2026 Program Archive

Registration, Continental Breakfast

Opening Ceremony & Welcome Remarks

CAL-SPACE opens by honoring the legacy, leadership and future of the Mojave Air & Space Port and the broader Aerospace Valley. Emcee Kari Crutcher will welcome attendees and introduce Stu Witt, former CEO and General Manager of Mojave Air & Space Port and namesake of the Stuart O. Witt Event Center. Witt will reflect on Mojave’s pioneering role in aerospace, flight test and commercial spaceflight and collaboration across aerospace, defense, space, research and innovation.

Emcee

Kari Crutcher

Executive Director of Engagement, CAL-SPACE and Event Emcee

Opening speaker

Stuart O. Witt

Founder and Owner

S.O. Witt & Associates LLC — Consulting

Former CEO and General Manager, Mojave Air & Space Port

Keynote Speaker: Stuart O. Witt

Stuart O. Witt is a commercial space pioneer and 50-year aviation professional whose career spans naval aviation, developmental flight testing, engineering management and spaceport leadership. As CEO of Mojave Air & Space Port, he helped establish the nation’s first inland spaceport, which hosted Scaled Composites’ historic 2004 Ansari X PRIZE achievement.

Witt paved the way for Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company, Stratolaunch Systems, XCOR Aerospace and Masten Space Systems to establish operations in Mojave. A founding member of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, he served as its chairman from 2012–2014 and helped advance state and federal legislation supporting commercial spaceflight.

His military career included service as an F-14 Tomcat pilot aboard USS John F. Kennedy and an F/A-18A project pilot at China Lake. He later flew B-1B, F-16C and F-23 testbeds as an engineering test pilot for Westinghouse. A Cal State Northridge graduate, Witt also completed programs at TOPGUN, the Naval Aviation Schools Command and the University of Maryland’s Center for Creative Leadership. Since 2016, he has provided professional services to the commercial space, secure data storage and renewable energy industries.

Keynote speaker

Stuart O. Witt

Founder and Owner

S.O. Witt & Associates LLC — Consulting

Former CEO and General Manager, Mojave Air & Space Port

Industry Leadership Fireside Chat – An Unfiltered View

Session sponsored by: Melrose Inc.

CAL-SPACE opens with a candid Industry Leadership Roundtable bringing together senior aerospace, space, defense, and technology executives for an unfiltered discussion about the challenges shaping the industry and the changes needed to strengthen the relationship between government and the private sector. Rather than a traditional policy discussion, this plenary will provide a senior level perspective on the realities of doing business in today’s national security and aerospace environment, including acquisition timelines, regulatory requirements, access to capital, workforce constraints, supply-chain resilience, infrastructure, testing and demonstration opportunities, and the difficulty of moving promising technologies from development into operational use.

Moderator

Sandy Nasseri

CEO

Melrose Inc.

Panelist

Aaron Cassebeer

Chief Operations Officer

Stratolaunch

Panelist

John Culbertson

Director, Mojave Test Site

Vast Space

Desert, Sea & Space: California’s Multi-Domain Test Enterprise

California’s aerospace advantage lies in its concentration of test ranges, controlled airspace, runways, research centers, naval assets and space-launch infrastructure stretching from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific coast. This session explores how government and commercial users can improve access, interoperability, instrumentation, data sharing and coordination across these resources. Connecting military installations, federal research centers, commercial spaceports and private facilities can strengthen experimentation across air, land, sea, space, cyber and electromagnetic environments.

Moderator

Tammy Schiller

Portfolio Acquisition Executive, Munitions Advanced Capabilities, & Innovation Strategic Engagements Lead

NAWCWD

Panelist

Felipe Jauregui

Chief Technology Officer

NAWCWD

Panelist

Richard A. Burr

Director, Point Mugu Sea Range; Senior Scientific Technology Manager

NAWCWD

Panelist

Sandee Bratton

Principal Mission Engineering SME

ARA

Hosted Luncheon & Networking

Connecting Emerging Companies and Startups to Government Missions

The next generation of aerospace, defense, and space innovation increasingly originates beyond traditional defense contractors, from emerging technology companies, commercial startups, advanced manufacturers, to businesses applying capabilities developed for entirely different markets. This session brings together government contracting leaders, small business advocates, state economic development officials, and industry partners to examine how innovative companies can enter and expand within the aerospace and defense marketplace. Panelists will explore alternative acquisition pathways, strategic partnerships, technology demonstrations, state-supported initiatives, and opportunities to accelerate commercialization and industry integration.

