AIAA Los Angeles Section

RSVP and Information: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/qp3zng5/lp/c8e78fd7-9de9-4ce4-b97a-83fcbbecce55
AIAA Los Angeles Section Town Hall Meeting 11/18
(A Hybrid Meeting with an in-person presentation and both in-person & online attendance.)
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
(5:45 PM Check-in / Networking | 7 PM Presentation)

Nov 18
(Nov 18) Social Lunar Settlements: Selene, a near-term, low-cost lunar colony
Speaker:
Dr. James Wertz
Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC
President of Microcosm
Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company
Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society,
member of the International Academy of Astronautics
(In person Presentation)
Zamperini Field, Meeting Room (Torrance Airport)
3301 Airport Drive, Torrance, CA 90505

Virtual location
You will receive a confirmation email with a URL.
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
05:45pm - 09:00pm PT

Register (and Information)

Disclaimer: The views of the speaker do not represent the views of AIAA or the AIAA Los Angeles Section.
Tentative Agenda (All Times PST (GMT -0800) (U.S. and Canada)):
5:45 PM: Check-in, Networking (Welcome to bring your own dinner.)
7:00 PM: Welcome and Introduction
7:05 PM: Presentation and Q&A
8:35 PM: Networking | Adjourn
9:00 PM: Meeting Room closes
Social Lunar Settlements:
Selene, a near-term, low-cost lunar colony
Based on USC’s ASTE 523 course, this seminar describes the Selene Social Lunar Settlement. It explores the creation of a near-term, low-cost, high-income, commercial and international lunar colony lived in by ordinary people, including graduate students, scientists, diplomats, and business entrepreneurs.

Dr. James (Jim) Wertz
Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC
President of Microcosm
Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company
Ph.D. Physics University of Texas at Austin (1970)
M.S. Science & Tech Admin. George Washington University (1978)
S.B. Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1966)

For more than 40 years, Dr. Wertz has been a world-recognized expert in space mission analysis and design, space systems design, spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control, spacecraft orbit and attitude systems, and developing “New Space,” i.e., low cost, high performance, responsive spacecraft and launch systems.
In addition to being an Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC, Dr. Wertz is the President of Microcosm, a small business in Torrance, CA whose main business areas are: space mission engineering, low cost space and launch systems, autonomous navigation and orbit control, space sensor design, and space hardware and software development. He is also Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company, which manufactures space hardware, including, in Feb. 2024, the first commercial propellant tanks to land on the Moon.
Dr. Wertz’s experience includes virtually all mission phases: concept exploration, hardware design and development (both at spacecraft and component levels), spacecraft integration and test, launch support, and mission operations. He is the editor and principal author of:
· Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD) (Kluwer Academic, 1st edition, 1990, 2nd edition, 1992, 3rd Edition, 1999, 969 pg.), the most widely used astronautics text and reference in print.
· Space Mission Engineering– the New SMAD (Microcosm Press, 2011, 1033 pg.), entirely new, more extensive replacement for SMAD
· Reducing Space Mission Cost (Kluwer Academic and Microcosm, 1996, 617 pg.), volume aimed at changing the way we do business in space.
· Mission Geometry: Orbit and Constellation Design and Management (Kluwer Academic, 2001, 934 pg.), intended as the new standard reference in Spacecraft Orbit Analysis and Design.
· Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control (D. Reidel, 1978, 858 pg.), the standard reference work in this field now in its 14th printing.
Dr. Wertz has taught courses worldwide in “Space Mission Analysis and Design,” “Reducing Space Mission Cost,” and “Constellation Design, Management and Economics.” He is currently teaching a course at USC in a near-term, low-cost, profit-making lunar settlement. Dr. Wertz is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Figure 1. Three of the books edited by Dr. Wertz. From left to right: Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD), 3rd Ed.; Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD; and Reducing Space Mission Cost.

