Smallsat Conference Day 2

Day 2 at the Conference on Small Satellites was, from my viewpoint, very
successful, despite a fast dash back to the hotel from the conference site
(NOTE to self: make sure you are fully awake before grabbing wehat you think
are the matching pants and jacket from the same suit.) The paper I presented
on the economics and technology of a practical microsat launch system was very
well received. Even one of the attendees from Orbital thought it was
excellent, and we criticized Orbital, at least by implication, for its
corporate opinion that no one can do small launchers cheaper than they already
do them. J

Some other interesting presentations, especially from Aerospace and Futron
concerning markets and the problem of putting sufficient effort into innovative
space R&D. A paper on XSS-10, AFSPC's space inspection microsat, was
withdrawn, reportedly for clearance problems.

Regards,


Matt Bille
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