Posts Tagged ‘New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum’

Space Week in New Mexico

The International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight 2010 (ISPCS 2010) will be held October 20-21, 2010 at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum during Space Week in New Mexico.

ISPCS 2010 will again feature the superior speakers and high-quality sessions that attendees have come to expect. New tours have been added this year, and multiple meetings will be held before and after the main sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, the closing event of Space Week in New Mexico, attendees can join in the Spaceport America Runway Dedication and witness the long-distance capture-carry of Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. Plan to be there for this historic event, when these state-of-the art vehicles pass over their eventual home base and operations center at Spaceport America.

The early-bird registration fee for ISPCS is $425. After Saturday, October 2^nd the cost will then go to $475 for those registering by October 16^th. Those registering after October 16^th on line and on site will pay $525.

ISPCS is organized by the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, a member of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, administered by NASA.

Register today at www.ispcs.com

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Todd G. Dickson

A flyover by Virgin Galactic’s spaceliner and the presence of aerospace’s more ambitious space entrepreneurs are just a couple of the highlights of this year’s International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight next month.

Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic

More than 400 aerospace leaders – company executives, government officials and researchers – are expected to attend this year’s conference to be held Wednesday, Oct. 20, and Thursday, Oct. 21, at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road.

Flanking the conference will be the free public forum from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, at the Pan American Center on the New Mexico State University campus, and, after the conference, Virgin Galactic’s “mothership” Eve carrying the six-passenger rocket ship Enterprise is scheduled to fly over Spaceport America’s recently completed two-mile-long runway in the desert between Las Cruces and Truth or Consequences.

British billionaire Richard Branson, who is developing Virgin Galactic’s fleet to fly out of the New Mexico spaceport, described the flight as historic because it will be the first long-distance “capture-carry” flight of the spaceliner, making Oct. 22 a “momentous” day for commercial space.

“The new runway at Spaceport America will be finished, and the exterior fabric of our own facility at the spaceport will largely be complete,” Branson said. “It will be an honor to be present on that day, and I can safely say it will be one of the most exciting days in the history of Virgin.”

Based on the X PRIZE-winning system created by aviation genius Burt Rutan, Virgin’s double-hulled, jet-powered “mothership” will carry the Enterprise into the sky for a high-elevation, mid-air launch that will take its passengers to suborbital space.

Many of Virgin Galactic’s top executives will be at the conference, and Branson will deliver a taped message to school children at the public forum – but he isn’t the only one investing big money into privately funded commercial space development.

As in past years, the roster of panelists and speakers include many of the top players in the new industry of commercial space. The latest to agree to participate is Robert Bigelow, who has spent the last 10 years conducting research and development into a new generation of expandable space habitats. A Las Vegas, Nev., native, he made his fortune in real estate, banking and finance and is now gambling it on Bigelow Aerospace to create these expandable space habitats that can survive safely in orbit.

In 2006 and 2007, Bigelow launched its orbiting prototypes Genesis I and Genesis II with the goal to provide more room than the International Space Station at a fraction of the cost.

Other symposium participants include: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Neil Sheehan, whose latest book “A Fiery Peace in a Cold War” tells the story of the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile program; Jeff Greason, CEO of XCOR Aerospace; Debra Fracktor Lepore, president of DFL Space; Lee Rand, Sun Mountain Capital partner; George Nield, commercial space transportation associate administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration; Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator; and Clay Mowry, Arianespace president. Many others in organizations supporting commercial space development will participate in the two days of the conference.

Pat Hynes, executive director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium at the NMSU campus, which organizes the symposium, said the start of the symposium will begin with reviewing the origins of space exploration, but then quickly go into in-depth discussions about issues and obstacles facing the new industry, such as skepticism about the ability of the private sector to reach orbital space and the difficulty in finding investors. The symposium will also explore opportunities the new commercial space vehicles have in microgravity manufacturing, research and education.

The symposium brings the leaders of the industry here at a time when many in the local business community are trying to find a way to have the activities at the spaceport translate into more jobs and opportunities, Hynes said. The symposium provides an opportunity for networking that can lead to local ventures, such as the Hatch solar plant.

The free public forum on Tuesday, Oct. 19, will be divided into three segments. The morning session will be primarily educational, but will give people an opportunity to hear from a real astronaut, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides, and one of Virgin Galactic’s customers. The lunch hour forum will include Whitesides, Hynes, another astronaut and students. The afternoon segment will include the mayors of Las Cruces, Hatch and T or C, as well as the mayor of Titusville, Fla., which grew with the NASA program.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Gabriel Vasquez

A spark of genius is returning to Las Cruces. The second annual Re-Energize America conference, slated for Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4, will corral a group of national experts in the energy field to speak on various topics related to short-term planning for long-term energy independence. U.S. Representative Harry Teague is once again the program’s honorary chair.

