CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

Welcome to the Space Simulation Conference website. This will be our 27th conference in 46 years. The 1st Space Simulation Conference was held in September 1966 in Houston, Texas and our conference has occurred on an annual or biannual basis ever since. This year's theme is Testing Challenges: Innovation Leading to Successful Results.

The test community is being continually challenged with harsher and stringent environmental test conditions such as the 20-30°K test temperature micro gravitational environments for the ongoing James Webb Telescope assembly, testing and integration activities. Over 100 companies around the world have worked with NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies to design, plan and construct the telescope's various parts, often creating new technologies to deal with the unique circumstances Webb will face.

Another example is the excruciating, enduring and exacting preparation with multiple tests for the NASA ’s Mars Science laboratory ( MLS) rover named Curiosity including a novel approach that involves a big parachute, a specially designed winch, with a prototype that was built to undergo a whole litany of testing and retesting coupled with tailored computer models. With a successful landing to date, Curiosity will likely have made giant leaps in humankind’s quest to learn more about Mars and the solar system.

All this, and more, is made possible because of the contributions people like you make to the space industry everyday. The Space Simulation Conference is our connection with each other to share the great work we do with like-minded enablers of the space industry. Thank you for taking the time to contribute to the space program, to the advancement and preservation of mankind, and to the 27th Space Simulation Conference.

The 27th Space Simulation Conference is fortunate to have four excellent keynote speakers.

To kickoff the conference on Tuesday morning (Nov 6th), we are honored and excited to have Mr. Frank Cepollina, the Associate Director for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

We are so very excited and honored that Dr. Daniel Glavin, an Astrobiologist in the Planetary Environments Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has accepted to be our Tuesday luncheon keynote speaker.

On Wednesday morning, we are honored and excited to have Dr. Ed Hawkins of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) who is the Lead Instrument Engineer for the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) on the MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury.

To complete of conference, we are thrilled to have Dr. Amber Straughn, a Research Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, as our Thursday morning keynote speaker.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the enablers of the 27th Space Simulation Conference. Our Management and Technical Program Committees are the best a General Chair could hope for. I would like to thank Andy Webb for putting the technical program together, our past General Chairs Manfred Diehl, , and Terry Fisher for all their support, Hadi Navid and Nabil Copty for organizing the tutorial program, Dave Cornog for keeping us on track, Brian Kelly for coordinating the vendors, Dave Feick for arranging the social events, Hal Fox for designing and maintaining the SpaceSimCon.org website, Bill Wilkinson and Ed Packard for lining up interesting guest speakers, Roberta Burrows and Heather Wooden for IEST support, and all of our Session Chairs. There would be no conference without the support from these outstanding individuals!

Another key component to the success of the Space Simulation Conference is the support the vendor community provides. A broad range of vendors provide equipment and services critical to our mission success. This year we added a Virtual Expo to our website that highlights their products and capabilities. Please take a moment to explore the Virtual Expo link.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank DynaVac, Linde Cryogenics, PHPK Technologies and XL Technology Systems for their overwhelming generosity in sponsoring our Wednesday evening cocktail reception-tour at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We are truly blessed to have sponsors for this social event.

The 27th Space Simulation Conference is shaping up to be an intellectually stimulating and socially rewarding event. The Management and Technical Committees are working hard to provide you with a program you won't want to miss.

Elie Choueiry
General Chair