“When we dream of space we dream of transcendence.” Marina Benjamin
When we go beyond our current capabilities and expand into an unknown, we take every aspect of ourselves with us. Our experiences, knowledge, sins, every bit of the human experience comes along for the ride. When we reach the new horizon it allows us to learn, and what is learning if not transcendence? When we reach the unknown, it brings about paradigm shifts that resonate throughout our entire civilization.
This makes things difficult when trying to pick the top five space panels at SXSWi. A place that is about tech, people, and learning: three things also at the core of space exploration. It’s a daunting task. So many things feed in and out of this enterprise. This is an attempt at giving you some of the grand, obscure, and multi-disciplinary panels, which, in no particular order, all find their way to the cosmos.
Hubble Touching the Universe
Date: Sunday, March 15th
Time: 5:00 pm- 6:00 pm
Location: JW Marriott Salon 2, 110 E 2nd St
Alberto Conti – Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems
Amber Straughn – NASA
Jason Kalirai – Space Telescope Science Institute
John Grunsfeld – NASA
Hubble is so much more to us then a scientific instrument. It is more than the sum of its parts and what it was originally intended to do. To this end, NASA, The Space Telescope Science Institute, and NASA Contractor Northrup Grumman are coming together at SXSW to celebrate the 25 years Hubble has been orbiting the earth: its grand story of survival, discovery, and vision. Come see experts talk about Hubble’s past, present, and future.
Astrophysics Goes Hollywood: Cinematic Science
Date: Tuesday, March 17th
Time: 11:00 am-12:00 pm
Location: Austin Convention Center Room 18ABCD
500 E Cesar Chavez St
Donna Cox – National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Frank Summers – Space Telescope Science Institute
Robert Hurt – NASA Spitzer Science Center JPL
From Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Astronaut Alan Bean’s impressionistic paintings of his journey to the moon, art has been a constant companion of discovery. On this panel, experts in the fields of computer design, animation, and astrophysics will talk about using the latest technology to make the incomprehensible universe visually approachable, and maybe bring the cosmos just a little closer to our door step. Here we can see the various parts of the human experience coming together more than anywhere else to show us what lies just over the horizon of our imaginations.
NASA’s Next Giant Leap: The journey to Mars
Date: Saturday, March 14th
Time: 5:00 pm-6:00 pm
Location: JW Marriott Salon3, 110 E 2nd St
Todd May – Marshall Space Flight Center
If you like things that are large, loud, and go very fast, this is the panel for you. The Space Launch System or SLS is NASA’s next generation of heavy launch vehicles in the line of the mighty moon ship the Saturn V, only bigger. Todd May is the manager for this program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. This nationwide team will help play a critical role in getting humans to Mars and one day far beyond. This next step will require a rocket capable of lifting 130 metric tons into orbit. The first versions of the SLS will only lift our new Orion space craft into orbit. The Orion underwent its first orbital and reentry test at the end of last year and will be the crew return ship for NASA’s inner solar system adventures. Next will be the SLS Heavy, this lift system will be the interplanetary work horse we will use for our next small step into the cosmos.
NASA Meet Up
Date Sunday, March 15th
Time: 5:00 pm-6:00 pm
Location: JW Marriott Room 509, 110 E 2nd St
Jason Townsend – NASA
Getting to mingle with the people of NASA is something special. NASA isn’t just a team, it’s a family. They call themselves this for a reason. In 2010 the ISS had a critical leak of its external coolant. People all over the country and even the world worked tirelessly to find solutions to the problem. Then there are the tens of thousands of people who are working to make the latest step towards Mars, and the people who built the wonderful telescope to give humanity a new vision of the cosmos. They are the backbone of what makes NASA a family. Don’t pass up the chance to hear about the incredible feats that makes exploration of the cosmos possible.
Go Out of this World with an Astronaut
Date: Sunday, March 15th
Time: 12:30 pm-1:30 pm
Location: JW Marriott Salon 3, 110 E 2nd St
John Yembrick – NASA Ames Research Center
Reid Wiseman – NASA Johnson Human Space Flight Center
This panel will be talking to an astronaut who just got back from space. What more could be said to entice an audience? For starters, the officiator of this event is John Yembrick from the Ames Research Center. He has been a pioneer at NASA in the use of social media. He has worked all over the country, from the Shuttle to the International Space Station programs. Astronaut Reid Wiseman is part of Expedition 40/41 on the ISS. He is a Navy Commander and has participated in in two space walks on his current trip to space.
Don’t miss the chance to talk to an astronaut!