SPEC Innovations Takes Space Day at GMU

SPEC Innovations had the pleasure of sponsoring George Mason University’s Space Day on September 10th! The event was free for everyone of all ages and educated the public on the technology and science behind some of the leading aerospace projects in the area.

GMU did a great job creating fun for all with hands-on STEM activities including bottle rockets, Solar telescope viewing, Quantum Mechanics, and more. There were even observatory tours and planetarium shows for the 700-800 attendees. SPEC Innovations had our very own booth complete with demonstrations from our Lunar Rover Prototype that we built for NASA’s Break the Ice Challenge, activities for the kids, and SPEC swag.

Experts in the industry shared presentations on different topics of interest. Colonel Michael Hopkins, Space Force/NASA Astronaut and Commander of the Crew-1 Dragon Mission was featured as the keynote speaker, sharing his personal experiences in space. The other specialists that gave talks were Dr. Sandra Cauffman, Deputy Administrator of Astrophysics at NASA Headquarters; Dr. Piotr Pachowicz, Professor of Engineering at George Mason University; and Robin McDougal, CEO of the Pearl Project Institute.

I had the honor of presenting among these brilliant experts with my presentation, “How to Apply Digital Engineering to Space Technologies for the Future.” My presentation focused initially on my experiences as a student at GMU (class of 1974) and how that played a part in my becoming the President and COO of SPEC Innovations. I had the opportunity to share more about our Lunar Rover and Innoslate’s role in developing a Digital Thread for the rover we designed. Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl6LVCmOboQ to learn more about the Lunar Rover and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhFqKzdTo9s to watch my Space Day presentation, starting at 2:50:00.

About SPEC Innovations: SPEC Innovations is a women-owned small business that has provided innovative solutions since 1993 to highly critical government and commercial programs. Our people are experts at developing complex systems for aerospace, defense, and the intelligence industry. Innoslate, the first cloud-native MBSE tool, was developed to support the entire system lifecycle. Modeling, simulation, requirements management, testing, and program management altogether. Sopatra, powered by Innoslate, provides simulated-human performance metrics. To learn more, visit specinnovations.com/innoslate.