Moderator

Christapher Bess

District Director, Orange County / Inland Empire

U.S. Small Business Administration

Panelist

Angela Watson

Program Manager

APEX Accelerator

Panelist

Shelley White

Director, OSPB

Air Force Test Center

Autonomous AI: The Next Generation of Mission Operations

Artificial intelligence is beginning to change how spacecraft sense, navigate, communicate, coordinate, and make decisions without continuous direction from the ground. As constellations grow larger and missions operate farther from Earth, greater autonomy will be required to manage spacecraft health, process data at the edge, respond to changing conditions, coordinate distributed systems, and reduce dependence on traditional ground-control architectures.

Moderator

Felipe Jauregui

Chief Technology Officer

NAWCWD

Panelist

Stephanie Fels

Co-Founder & CRO

Connect981

Panelist

CAPT Joel Uzarski, USN (Ret.)

Business Development

Harmattan Industries, Inc.

Panelist

Dr. Scott T. Glaser

President & CEO

Aerospace Operations, LLC

Networking Break

Aerospace Valley: A Cluster Strategy for Growth at the Epicenter of Flight Test

Stretching from Palmdale to Ridgecrest, California's Aerospace Valley has long been at the forefront of aviation and space innovation. Now, regional leaders are advancing a coordinated cluster strategy to accelerate innovation, attract investment, and strengthen the aerospace and defense industrial base. This panel will explore how regional partners are working together to unlock the region's full potential, drive sustained economic growth and support the companies expanding the envelope of American aerospace and space capabilities.

Moderator

Justin Salters

Project Lead

Griffiss Institute

Panelist

Jeremy Woods, Ph.D.

Professor of Management; Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

CSU Bakersfield

Panelist

Joe Arriola

Economic Development

Kern County Administrative Office

Panelist

Alfred Brubaker, Jr.

Professor of Aeronautical Sciences and Technologies

Antelope Valley College

Continental Breakfast and Networking

KEYNOTE SPEAKER – DAVID HALL, Founder and CEO, Velodyne Space

A pioneering inventor and entrepreneur whose innovations have transformed industries, David Hall brings a remarkable career spanning advanced sensing, autonomous systems, propulsion, and emerging defense technologies. With more than 75 patents and recognition as Inventor of the Year, Hall helped launch the modern self-driving vehicle industry through his groundbreaking lidar technology. His work also extends to electromagnetic coil accelerator technology, drone defense, and next-generation aerospace applications. In this keynote, Hall will share insights from his journey of invention, commercialization, and technological disruption, exploring how bold ideas become transformative industries. His address will challenge the aerospace and space community to accelerate innovation, strengthen regional collaboration, and leverage the inaugural CAL-SPACE as a launchpad for expanding California's leadership in aerospace, defense, and space technology.

Keynote speaker

David Hall

Founder and CEO

Velodyne Space

Launch & Range Modernization: Scaling Access to Space

Higher launch cadence, responsive national-security missions and increasingly complex payloads demand modern ranges, resilient ground systems and closer government-commercial coordination. This session examines how the U.S. Space Force, federal range operators, launch companies, spaceports and technology providers can strengthen assured access to space through range automation, digital infrastructure, resilient communications, autonomous flight safety and streamlined payload processing. Discussion will address launch-site capacity, shared-use facilities, scheduling flexibility, telemetry and tracking, efficient licensing and the integration of diverse vehicles and payloads. Together, these improvements can expand launch capacity, accelerate mission readiness and better integrate commercial capabilities into national-security missions.

Moderator

Dr. Jennifer Zellet

Superintendent/President

Antelope Valley College

Panelist

Dr. David G. Smith

CEO and General Manager

Mojave Air & Space Port

Panelist

David Ibarra

CEO and Former FAA Official

Eagle Flight Vertical Solutions

Panelist

David Hall

Founder and CEO

Velodyne Space

Business Growth & Deal Flow: Financing the Next Aerospace Economy

Aerospace companies face unusual capital requirements, including long technical cycles, hardware-intensive development, specialized facilities, regulated testing and government customers. This session brings together investors, market analysts, corporate partners and commercialization organizations to examine how companies can finance growth, secure strategic customers and scale in California. Panelists will explore venture capital, strategic investment, government funding, public-private partnerships and pathways from early-stage innovation to commercial production.

