The 2003 AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference Meeting will be held at the Big Sky Resort, Big Sky, Montana, on August 3-7, 2003. This meeting is cosponsored by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The meeting is organized by the AAS Space Flight Mechanics Technical Committee and the AIAA Astrodynamics Technical Committee.

Papers are sought from all areas of astrodynamics, including but not limited to:

• Orbital dynamics, perturbations, and stability
• Earth orbital and planetary mission studies
• Formation flying and satellite constellations
• Trajectory design and optimization
• Orbit determination and tracking
• Spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control
• Low thrust mission and trajectory design
• Attitude dynamics, determination, and control of space structures
• Dynamics and control of tethers
• Artificial and natural space debris
• Trajectories about libration points
• Dynamical systems theory as applied to space flight problems

Papers which contain experimental results or current data are especially encouraged.

Special session proposals will be considered from prospective session organizers with the intent to invite discussion and the exchange of ideas regarding the topical area. Prospective special session chairs should submit a proposal consisting of a title, a brief description of the session, and a list of proposed activities and/or invited speakers and titles. Special sessions may be as long as four hours for selected topics. Special areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• The International Space Station
• Flight Demonstrations
• Parallel processing applications in astrodynamics
• Small satellite attitude control and estimation
• History and future of the U.S. Space program
• International Space programs
• Neural Networks for Spacecraft
• Panel discussions

Papers will be accepted on the basis of extended abstracts. These abstracts shall consist of:

1. A cover page containing the paper title as well as the name, affiliation, postal address, telephone number, fax number, and email address of each author. This page shall also indicate the corresponding author, who will be the point of contact for all communication from the technical chairs.
2. The text of the extended abstract, with a length of 500-1000 words and containing supporting tables and figures. The extended abstract shall provide a clear and concise statement of the problem addressed and the results obtained. Submissions without extended abstracts will not be considered.
3. A condensed (short) version of the abstract (100 words maximum) to be included in the printed conference program.

Final manuscripts (50 copies) are required at the time of the conference. A "no paper, no podium" rule will be in effect; no author will be permitted to make a presentation at the conference if a written paper is not available in printed form at the time of the presentation. This rule does not apply to plenary session or invited speakers.

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 07 March 2003. We encourage submissions to be made by email. Acceptable document formats are pdf, PostScript, ASCII, and Word. For pdf and PostScript files, be sure that all fonts are embedded in the file. For Word files, use only the standard installation fonts. Avoid using symbols and Greek characters in the short abstracts.

Notification of acceptance will be sent to the authors via email by 01 May 2003. Author instructions will be sent by email and also placed on the AAS Web site, www-space-flight.org.

Prospective authors are reminded that technology transfer guidelines have extended considerably the time required for review of abstracts and completed papers by U.S. government agencies. Internal (company) plus external (government) reviews can consume 16 weeks or more. Government review, if required, is the responsibility of the author. Authors should determine the extent of approval necessary early in the paper preparation process to preclude paper withdrawals and late submissions.

All material (cover page, extended and short abstracts) should be sent to each of the Technical Chairs:

For other questions regarding the conference, please contact the General Chairs :