All sessions will be webcast live. The links below will become active shortly before each session begins. Within a short period after each session, links to a webcast archive - and a podcast archive - will be posted. Note: all times are Central Daylight Time.

28 October 2007

• Session 1: 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. - A Human Expedition to Mars: A Day in the Life [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive]

29 October 2007

• Session 2: 8:00 - Noon - Those Who Support the Explorers [Webcast Archive] [Podast Archive Part 1] [Podcast Archive Part 2]
• Session 3: 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Expedition Planning & Acceptable Risk [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive Part 1] [Podcast Archive Part 2]
• Session 4: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Travels on Sea and in Space Chair [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive]

30 October 2007

• Session 5: 8:00 - Noon - Earth as a Classroom: Terrestrial Analogs for Extraterrestrial Environments [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive Part 1] [Podcast Archive Part 2]
• Session 6: 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. Earth as a Classroom: Terrestrial Analogs for Extraterrestrial Environments (continued) [ Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive]
• Session 7: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Risk & Commercial Space Exploration [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive]
• Session 8: 7:15 - 9:30 p.m. - evening session [Webcast Archive] [Podcast Archive]

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PDF version of this Agenda

Continue reading "Agenda" »

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Two Emmy winners are among the speakers at LSU event

BATON ROUGE - CNN anchor and Emmy winner Miles O'Brien will join an impressive list of speakers at LSU's upcoming international symposium on risk and exploration, Oct. 28-30. "Risk & Exploration: Earth as a Classroom," will be held on LSU's campus and is free and open to the public and the media. O'Brien is scheduled to speak on Monday, Oct. 29, from 9:05 to 9:45 a.m. Central time and will serve as moderator for a panel discussion titled "Risks of Nature: Impact of and Response to Hurricane Katrina," which is slated for 10:40 a.m. until noon. The panel will feature such guests as Baton Rouge Mayor-President Melvin "Kip" Holden, LSU Police Chief Ricky Adams and NASA-Michoud official Stephen A. Turner.

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Several weeks ago, Risk and Exploration Symposium co-chair Keith Cowing had a chance to take a ride aboard a plane full of teachers as they all experenced weightlessness as part of the Northrop Grumman Foundation's "Weightless Flights of Discovery" program. Click on image to enlarge.

Full Story

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Read their journal entries

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Titled "Risk and Exploration: Earth As A Classroom," this event will be held on the LSU campus from Oct. 28-30 with the financial sponsorship of the Northrop Grumman Corp. Campus locations include the state-of-the-art auditoriums in the Energy, Coast, and Environment Building and the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student Athletes.

This three-day event is modeled after a previous symposium, "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea, and the Stars," held in Monterey, Calif., in September 2004.

As was the case with the first symposium, this upcoming event will be targeted toward space, oceanic and terrestrial explorers, as well as others who encounter risk in their daily lives, including entrepreneurs, firefighters and police.

The conference will provide a forum for the discussion of various risk-taking philosophies, with the hope that such groups will gain a greater appreciation for the similarities and differences of their respective activities. Senior NASA managers and scientists have expressed their intent to participate, as have a number of other prominent explorers, media representatives and scientists.

All events will be open to the public, with special efforts taken to allow presentations to be disseminated in a wide variety of Internet and media formats.

The event will also be supported by financial contributions by Aerojet Corporation and by four organizations devoted to learning and exploration: The Explorers Club, the Association of Space Explorers, the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, and the Space Generation Advisory Council. Co-chairs for the event will be Astronaut Leroy Chiao, who is the Smiley and Bernice Romero Raborn Distinguished Chair and Max Faget Professor in Mechanical Engineering at LSU, and Keith Cowing, president of SpaceRef Interactive Inc. - one of the organizers of the first Risk and Exploration Symposium in 2004.

"LSU is grateful to Northrop Grumman for agreeing to sponsor this event," LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe said. "As you may recall the entire population of Louisiana was suddenly faced with a real time crash course in handling risk several years ago. As such, the experiences of those who endured Katrina and Rita, and how they handled risk, will also be an integral part of this event. In addition, many people risked their lives and made immense personal sacrifices to keep the Michoud Assembly Facility - and thus America's Space Shuttle fleet - operational. LSU will play a prominent role in the discussion of how we manage risk and exploration, learning from our rich past and experiences in today's vibrant world, while eagerly and confidently anticipating an unknown future."

