Looking forward to it….

Yes in early February I will  be visit the

NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)

(http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/index.html)

NASA JSC is known to all of us as the control center for the Space Shuttle and Space Station, and home to NASA's astronaut corps. NASA - JSC has an extreme focus on "safety and mission assurance. This permeates its training, and decision-making and risk management systems. Active use of simulators, combined with a large research program enables this strong focus. The visit will include the Neutral Buoyancy Tank, and various space shuttle and space station simulators. Several of these are full sized and with full functionality.

                                   

This visit is connected to the

Space - Energy Conference and Workshop

Houston, February 8-9, 2011

Background

The Space and Energy industries both work in extreme environments, face similar technology challenges, are considered technologically very advanced, experience typically catastrophic consequences of failure, and have a very strong focus on safety.

Add to that, that the Energy industry is facing major challenges in the development of resources in, hard to access, areas, such as the Arctic. Many of these challenges will demand that the Energy industry looks for solutions beyond its own sector.

A logical place to start would be the Space Sector. Both sectors face challenges in a number of similar areas.

The inspiration for this event came from the Norwegian Research Council which challenged us to organize a Space - Energy conference and workshop in Houston, in parallel with the Artic OTC Offshore Technology Conference http://www.arctictechnologyconference.org/index.cfm


Objective

The main objective of this event is to discuss, define, select, and describe collaboration projects between the Norwegian energy industry and the U.S space sector. It is the hope this work will form a solid basis for further collaboration between these two sectors.

Introduction

An exciting program has been set up. It will take place over two days, February 8-9, 2010.

The Conference and Workshops will be held on February 9, and complementary meetings and visits to the NASA Johnson Space Center (NASA - JSC) and Oceaneering will be set up for February 8.

The Worshops constitute the main part of the event. Three workshops will be run in parallel: "Robotics"; "Safety, Simulation, and Mission Assurance"; and "Materials".

The conference part will focus on overall opportunities and challenges, and lay the framework for the workshops. Several of the talks will discuss the exciting opportunities and challenges that arise when one has to deal with four different cultures at the same time: Space, Energy, the US, and Norway. This part concludes with an introduction of the workshops, that includes what we want to achieve, and what is expected of the participants and the chairs.

The visits to NASA JSC and Oceaneering will focus specifically on the three themes of the workshops. For example, at NASA JSC, focus will be on "Safety and Mission Assurance. " Simulation is a big part of this.

And yes....I look forward to it