…is only a month away. I’ve been attending this conference for years, and hope and plan to do so this year as well. There’s no single way during the year to find out what’s going on in that part of the world of space transportation (largely private, though it tries to pull little nuggets of nutrition out of the waste of the big-government dinosaurs) than at this three-day meeting. Here is the official announcement::

April 2-4, Phoenix Arizona

Space Access ’09 is just over a month away – it’s time to book your flights and rooms. We see that Southwest Airlines is having a fare sale through this Monday March 2nd, so now is the time to decide to get a low airfare. Other airlines too will only get more expensive if you wait. And our reserved special-rate room block opens up to general rental by any tourist who comes along in just over another week – call the Grace Inn at 800 843-6010 and ask for the “space access conference rate” for our $99-all-inclusive discount room rate, soon, if you want to be sure of a room right at the conference.

Early April is still winter sunshine tourist season in Phoenix, so affordable rooms and good airfares will be hard to come by at the last second. So shake off the winter cold and damp (and all the overblown talk of economic doom too) and treat yourself to a three-day look at the future under the warm Arizona sun.

Space Access ’09, our upcoming annual conference on the technology, politics, and business of radically cheaper access to space, featuring a cross-section of leading players in the field, will once again be the place to hear the latest on the fast-moving entrepreneurial new-space industry. Space Access conferences are designed to let people who are serious about doing low-cost space transportation themselves get together, trade information, make deals, and learn useful things. No rubber-chicken banquets, just an intensive single-track presentations schedule with relaxed on-your-own meal breaks in a setting with plenty of comfortable places nearby to go off and talk.

The conference program is really starting to come together now – we’ve got a half-dozen interesting speakers confirmed since our last update. Stay tuned for further additions to the program in coming weeks, since one way we get the up-to-the-minute latest on this new industry is to stay flexible right up to the last minute. Look for a detailed program schedule about two weeks before the conference starts.

Confirmed SA’09 speakers so far:

Armadillo Aerospace/John Carmack
BonNova/Bob Noteboom
James Dunstan, on Orbital Debris Law
FAA AST/Ken Davidian & Others
Flometrics/Carl Tedesco
Jeff Foust of The Space Review and spacetoday.net
Kevin Greene, “The SBA-Guaranteed Business Loan Process”
George Herbert/Retro Aerospace
Clark Lindsey of spacetransportnews.com
Masten Space/Dave Masten
Leik Myrabo, of RPI and LTI, with a beam-propulsion progress report
Misuzu Onuki, “Current Status Of Japanese Space Venture Companies”
PoliSpace/Jim Muncy
Charles Pooley/Microlaunchers (and other N-Prize contestants)
Rocketplane Global/Chuck Lauer
Dave Salt, on European initiatives
Robin Snelson, Space Tourism Specialist with Rocketship Tours
Space Studies Institute/Lee Valentine
SpeedUp/Bob Steinke
Stratofox/Ian Kluft
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS)/Joshua Nelson
David Summers/Universal Transport Systems, “High Delta-V Rocket Aircraft”
Henry Spencer, “The Big Top Step: From 100 Km To LEO – Building To Orbit From Suborbital Capabilities”
TrueZer0/Scott Zeeb and Todd Squires
Unreasonable Rocket/Paul Breed
XCOR Aerospace

Overall Conference Schedule:
– Thursday April 2nd, sessions 2 pm – ~10 pm
– Friday April 3rd, sessions 9 am – ~10 pm
– Saturday April 4th, sessions 9 am – ~ 6 pm
– Space Access Hospitality Suite open till late all three nights.

SA’09 takes place at the Best Western Grace Inn at 10831 South 51st St, a comfortable resort-style hotel in Phoenix Arizona, ten miles from the Phoenix Airport via free hotel shuttle, in a pleasant suburban neighborhood with shopping and dining a short walk away, with free parking.

Our rates are the same as last year, both for SA’09 conference registration ($100 by check mailed in advance, $120 check cash or credit card at the door, student rate $30 either way) and hotel rooms ($99 a night for 1 or 2 includes all taxes plus full American hot buffet breakfast every morning).

For hotel room reservations, phone the Grace Inn at 800 843-6010. Ask for the “space access conference rate” for our $99-inclusive discount room rate. (If you’re attending, this rate is good for three days before and after the conference too, if you want to catch some extra Arizona springtime sun.)

For advance SA’09 conference registration, mail checks (sorry, credit cards can only be accepted at the door) to

Space Access ’09
5555 N 7th St #134-348
Phoenix AZ 85014.

Print, fill out, and send along this form so we’ll have all the info we
need to have your badge ready when you arrive.
——————-Space Access ’09 Advance Registration—————-

Name _________________________________________________________________

Organization _________________________________________________________
(optional, will appear on badge, 20 characters max)

email ________________________________________________________________
(for conference updates and newsletter)

amount enclosed ______________ for ___________________________________

————————————————————————-

Hope to see some of my readers there.