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Christopher Russel received the 2019 IAA Basic Sciences section Award on October 20, 2019 in Washington DC, USA.

Photo: From left to the right: Francisco Mendieta-Jimenez, Mexico, Ralph McNutt, USA, Christopher Russell, Canada and Jean-Michel Contant, France.

IAA Board of Trustees 2019-2021 on October 20, 2019 in Washington DC, USA. Photo: from left to the right: Jean-Michel Contant, France, Daniel Neuenschwander, Switzerland, John Schumacher USA, James Chilton, USA, Antonio Viviani, Italy, Jeffrey Davis, USA, Ralph McNutt, Jr. USA, Jose R. Braga Coelho, Brazil, Wu Meirong, China, Marius-Ioan Piso, Romania, Shigeki Kinai, Japan, Peter Jankowitsch, Austria, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, Romania, Joseph Landon, USA, Elena Fomina, Russia and Francisco Mendieta-Jimenez, Mexico.

Charles Elachi, IAA Member of the Basic Sciences received the Theodore von Karman Award of the International Academy of Astronautics on October 20, 2019 in Washington DC, USA. The citation reads: “For a lifetime of scientific and engineering leadership that enabled breathtaking advances in knowledge of Earth, Solar System and Universe. Synthetic aperture radar which he invented has been utilized for study of Earth and every major body in the Solar System. As Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he led the creation of 24 NASA space science missions, all with significant international participation. His nurturing of three generations of scientists and engineers has paved the way for decades of continuing advances in the space sciences.”

Photo: from left to the right: John Schumacher, USA, Francisco Mendieta-Jimenez, Mexico, Charles Elachi, USA, Peter Jankowitsch, Austria, Marius-Ioan Piso, Romania and Jean-Michel Contant, France.

Buzz Aldrin, receiving the Honorary Member diploma of the International Academy of Astronautics on October 20, 2019 in Washington DC, USA. Photo: From left to the right: Jean-Michel Contant, France, Francisco Mendieta-Jimenez, Mexico, Buzz Aldrin, USA, Peter Jankowitsch, Austria and Antonio Viviani, 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.

Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman ISRO, with a large delegation during the ceremony of inauguration of the IAA subsidiary office in Bangalore, India in August 2019. This branch is devoted to support the Paris headquarters office for the management of the yearly 30 IAA standalone conferences.

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.