Thank you for attending the fourth annual HELIOTECH symposium in partnership with NASA Orbital Flight and hosted at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. We hope this symposium week has forged new partnerships toward building the foundation for the next generation of space weather and Heliophysics missions.
This year’s weeklong HELIOTECH symposium brought together more than 400 members of the Heliophysics and Orbital Flight communities (virtually and in person), representing 85 organizations from around the world. The agenda, in eight thematic tracks, included 90+ technical talks (with six invited speakers), 35 technical posters, and an Access to Commercial Space panel with representatives from NASA’s Flight Opportunities Office and commercial flight providers. We also announced the exciting new TechLeap Orbital Clarity Challenge. A collaborative effort of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, Flight Opportunities program, and Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, the Orbital Clarity Challenge is a prize competition with the goal of advancing approaches to measuring thermospheric density, pressure, or drag that are inexpensive and scalable enough to be produced in quantity and flown as hosted payloads across the commercial fleet to inform safer, more predictable satellite flight paths. Our new Wednesday networking lunch afforded attendees with additional networking opportunities across organizations, disciplines, and fields of study. And this year’s exciting APL tour showcased a Dragonfly mission integration facility.
Finally, we are very pleased to announce that HELIOTECH27, which will be hosted September 20-24, 2027 at APL in Laurel, Maryland, will be in partnership with NASA’s Planetary Exploration Science Technology Office (PESTO). We look forward to seeing you again next year!