[AIAA Los Angeles Section], [contact@aiaa-lalv.org], [https://www.aiaa-lalv.org]

RSVP Information: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/6j72yu7/lp/14dfc4c8-5084-4f29-9410-8cd37dcba7d0
AIAA Los Angeles Section Town Hall Meeting 12/1
(A Hybrid Meeting with an in-person presentation and both in-person & online attendance.)
Tuesday, December 1, 2026
(5:45 PM Check-in / Networking | 7 PM Presentation)

Dec 01
(December 1) Creating Responsive Space
Speaker:
Dr. James Wertz
Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC
President of Microcosm
Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company
Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society,
member of the International Academy of Astronautics
(In person Presentation)
Torrance Municipal Airport-Zamperini Field (KTOA) (Meeting Room)
3301 Airport Drive, Torrance, CA 90505

Online Location:
You will receive a confirmation email with a URL.
Tuesday, December 1, 2026
05:45pm - 09:00pm PT

Register (and Information)

Disclaimer: The views of the speaker do not represent the views of AIAA or the AIAA Los Angeles Section.
Tentative Agenda (All Times PST (GMT -0800) (U.S. and Canada)):
5:45 PM: Check-in, Networking (Welcome to bring your own dinner.)
7:00 PM: Welcome and Introduction
7:05 PM: Presentation and Q&A
8:35 PM: Networking | Adjourn
9:00 PM: Meeting Room closes

Creating Responsive Space
Put any payload you want into any orbit you want it in,
whenever you want it there, with multiple launches available per day
Creating truly responsive space has been an elusive goal since It was introduced in the first AIAA Responsive Space Conference here in LA in April, 2003. Jim Wertz describes a process of getting to truly responsive space in the near-term and at low cost. Finally getting there will change the way the space program works.

Dr. James (Jim) Wertz
Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC
President of Microcosm
Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company
Ph.D. Physics University of Texas at Austin (1970)
M.S. Science & Tech Admin. George Washington University (1978)
S.B. Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1966)

For more than 40 years, Dr. Wertz has been a world-recognized expert in space mission analysis and design, space systems design, spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control, spacecraft orbit and attitude systems, and developing “New Space,” i.e., low cost, high performance, responsive spacecraft and launch systems.
In addition to being an Adjunct Professor of Astronautics at USC, Dr. Wertz is the President of Microcosm, a small business in Torrance, CA whose main business areas are: space mission engineering, low cost space and launch systems, autonomous navigation and orbit control, space sensor design, and space hardware and software development. He is also Chairman of the Scorpius Space Launch Company, which manufactures space hardware, including, in Feb. 2024, the first commercial propellant tanks to land on the Moon.
Dr. Wertz’s experience includes virtually all mission phases: concept exploration, hardware design and development (both at spacecraft and component levels), spacecraft integration and test, launch support, and mission operations. He is the editor and principal author of:
· Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD) (Kluwer Academic, 1st edition, 1990, 2nd edition, 1992, 3rd Edition, 1999, 969 pg.), the most widely used astronautics text and reference in print.
· Space Mission Engineering– the New SMAD (Microcosm Press, 2011, 1033 pg.), entirely new, more extensive replacement for SMAD
· Reducing Space Mission Cost (Kluwer Academic and Microcosm, 1996, 617 pg.), volume aimed at changing the way we do business in space.
· Mission Geometry: Orbit and Constellation Design and Management (Kluwer Academic, 2001, 934 pg.), intended as the new standard reference in Spacecraft Orbit Analysis and Design.
· Spacecraft Attitude Determination and Control (D. Reidel, 1978, 858 pg.), the standard reference work in this field now in its 14th printing.
Dr. Wertz has taught courses worldwide in “Space Mission Analysis and Design,” “Reducing Space Mission Cost,” and “Constellation Design, Management and Economics.” He is currently teaching a course at USC in a near-term, low-cost, profit-making lunar settlement. Dr. Wertz is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Figure 1. Three of the books edited by Dr. Wertz. From left to right: Space Mission Analysis and Design (SMAD), 3rd Ed.; Space Mission Engineering: The New SMAD; and Reducing Space Mission Cost.

[AIAA Los Angeles Section], [contact@aiaa-lalv.org], [https://www.aiaa-lalv.org]