"Northrop Grumman embraces the spirit of this conference because it reflects our own experience of the role that risk-taking plays in every significant discovery," said Douglas Young, vice president of Northrop Grumman's space exploration systems organization. "By exploring the boundaries of our knowledge about the commercial, civil, government and international markets we serve, we've been able to identify and manage the risks associated with helping our customers reach their destinations. We look to this conference to create momentum for collaborations between industry and academia that will lead to the most significant technological achievements of our time."

Information on this symposium can be found online at www.riskexplore2007.com.

Kristine Calongne
kcalong@lsu.edu
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5985

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Continue reading "Corporate Sponsor" »

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The Challenger Center for Space Science Education is an international, not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) education organization that was founded by the families of the astronauts lost during the last flight of the Challenger Space Shuttle in 1986. Through Challenger Center's programs and its international network of Challenger Learning Centers, the diversity, spirit, and commitment to education that exemplified the Challenger 51-L mission continues to make an impact on students, teachers, and families today.

Continue reading "Sponsoring Organizations" »

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There are a number of places to eat on the LSU campus. link contains a listing.

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There are a number of hotels amd notels on or near the LSU campus. This link contains a list.

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LSU campus map with parking options. Visitors to the LSU campus should contact  LSU’s Visitor Center with questions about driving on campus during class times. The Visitor Center number is 225 578-5030.

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LSU campus map with parking options. Visitors to the LSU campus should contact  LSU’s Visitor Center with questions about driving on campus during class times. The Visitor Center number is 225 578-5030.

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Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion, and defense and armaments markets since 1942. Long recognized as a developer of new technology, Aerojet continues to meet emerging defense and aerospace propulsion needs and is well-positioned to benefit from the increased focus on and funding of defense and space programs.

More information

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Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and the Stars

NASA Administrator's Symposium
September 26-29, 2004
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, California

Steven J. Dick and Keith L. Cowing, Editors
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of External Relations
NASA History Division
Washington, DC
NASA SP-2005-4701

Note: Download PDF document from NASA (and then click on titles to view PDF files) or click on the links below to download sections (PDF)

Continue reading "Proceedings from the NASA Administrator's Symposium: "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea and the Stars"" »

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Wes Bush, President and Chief Operating Officer, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Honorary Co-chair
Sean O'Keefe, Chancellor, Louisiana State University, Honorary Co-chair
Leroy Chiao, Raborn Distinguished Chair Max Faget Mechanical Engineering Professor, LSU, Symposium Co-chair
Keith Cowing, President, SpaceRef Interactive Inc., Symposium Co-chair
Robert Davis, Northrop Grumman Corporation
Daniel Bennett, The Explorers Club
Loretta Hildago, Space Generation Advisory Council
Andy Turnage, Association of Space Explorers

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Leroy Chiao has extensive experience as a NASA Astronaut and prior to that, as a Research Engineer.
Dr. Chiao studied Chemical Engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1983. He continued his studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, earning his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 1985 and 1987. He is involved in entrepreneurial business ventures in both the US and China and is the Executive Vice President of Space Operations and a Director of Excalibur Almaz Limited, a private manned spaceflight company. Dr. Chiao is also the first Raborn Distinguished Chair Max Faget Mechanical Engineering Professor at Louisiana State University. Active as a consultant and public speaker, he also serves as the Chairman of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute User Panel, which is attached to the Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Chiao left NASA in December, 2005 following a fifteen-year career with the agency. A veteran of four space missions, Dr. Chiao most recently served as Commander and NASA Science Officer of Expedition 10 aboard the International Space Station. He has logged over 229 days in space - over 36 hours of which were spent in Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA, or spacewalks).

Additional information on Leroy Chiao

Keith Cowing is trained as a biologist (M.A. and B.A. degrees) and has a multidisciplinary background with experience and expertise that ranges from spacecraft payload integration and biomedical peer review to freelance writing and website authoring. Keith is editor and webmaster of the somewhat notorious NASA Watch, an online publication devoted to the free and uncensored exchange of information on space policy and NASA operations. This website is read regularly within NASA, Congress, and the global space community. Keith is also editor of SpaceRef.com an online space news and reference resource.

Keith donated his time to serve as an organizer and later, as the proceedings co-editor, for the NASA Administrator's Symposium "Risk and Exploration: Earth, Sea, and the Stars" which was held at the Naval Postgraduate School in September 2004. Keith has been involved with the NASA Haughton Mars Project (HMP), an ongoing research activity conducted on Devon Island in the Canadian high arctic less than 1,000 miles from the North Pole. Keith and his SpaceRef business partner Marc Boucher donated an experimental greenhouse which they constructed on Devon Island in the Summer of 2002.

Additional Information on Keith Cowing

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