Space Manufacturing and Space Settlement Set for Oct. 29-31 in Silicon Valley, Calif.

Space scientists and entrepreneurs will meet in Silicon Valley from Oct. 29-31 to help plan humanity’s future on the high frontier at the Space Studies Institute’s Space Manufacturing 14: Critical Technologies for Space Settlement conference.

During the gathering at the NASA Ames Conference Center and the Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel, speakers will present a wide range of research topics, including affordable space transportation, extraterrestrial prospecting, lunar and asteroidal manufacturing processes, robotics and tele-operations, closed environment life support systems, space solar power and energy, and off-planet property rights. On Saturday, famed biologist and entrepreneur Craig Venter will give a special talk on synthetic genomics.

The gathering is a revival of a series of biennial conferences held in Princeton, N.J., through 2001. The conferences were led by the late Princeton physics professor Gerard K. O’Neill, author of “The High Frontier,” a seminal book on space settlements.

“This conference is the only one solely concerned with the science and engineering of humanity’s expansion into the solar system,” said SSI Executive Vice President Lee Valentine (audio from The Space Show). “Its most important function is to bring together the engineers, entrepreneurs and researchers who do the real work.”

“This conference continues in the spirit of the SSI Princeton conferences,” Valentine said. “We’re especially pleased to be holding the event at NASA Ames. Thirty five years ago, the Ames Research Center was the site of the first large technical study of space settlement. We have made significant progress since then, but with the prospect of low cost space transportation in the near future, now is the time to reinvigorate research and collaboration on the critical path technologies needed for space industrialization and settlement.”

Registration is underway for the high caliber conference agenda involving a wide variety of speakers. Foreign nationals desiring to participate should act now to gain access to the NASA Ames center. Each participant will be badged for security and professional networking. Registration is $250; SEDS students $150.