Chronicles of a Would-Be Space Entrepreneur
Part 3: Conferences & Networking

By Steve Bartlett

Two key aspects of making any business a success, whether it's a space business or some other sort, are knowing what's happening in your industry and getting your name and your company's name known and recognized. If you're trying to sell buggy whips while everyone is buying cars, you're not going to stay in business for long. And if people don't see you, they don't know you're there and can't buy your products.

An excellent way to do both of these things at once is at conferences. Whether it's our own International Space Development Conference or a more specialized gathering, such as the professional conferences organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), these events offer an opportunity to see and interact with the "movers and shakers" in the space field.

A typical gathering features space industry leaders, NASA program managers, representatives from foreign governments, entrepreneurs, educators, political leaders engaged in space-related legislation, university researchers, astronauts and cosmonauts, military leaders involved in space projects, reporters, and people who're interested in space for its own sake. Attendees exchange ideas, keep one another informed about the latest projects, and keep abreast of what's happening in the space arena. It is at these events that the cutting-edge work on launch vehicles, unmanned probes, astronomy, rocket engines, space policy, and other areas is first revealed to the public.

The Space 2005 conference held in Long Beach over August 30 to September 1 serves as a good example for what takes place at a space conference. The new head of NASA, Michael Griffin, used this forum to discuss the new NASA policy of using commercial launch services to deliver crews and cargoes to the International Space Station after 2010. This would offer a huge potential market to private space ventures and serve as an impetus for developing spacecraft to carry paying passengers to orbit. Griffin also updated the audience on the latest work to turn the President's Lunar/Mars Initiative into reality.

At the same event, Richard Grammier and Donald Yeomans of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory described the latest findings from the Deep Impact probe, which collided with comet Temple I on July 4. The two showed startling images of the comet as the spacecraft approached at high speed, impacted, and spewed a huge cloud of gas and find particles into space.

The conference programming covered a wide range of topics, a small sample of these includes the physics of the Universe, reusable launch systems, nanotechnology, space economics, exploring the Outer Planets, remote sensing, and using space to support military operations on the ground.

From the standpoint of a would-be space entrepreneur, these events provide a means to tell those in the business, "Here's what I've done and here's how I think I can help with your project." They also ensure that the entrepreneur understands the needs of potential customers, the latest tools and techniques in the industry, and the problems that others have encountered in their own space businesses.

Next May, the International Space Development Conference will be here in Los Angeles. Anyone can purchase a membership and find out what's happening in space. I'll be there. I hope you will be as well.

Part 2 of these Chronicles was published in the July issue of the Odyssey.

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