2nd Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop – August 22 – 24, 2012

Source: Nasa.gov

2nd Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop
By University of Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska University Transportation Center
In Collaboration with
NASA Ames Research Center and ISO Polar
At the University of Alaska Anchorage
August 22-24, 2012

The first Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop in 2011 met with great success as a venue that brought together potential users of modern heavy lift airship services with representatives from the aerospace community that are developing modern cargo airships. The second workshop will follow up the achievements of the first one by further facilitating the formation of near-term business opportunities for the manufacturers and users of heavy lift airships.

Researchers from NASA Ames Research Center will provide insights into the new technologies that form the solid engineering basis for modern cargo airship systems. Speakers from the mining, oil, and gas industries will describe their transportation challenges and how they plan to exploit cargo airships in support of their businesses. Local Alaskan air freight firms will discuss how cargo airships can complement existing air transport fleets by providing additional capability and expanding air shipping services. The world’s leading developers of airships will provide design and operational details on the new cargo airships they’re currently developing and preparing to deploy for commercial service. Representatives from the financial community will present the many options available for what has often been the missing element of airship development and operations, funding.

Workshop Themes
The second cargo airship workshop will focus on fostering the business of cargo airship operations by demonstrating that the cargo airship is now at the threshold of deployment. Workshop attendees will learn how cargo airships can be utilized generally, and deployed specifically for their business operations. The overall workshop message will be that the time has come for the cargo airship to get down to business.

Workshop Format
The first two days of the workshop are intended to be a time for the exchange of ideas, information, and for generating business opportunities for cargo airship development and deployment. Speakers will provide insights into topics that follow the principal themes of the workshop. To further support collaboration among the attendees a “Speed Networking” session will provide meeting rooms where airship developers, potential users, and potential investors/funders can conduct private discussions. The morning of the third day will feature a visit to Lynden Air Cargo, an Anchorage based air cargo company that operates commercial Lockheed Hercules aircraft where participants will learn about the challenges of air freighting cargo into remote northern regions.

Plans are in the works for a radio control airship to be flown in the workshop exhibitor area. An Alaskan hot air balloon operator is also being approached to provide tethered hot air balloon ascents in the parking lot next to the workshop meeting facility. These two vehicles will provide attendees with helpful insight into some of the general properties of lighter-than-air technologies that much larger cargo airships are likewise governed by.

Audience
• Commercial shipping companies, air freight companies
• Airship companies and aerospace vendors
• US and Canadian government organizations that employ cargo transport systems
• Construction companies, fisheries, resource extraction companies (Oil, Gas, and Mining companies)
• Venture capitalists, investment fund managers, private equity firms
• Researchers from government and academia
• Government agencies, State and Federal transportation program managers, Federal Aviation Administration, Transport Canada, military organizations
• Non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), humanitarian relief agencies

Registration and Additional Information
Workshop announcements, registration information, exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities are available on the University of Alaska online registration website: http://www.alaska.edu/uacp/events/cargo-airships

Source: Nasa.gov

Click here to see the Conference agenda.

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