Presenter

Craig Hrinkevich

Senior Partner

D.A. Davidson

Presenter

Eric Eide

Deputy Director, Economic and Community Development

City of Palmdale

Hosted Luncheon & Networking

Autonomy Earning Trust: AI and Uncrewed Systems

Trust in autonomous flight must be earned through measurable performance. This session examines how developers demonstrate that AI-enabled aircraft and uncrewed systems can respond to unexpected conditions, manage handoffs between humans and automation, and recover safely from system failures. Drawing on NASA Armstrong’s work in autonomous systems, flight controls, collision avoidance and testing methods, the discussion will explore staged demonstrations that build from controlled scenarios to increasingly complex flight environments. Panelists will examine what to measure, how to define success and how flight-test evidence can reveal limitations, guide improvements and support confidence in operational readiness.

Moderator

CAPT Joel Uzarski, USN (Ret.)

Business Development

Harmattan Industries, Inc.

Panelist

James Bell

Head of Expendable Aerial Vehicles

NAWCWD

Panelist

Dr. John Jensen

Head of Advanced Capabilities Division

NAWCWD

Panelist

LCDR Pierce Weller

Military Deputy of Unmanned Systems Integrated Product Team

NAWCWD

Industry and Government Fireside Chat: Propulsion, Hypersonics and Flight Test

Advanced propulsion and high-speed flight depend on an integrated test enterprise capable of moving technologies rapidly from ground testing to operationally relevant flight demonstration. This session will examine rocket and high-speed propulsion, energetic materials, thermal management, instrumentation, telemetry, range access, qualification, safety and the test-to-learn processes required to advance experimental aircraft, hypersonic systems and next-generation propulsion technologies.

Moderator and Panelist

Jeremy Vaughan

Chief Strategy Officer

NAWCWD

Panelist

Anna Tombazzi

Chief Technology Officer

Supply Energetics

Networking Break

Critical Space Components & Spacecraft Manufacturing for Defense & Space Industrial Base

National-security and commercial space missions require an industrial base capable of producing complex satellites and spacecraft with greater speed and scale. This session examines critical technologies and subsystems, including electronics, propulsion, sensors, optics, radiation-hardened components, power, communications, structures, and payloads. Panelists will explore how modular architectures, digital engineering, automation, additive manufacturing, robotics, advanced materials, and supplier integration are accelerating production and improving economics. Discussion will address supply-chain vulnerabilities, component qualification, trusted suppliers, environmental testing, assembly capacity, and supporting infrastructure needed to strengthen America’s space industrial base and enable resilient, repeatable manufacturing at scale for demanding national-security and commercial missions.

Moderator

Dr. David G. Smith

CEO and General Manager

Mojave Air & Space Port

Panelist

Randa Milliron

Co-Founder & CEO

Interorbital

Panelist

Pennie Burnham

Vice President North America

Nycote Laboratories

Panelist

Lea R. Sommese

Chief of the Small Business Office

Space Launch Delta 30, U.S. Space Force

Talent Development, Workforce & the Next Aerospace Generation

California’s aerospace advantage depends on engineers, technicians, machinists, pilots, software developers and operators who can work across defense, commercial space and advanced manufacturing. This session examines how to build a connected talent pipeline, beginning with early STEM programs specifically geared toward aerospace and space and continuing through secondary education, career technical programs, community colleges and four-year universities. Panelists will explore hands-on learning, dual enrollment, transfer pathways, apprenticeships, internships and university-industry partnerships that connect students with regional career opportunities. Discussion will also address veteran transition, professional reskilling, security clearance requirements, housing and talent retention.

Moderator

Angel Zamarron

Student Employment & STEM Outreach

NAWCWD

Panelist

Van Rider

Workforce Development & Community Engagement

Antelope Valley College

Panelist

Andrea Medina

Director of Grants and Outreach, College of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering

CSU Bakersfield

Panelist

Matthew Winheim

2025 CA Teacher of the Year; 2026 CA National Nominee; STEM Education Consultant

SAGE Academy, Grades 6–8, Palmdale School District

Closing Remarks & Adjournment