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IAC 2015 - Day One

Reflections on the International Astronautical Congress 2015 in Jerusalem - Monday

The 66th International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem has just started. Visitors were welcomed in desert climate with temperatures reaching 30 °C and cloudless sky. It is the tenth anniversary of the Czech Space Office's participation and representation of its activities as well as outputs of Czech workplaces. During the whole week Jerusalem is going to host the largest meeting of space experts.

The CSO booth is located in one of the exhibition halls together with JAXA and several Italian and British companies and universities. „Attendance of  the first day of the exhibition has been slightly lower in coparition to previous years. Strong represenatation have Chinese companies, e.g. Great Wall Corporation and Head of Aerospace. The latter company currently establishes its branch office in the Netherlands, Europe. Several small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe have expressed their interest in finding Czech contractors of space systems. The nearest one from Poland is active in seeking opportunities for cooperation with Czech workplaces and in their enthusiasm they are an inspiration to us," says Josef Šobra from CSO.

Out of the basicrepresenational activities at the booth, the CSO staff have fulfilled other obligations arising from their professional background and membership in various organizations and committees. Yet before lunch, Jan Kolář and Michal Václavík have attended a joint meeting of the IAA and IAF group in the field of life sciences. „At the meeting we summarized the international Humans in Space Symposium, we had organized before the summer holidays in Prague. We were very pleased with positive reviews from all those present. Highly appreciated was the professional and flexible approach and immediate reactions to the occured situations. The Director of the CSO have also thanked the DLR and IMBP who had significantly contributed to the scientific program of the symposium," summed up the negotiations Michal Václavík from CSO.

Another event which the Czech Space Office participated, was the IAF General Assembly. At the beginning, two untimely deceased members of the IAF committee were commemorated. The memorial was followed by working issues and activities of the Federation that had grown by 32 new members. „Most of new member organizations are from Europe, however there were also the first representatives of the new countries. IAF has though its first organizations in Costa Rica, Singapore and North Korea. The last named country caused a slight murmur in the plenary," explained Michal Václavík. Consequently, the three candidates for the Congress in 2018 (Bremen, Punta del Este and Vienna) were presented at the IAF General Assembly. The favorite one is Bremen in Germany with its numerous space workplaces. The IAC in 2018 will be also the next IAC held in Europe since the last one five years ago. Vienna has as well a lot to offer, but still Bremen seems to be one step ahead in space. Punta del Este in Uruguay is a beautiful seaside resort that attracts visitors with exotic and demand of the support of space in South America. The host of the IAC 2018 will be announced on Friday.