The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Carolina Space Symposium to host speakers from NASA

All systems are go for the first annual Carolina Space Symposium, a student-organized event featuring pioneers in the space industry that will be free to the public.

On March 31, Hanes Art Center will host the event, which will cover everything from interstellar travel to how to start a space company and life beyond Earth.

The symposium will last from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and include a live band, a networking session, a weather balloon launch and a free planetarium show.

“You won’t just be sitting for hours,” said Patrick Gray, the founder and president of UNC’s chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.

The student group gained notoriety on campus in January for launching a weather balloon that members later retrieved in Ahoskie.

The symposium itself will consist of nine speakers, possibly 10, if NASA accepts the group’s request for an astronaut speaker.

Space researchers, NASA employees and others on the entrepreneurial side of the industry will speak so people can see all aspects of the space industry, Gray said.

Jeff Krukin, the executive director of the Space Frontier Foundation, a major national space groups, will speak, as will a published author and an ex-NASA engineer, Gray said.

Gray said he decided to put on the symposium after he and four other members went to the group’s national conference, SpaceVision, in Colorado.

“I thought it would be cool to ignite an interest in others about something I’m passionate about,” Gray said.

Group members have held meetings to compile to-do lists, Charlie Harris, the chapter’s vice president said.

Audrey Horne, the chapter’s head of publications, said the event will cost $3,000 to $4,000.

Gray said Student Congress, as well as Wells Fargo and N.C. Space Grant are helping fund the effort. He said he hopes other engineering firms in the area will donate, too.

The symposium will be publicized in the Pit using a non-functioning, 15-foot rocket built by the chapter. Students can win tickets to a lunch with the speakers — separate from the main event —through raffles and competitions. The group will sell 80 of these tickets online for $25.

“Don’t dismiss it because you feel it’s too out of your league,” Gray said. “It’s for anybody and everybody and the point is to get people excited about going to space.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

Special Print Edition
The Daily Tar Heel's Collaborative Mental Health Edition