George Mason Space Day 2024

All events will take place on the ground floor of the Johnson Center on Mason's Fairfax Campus. 

2 p.m. Registration open

2:30 p.m. Doors open

Please be seated in Dewberry Hall by 3 p.m. sharp

3 p.m. Opening remarks

3:15 p.m. Keynote: Dr. Kjell Lindgren, NASA Astronaut

4 p.m. Oleg Goushcha, 
Return to the Moon Through Artemis: Analyzing Launch Vehicle Aerodynamics with Wind-tunnel Test and Artemis I Flight      

4:40 p.m. Tom Reinert and Eileen Kragie
Starlight Lost: Understanding Light Pollution and Its Impact in Our Lives

5:05 p.m. Peter Plavchan
The NASA Landolt Mission

5:30 p.m. Shobita Satyapal
Hidden monsters in Galaxies: Supermassive black holes in the era of the James Webb Space Telescope

5:55 p.m. Jie Zhang
Solar Storms and Space Weather

6:20 p.m. Erdal Yigit
Exploring Mars in 21st Century

6:45 p.m. Alan Zhu and team
Caelus Rocketry: Pioneering High School Liquid-Fueled Rocketry

7:10 p.m. Expert Panel: “How do you become a space expert?” 

Panelists:
Kjell Lindgren, NASA Astronaut
Oleg Goushcha, NASA Engineer
Peter Plavchan, Executive Director GMU Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Piotr Pachowicz, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Volgenau School of Engineering

7:30 p.m. Closing and Raffle drawing

Exhibit area 1: Vendor booths    
Lobby in front of Dewberry Hall

Exhibit area 2: Planetarium Shows and vendor tables 
Atrium, Johnson Center, first floor

Exhibit area 3: Activities for kids
Meeting room A, Johnson Center, third floor

Exhibit area 4: Bottle rocket launches and other activities
West Plaza

Exhibit area 5: Sun viewing with telescope
South Plaza

Observatory tours will start at 4 p.m. and end at 9:20 p.m. 

Caelus rocketry

Oleg Goushcha, Aerospace Research Engineer, NASA Langley Research Center

Eileen Kragie,Founder, Dark Sky Friends

Kjell N. Lindgren, NASA Astronaut

Piotr Pachowicz, Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University

Peter Plavchan, Landolt Mission Principal Investigator, Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University

Tom Reinert, President, DarkSky International

Shobita Satyapal, Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University

Erdal Yiğit,  Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University

Jie Zhang, Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University

View speaker bios

Analemma Society

BAE Systems

Caelus Rocketry

George Mason Chemistry Club

Dark Sky Friends

DarkSky NOVA

Fairfax County Parks and Recreation

NASA

Northern Virginia Astronomy Club

Planetary Geology

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Smithsonian Partners 

SPEC Innovations

Because Science

They event will take place in the Johnson Center on Mason's Fairfax Campus. 

Free parking is located in Lot A.

Bus transportation is also available. There is a main bus terminal on campus for the Cue bus system. There are also a couple of Metro bus stops near campus, including the 176, 306, 17G and 29K lines.

If you have questions, contact Gabriele Belle. 

View campus map

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Please treat everyone with respect at all times, and abide by Mason's Physics and Astronomy Department Code of Conduct

Children and minors in attendance:

All minors MUST be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times. 

Gabriele Belle, Committee Chair

Aarushi Bommidi, Representative of Caelus Rocketry
S Falgiano, George Mason Observatory
Natasha Gilliam, Marketing and Communications
Lesley Irminger, Sponsorships
Audrey Kelaher, Co-Chair, Sponsorships
Zander Leon, Marketing and Communications
Tracy Mason, Co-Chair, Marketing and Communications 
Peter Pachowicz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering 
Rob Parks, Co-Chair, George Mason Observatory
Laura M Powers, Marketing and Communications
Alan Zhu, Representative of Caelus Rocketry