46th AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference (2024)
- Date
- 2024-02-01
- Location
- Breckenridge, USA
- Host
- American Astronautical Society
About this event
The 46th AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference (2024) brings together the people who build, study, and operate GN&C systems across aerospace. If your work touches vehicle performance, mission assurance, autonomy, estimation, controls, flight dynamics, or system integration, this is a focused place to hear what the field is working on now and where it is headed next. Set in Breckenridge, USA, this long-running annual conference offers more than a sequence of technical talks. It is a working meeting point for industry, government, and academia—a place to compare methods, pressure-test ideas, share lessons from real programs, and have the kinds of conversations that rarely happen over email. About the Event Hosted by the Rocky Mountain Section of AAS, the annual AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference is centered on the full lifecycle of GN&C systems. That means the conversation is not limited to one narrow specialty or one project phase. It spans the progression from early concepts and modeling through design, analysis, implementation, test, operations, and ongoing performance improvement. This conference is built for a technical community that values rigor and practical relevance. You can expect a program shaped by the real challenges facing aerospace teams: how systems are architected, how performance is verified, how uncertainty is managed, and how GN&C disciplines connect with broader mission and vehicle requirements. Because the audience includes professionals and researchers from industry, government, and academia, the event creates a useful mix of perspectives. Some attendees will arrive with deep program experience and operational insight; others will bring emerging research, new tools, or fresh analytical approaches. That combination is one of the conference’s strengths. It also functions as a genuine community gathering. The value is not only in the formal content, but in being in the room with people who understand the technical and organizational realities of GN&C work. What to Expect Expect a conference experience organized around technical exchange, professional connection, and community conversation. The program is likely to appeal to engineers, researchers, program contributors, and decision-makers who want substance rather than broad, high-level generalities. Across the event, attendees can expect activity such as: Technical presentations on guidance, navigation, and control topics across aerospace applications Discussions of methods and tools used to model, analyze, validate, and improve GN&C performance Cross-sector perspectives from attendees working in government organizations, private industry, and academic research Informal networking with peers who face similar design, integration, and mission challenges Conversations about the full system lifecycle, from concept development to operational use The setting encourages both planned and unplanned learning. Formal sessions give structure to the exchange of ideas, while breaks, hallway conversations, and social moments give attendees a chance to dig deeper into topics that matter to their own work. Because this is an established annual conference, many people attend not only to present or learn, but to stay connected to the GN&C community over time. That continuity helps turn individual sessions into longer-term professional relationships and recurring technical dialogue. Why Attend If you work in GN&C, one of the biggest benefits of attending is context. It is easy to get absorbed in the constraints of a single program, research project, or technical stack. This conference gives you a broader view of how others are approaching similar problems, what assumptions they are challenging, and what tradeoffs are shaping current work across the field. It is also a strong venue for grounded peer learning. You can compare techniques, hear how teams think about risk and performance, and better understand how ideas move from theory into implementation. For attendees in research, that can sharpen relevance. For attendees in practice, it can surface new approaches worth exploring. You may find value here if you want to: Stay current on GN&C thinking across multiple parts of the aerospace ecosystem Meet collaborators, peers, and potential future partners in a technically aligned setting Learn from other teams’ approaches to design, analysis, testing, and operational challenges Reconnect with the AAS GN&C community and maintain visibility in the field Bridge gaps between research and application by hearing from people working on both sides For newer attendees, the conference can help map the landscape of the GN&C community and clarify where your own work fits. For experienced professionals, it offers a concentrated chance to exchange insight with other practitioners who understand the details that matter. Practical Details This is an in-person event taking place in Breckenridge, USA. The in-person format matters: it supports deeper technical conversation, stronger networking, and more spontaneous interaction than most online events can offer. The listed start time is Thursday, February 1 at 12:00 AM UTC. If you are planning travel or coordinating with colleagues, it is worth double-checking the local schedule and any conference-specific timing details as you finalize your plans. A few practical reasons to plan ahead: Travel logistics matter for an in-person conference, especially if you are coming from outside the region Session selection may help you get more from the event if you want to focus on particular GN&C topics Networking time is often as valuable as formal content, so leave room in your schedule for conversations before, between, and after sessions Whether you are attending to share work, learn from the field, or strengthen your connection to the aerospace GN&C community, this conference offers a serious, well-aligned setting to do it. For anyone working where guidance, navigation, and control shape mission success, it is a meaningful place to be in the room.
Who should attend
If your work touches guidance, navigation, and control at any stage of a mission or system lifecycle, you’ll find your people here. - **You design, build, or test GN&C systems** for spacecraft, launch vehicles, missiles, aircraft, robotics, or autonomous platforms and want to stay sharp on current methods, tradeoffs, and real-world implementation. - **You work in industry, government, or academia** and value a room where those perspectives mix—useful if you want technical depth, practical lessons, and conversations that connect research to deployed systems. - **You’re responsible for mission performance or system reliability**, whether in estimation, controls, flight dynamics, simulation, integration, verification, or operations, and want broader context across the full GN&C lifecycle. - **You’re a researcher or student** looking to understand where the field is moving, get exposure to applied problems, and meet people working on the challenges that matter most right now. - **You lead or support multidisciplinary teams** and need a better grasp of how GN&C decisions affect architecture, software, sensors, hardware, testing, and mission outcomes. - **You want a technical conference with substance**—the kind where you can learn during the sessions and keep the conversation going with attendees from across the aerospace community.