi50.eventbrite.com

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