ISDC Final Report

05/23/05 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

In the early nineties I was privileged to be at the IETF meeting where the NCSA Mosaic browser made its first public debut. A little over a year later Netscape took that browser and that team public, starting the land rush we know and love today. The IETF meetings that followed Netscape's IPO had that excitement and anticipation of things to come that was readily apparent at this past ISDC meeting in Washington, D.C.

The conference was extremely well run (if a bit pricey). The hotel could barely handle the crowd since original estimates were for 400-500. As of Saturday afternoon it had gone over 800. While I think being not on Memorial Day weekend helped, the speaker list and competency of the promotional material helped a great deal.The gala event on Saturday at the Udvar-Hazy Center was phenomenal. More on the gala later.

There were several important announcements such as the lunar ISRU Centennial Challenges prize and the Planetary Society's partnership with NSS on the 2006 ISDC (putting to rest the robots vs humans debate). Several sessions had tantalizing tidbits of information such as the name of WhiteNight version 2 (“Eve”), Victoria Principle will be one of Virgin Galactic's initial customers and spokesperson in the US, and the probability that the “Virgin Spaceship Enterprise” may top out at 400,000 feet.

There was a much greater focus on the business of space that left me feeling very hopeful. There were lawyers there discussing things other than property law. A few businesses were there snooping around to see when they might be able to sell to this nascent industry (I predicted the 1Q 2007).

There were some very historical moments: Konrad Dannenberg presenting the NSS Von Braun Award to Burt Rutan while Buzz Aldrin sits at the table directly in front. In the future I think the fact that George Whitesides was there as well will become more and more historic. The gala had Hugh Downs speak as the Chairman of NSS' Board of Governors. I had the distinct pleasure of receiving the special airport search treatment the same time Mr. Downs was receiving his. You'd think the process would be able to assume that making Hugh Downs take off his shoes isn't going to enhance national security.

My session went well, I would have liked a larger audience but dozen or so I had were motivated which is what I was after. The session before me was on the use of GPS in logistics, specifically trucking in the UK. Being related to what I do for my day job I found that to be useful as well.

The gala on Saturday night was well worth the price of admission. Even for the VIP bit. I still have to remind myself that I'm a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. I almost spilled by martini on Rich Pournelle which would not have been a good move. The ambiance. The people. The historic people and the historic vehicles. That much history side by side with that much future potential left me feeling like a baton had been passed, or is at least in the act of being passed. And yes, I think that making the affair “black tie” was appropriate.

The luncheon on Sunday with Peter Diamandis was even cool. The awarding of the Todd B. Hawley Award to Loreta Hidalgo, the short film about his life and Loreta's speech afterward really illustrated just how marvelous and tight the family of ISU graduates is. If I had my undergraduate I'm sure I would have applied for the Masters in Space Management by now.

Sure, there were some glitches with timing and the audiovisual setup, but over all I'd say the NSS has really come a loooong way over the past year or so. And I think that is pretty much all George Whitesides doing. NSS has better be careful, some company looking for a CEO is going to snag him with a job offer he can't refuse.

The Los Angeles team have a stretch goal in order to meet the expectations the DC guys set….