This week, experts, students, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts from across the space exploration community will meet online and in Las Vegas, NV for the AIAA Ascend Conference. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley will be present, sharing the innovative work happening at Ames to NASA’s partners in academia, industry, and beyond.
Ames’ presence will highlight its expertise in space biology, synthetic biology, human-machine interactions for exploration, and more. See the list of activities featuring Ames employees below.
Human-Machine Teaming for Space Exploration
Monday, October 24 from 5:00 – 6:20pm PST
A technical session presenting research enabling spaceflight crew autonomy, self-scheduling systems for analog missions, and more. Jessica Marquez, a space human factors engineer at Ames, is a co-host and presenter in the session. Ames researchers Dakota Sullivan and John Karasinski are also presenters in the session. Other participants include representatives from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Jacobs Technology Inc., San Jose State University, Binera Inc., and The Aerospace Corporation.
The Future of Space Bioprocess Engineering: Triple Point Intersecting Academia, Industry, and NASA
Tuesday, October 25 from 3:00 – 3:45pm PST
A panel featuring discussing the potential for biotechnology in space exploration. Sharmila Bhattacharya, Senior Program Scientist at Ames’ Biological and Physical Sciences division, and Frances Donovan, Synthetic Biology Project Manager at Ames, will join Adam Arkin, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Aaron Berliner, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and Geoffrey Ling, the CEO of On Demand Pharmaceuticals for this panel.
Advancing Biotechnology in Space to Enable Mission Sustainability and Benefit Earth
Tuesday, October 25 from 4:00 – 4:45pm PST
A panel on the role of innovative methods in biotechnology to meet the needs of the space environment and sustainably explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Lynn Rothschild, a senior research scientist at Ames, will be featured on the panel and join experts including Lisa Carnell, program scientist for the Biological and Physical Sciences Divison at NASA HQ, Paula Grisanti, the CEO of the National STEM Cell Foundation, John Vellinger, the Executive Vice President of Redwire Space, and Nicole Wagner, the CEO of LambdaVision. Tarra Ruttley, a chief scientist at Blue Origin, will moderate the panel.
In-Space Autonomy and Reliability
Wednesday, October 26 from 2:45 – 4:05pm PST
A technical session about developing autonomous and reliable systems for space applications. Harry W. Jones, a systems engineer at Ames, is a co-chair and presenter in the session. Other participants include representatives from Aires Design Automation, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Entry, Descent, and Landing Technologies for Human Missions to Mars
Wednesday, October 26 from 3:45 – 4:30pm PST
Learn about NASA’s contributions toward developing technologies that will allow humans to safely land on Mars in the future. Representatives from the Low-Earth Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) team, a project led by Langley and supported by Ames, will be discussing this foldable heat shield designed for large payloads for Mars and other worlds. Learn more about Ames’ contributions to LOFTID.
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Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should reach out to the NASA Ames newsroom.