Some of the finest minds from NASA, private industry and academia will come together at the University of Southern California on November 2-3, 2018 to address critical issues and opportunities in the settlement and utilization of space in the National Space Society’s third Space Settlement Summit, an invitation-only event aimed at leaders in the field.

The movement of humanity into space, both to expand our frontiers and for the improvement of life on Earth, is inevitable, according to Mark Hopkins, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Space Society (NSS). “Expanding human presence beyond our planet assures the long-term survival of our species,” Hopkins said. “The utilization of space-based resources, such as solar power, is critical to our future. Our sun produces well over a trillion times the energy currently used on Earth today, a clean, boundless energy source.”

Bruce Pittman, Senior Vice President & Senior Operating Officer of NSS, said, “The Space Settlement Summit is an exclusive, high-level gathering that will look at the ‘best practices’ surrounding the utilization of space, from Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. We will dive deep into business cases for resource utilization in space, and how we can best use these resources to expand humanity’s reach throughout the solar system.”

Speakers will include such prominent names in the space community as former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, former astronaut and Director of Space Operations at SpaceX Garrett Reisman, Dr. Melissa Sampson, Sr. Manager Advanced Systems, Commercial Aerospace and Strategic Technology Ball Aerospace, and George Whitesides, President of Virgin Galactic.

“I found the Space Settlement Summit to be a truly valuable event,” said Dr. Daniel Rasky, Chief of the Space Portal Office at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “The broad range of topics, the depth and breadth of expertise and the lively discussion make this a meeting not be missed by anyone interested in space settlement,” he said.

Immediately following the Summit, a working group affiliated with the European Space Agency, The Moon Village Association, will host the Moon Village Workshop and Symposium, a discussion about lunar settlements. Moon Village is illustrated at the top of this post.

Registration and more information can be found at: spacesettlementsummit.nss.org