Conferences

GAUSS and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) are pleased to report that the 5th edition of the IAA Conference on University Satellite Missions and CubeSat Workshop took place on January 28-31, 2020 in Rome. The Conference dedicated to CubeSats technology was organized by GAUSS Srl and sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), European Space Agency (ESA) and American Astronautical Society (AAS). The Conference offered technical sessions on launch opportunities for universities, ground segment operations, space debris, new perspectives in microsatellites application and several presentations dedicated to CubeSats missions, and on interplanetary missions especially to Mars.

Photo: From left to the right: Jean-Michel Contant, France, Leonardo Mazzini, Italy and Filippo Graziani, Italy.

The 6th IAA Space Flight Safety Symposium (SFS) took place on 23-26 September 2019 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. During the Symposium 10 technical lectures were delivered. 24 oral presentations with questions and answers were delivered by young scientists. Topics discussed were Moon Station Safety, Protection of Space structures from space debris collisions and micrometeoroids, Fire safety of Space vehicles, Safety at launch and during splashdown, Propulsion systems, Radiation hazards and safety, and Supercomputer predictive modeling for ensuring Space program safety. The first day of the Symposium was a cultural event – a group visit to the Hermitage museum. On the second day of Symposium all participants watched the midday volley of two guns at Peter and Paul Fortress. The Plenary speakers Mikhail Marov and Nickolay Smirnov were given the honor by the city authorities to fire from the cannon thus announcing midday.

This event – dedicated to space debris – has been organized by the Municipality of Castelgrande and the Company GAUSS Srl, under the aegis of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). The Symposium took place on Toppo di Castelgrande, located at 1250 meters above sea level, where the CastelGAUSS Astronomical Observatory, is positioned. It is managed by the Company GAUSS Srl in cooperation with KIAM (the Keldish Institute of Moscow) and it is dedicated to space debris and asteroids detection and part of the ISON (International Scientific Optical Network).

The 11th IAA Symposium on The Future of Space Exploration - Moon, Mars and Beyond: Becoming an Interplanetary Civilization, took place in Torino, Italy on 17-19 June, 2019. Detailed program is available.

The 13th IAA Low-Cost Planetary Missions Conference took place in Toulouse, France from June 03 to June 05, 2019. Many participants gathered in University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse to discuss several topics related to low-cost planetary missions. 70 papers were presented in 6 technical sessions. The conference is a forum for planetary scientists, technologists, engineers, project managers and agency officials to gather for the exchange of information and ideas for making this class of robotic mission richer scientifically while remaining affordably low-cost.

The 12th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation took place on 06-10 May, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. 270 representatives from across the industry, government, and academic institutions of 37 countries gathered at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. The SSEO symposium proposed a rich technical program with more than 60 paper presentations across 15 sessions, a special panel discussion, two poster sessions comprised of more than 40 summaries, but also an exhibition with a wide array of system and subsystem offerings needed for developing small satellite missions, launch accommodation, ground services, and information processing. The conference report is now available.

The 6th IAA Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) took place on 29 April-03 May, 2019, in Washington DC area, USA. Many experts gathered on this occasion and videos of the conference are now available. The conference included a hypothetical NEO/Earth impact event scenario. Press release and statements are also available on the conference website.