“Developing a comprehensive energy plan that incorporates both traditional and renewable energy resources is critical in cementing southern New Mexico as a leader in the energy industry,” Teague said, announcing the event.

The two-day conference, to be held at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, will offer attendees the opportunity to discuss domestic solutions to energy problems with leaders in government, industry and academia.  Job creation will be a focus of the conference.

“This has been one of my top priorities while in Congress, working with great organizations like NMSU to develop research and production programs that take advantage of our state’s unique resources,” Teague said.

According to the program’s agenda, the conference will go “beyond policy discussions,” with a distinct focus on how participants can help develop a short-term plan for long-term sustainability. Participants will listen to panelists speak about creating new energy jobs, jobs through investments in energy efficiency, the technology behind energy independence, new energy jobs for New Mexico, creating new energy entrepreneurs, new jobs in nuclear energy and the role of oil and gas during the transition. Active discussions will be held during panel sessions.

“Energy is one of the most important issues we’re faced with in this country,” said Abbas Ghassemi, director of NMSU’s Institute for Energy and the Environment, announcing the conference. “Energy availability, sustainability, delivery and impact on natural resources like water and reliable and dependable sources of energy are so significant to the sustenance of the way of life that we have.”

NMSU’s Institute for Energy & the Environment is sponsoring the conference with support from the Arrowhead Center’s PROSPER Project, International Relations Institute, Water Resources Research Institute and the College of Arts and Sciences.

At last year’s conference, the event featured an impressive lineup of speakers that included Steven Chu, U.S. secretary of energy; Dick Williams, president of Shell Wind; Diane Denish, lieutenant governor; Jeff Trucksess, president of Green Earth Fuels; Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association; Paul Foster, CEO of Western Refining; and Tom Bowles, science advisor to Governor Bill Richardson.

“At Shell, we operate on three hard truths,” Williams said during last year’s conference. “One, our source of energy is going to die. Second, the easy-to-get stuff is gone. Third, anything we do has an environmental stress.”

Panelists and speakers this year include Barbara Couture, president of NMSU; Jim Ford, vice president of federal government affairs for ConocoPhillips; Jason Pyle, CEO of Sapphire Energy; Steve Fischmann, state senator; Russell Schmitt, president of CleanSwitch; Jon Goldstein, secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department; Jeff Bingaman, U.S. senator; Margie Tatro, director of Fuel and Water Systems for Sandia National Laboratories; and Arun Bose, program manager for the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Several other speakers from various sectors related to the energy industry are also slated to make an appearance.

The conference is free and open to the public, but registration is required and is limited to 400 participants. At last year’s conference, more than 400 showed up for the two-day event.

“We hope participants and audience members alike will participate in coming up with solutions,” Ghassemi said. “Solutions to these problems are very complex in nature. It is not as simple as coming up with a technology … to solve all the problems.

“(Attendees) will be able to participate in developing a plan on how to go about achieving energy independence. We cannot come up with a solution that is forced down; it really needs to be a grassroots, working up as well as the highest level of our local, state and federal governmental policies that meet each other halfway.”

Other conference sponsors include ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Sapphire Energy and the Carlsbad, N.M., Department of Development.

“We have not come close to reaching the limits of renewable energy technologies and now is the time to collaborate our efforts and resources,” Teague said. “Building off the success of last year’s conference, this year’s Re-Energize America will once again bring together policy, industry and academic experts and help move New Mexico’s energy future forward.”

For more information on the conference and to register, visit energize.nmsu.edu or call Karen Mikel at 646-2162 or Aggie Saltman at 646-9323.

Governor Bill Richardson’s Budget Balancing Task Force will meet for discussion and public input on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.  The meeting will be held at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum beginning at 1:00 p.m. and will conclude at 5:00 p.m.

The Task Force is actively seeking input from a cross section of New Mexicans on the following revenue options that have already been proposed from a variety of groups and individuals:

• gross receipts and compensating tax (increase the rate and/or broaden the base);
• taxes on tobacco, liquor, insurance premiums and motor vehicles;
• personal and corporate income taxes and withholding taxes;
• taxes on oil, natural gas, coal and uranium;
• tax compliance and administration rules; and
• rules defining business incentive tax credits and requirements for their systematic evaluation.

The agenda for the Las Cruces meeting is:

1:00 – Welcome by Rick Homans, Chairman

1:10 – Personal Income Tax

1:55 – Corporate Income and Franchise Taxes

3:05 – Break

3:20 – Income Tax Withholding

3:40 – Estate Tax

3:50 – Business Incentive Credits

4:35 – Public Comment

4:55 – Closing Remarks

More information is available at http://www.nmrevenueoptions.com/.  You may also comment on-line.