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My ICES 2013 Experience

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Last week I had the honor of representing HI-SEAS at the 43rd International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES) in Vail, Colorado. With over 260 attendees, the meeting featured more than 200 technical presentations on topics related to human spaceflight, including environmental control and life support systems, thermal control systems, EVA systems, habitats, terrestrial analogs, and aerospace human factors. As a non-engineer, I found myself a bit out of my element, which made everything I learned all that more exciting. This post provides short summaries of the talks I found most interesting at the conference, as well as the poster I presented there. ICES began with a keynote address by John Curry of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) on "Dream Chaser: The Future of Human Spaceflight." The Dream Chaser traces its heritage back to several lifting body craft such as the X-24A, M2-F3, and HL-10 vehicles which were developed in the 1960s. After Russia successfully