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USU to host Small Satellite Conference By
Maggon Osmond
The 14th annual Conference on Small Satellites will be at Utah State University on Aug. 21-24. The conference attracts people worldwide to participate in technical sessions that explore the continually changing and updating world of space technology. Utah State University and the Space Dynamics Laboratory will host the Small Satellite Conference. Dr. Frank J. Redd is the head of the organization committee and is also the executive vice president of the Space Dynamics Laboratory. During the past four decades the Space Dynamics Laboratory has been well known for placing sophisticated sensors on more than 400 research payloads. They range from aircraft and sounding rocket-borne sensors to space shuttle experiments, satellite systems and instrumentation suites. The Small Satellite technical sessions will include discussion on existing space missions, future missions, advanced sensor concepts, new technologies and how to apply them and much more. There will also be several exhibits set up in the Eccles Conference Center. Companies such as Orbital Sciences Corp. from Virginia, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center from Maryland, Space Electronics Corp. from California and 55 others will have booths open for the duration of the conference to facilitate anyone with interest in their product. Each year the Small Satellite Conference invites a "Keynote Speaker" usually a well know scholar who is an expert in space technology. This year the key note speaker will be Dr. Charles Elachi, Senior Research Scientist in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Elachi is a professor at the California Institute of Technology. He has been a principal investigator on a number of research and development studies and flight projects sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These include the Shuttle Imaging Radar Series, the Magellan Imaging Radar and the Cassini Titan Radar. Dr. Elachi is the author of more than 200 publications in the fields of active microwave remote sensing, wave propagation and scattering, electromagnetic theory, lasers, and integrated optics, and he holds several patents in those fields. In addition to the conference that services hundreds of professionals worldwide, the Small Satellite Conference has a student competition. The student competition allows participation to all undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a degree in engineering or scientific discipline at an accredited college or university. The students who participate submit a paper on a topic relevant to the field. The students are also encouraged to set up exhibits as well. As many as five scholarships will be awarded to deserving students. The amount awarded to the students in the past has been between $2,000 and $6,000. In addition to the scholarships the Small Satellite Conference has a mentoring program that allows students to network with professionals in their field.
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