Global Space and Technology Convention (GTSC) Pushes Cutting Edge Enterprise

Space technology professionals, academics and enthusiasts will converge on Singapore for GSTC 2020. 800 participants representing 300 companies are expected to hear 61 speakers supported by 30+ sponsors. Singapore Space and Technology Association, led by president Jonathan Hung, has hosted GSTC for over a decade with the intention of leveraging Singapore into a ‘strategic space hub status… leading the way into an era of galactic discovery’. The formal convention opening is preceded on Wednesday, February 5 with a day of workshops on space technology topics: Responsible and Sustainable Space Investment, UK-Singapore Space Partnerships, Blockchain in Space and Satellite Quantum Key Distribution, a light-based encryption technology, are subjects of discussion. Workshops are led by Secure World Foundation, UK Space Agency, SpaceChain, and Centre For Quantum Technologies of National University of Singapore, respectively. Distinguished speakers include (L-R) Senior Minister for National Security of Singapore Teo Chee Hean, DLR Administrator Pascale Ehrenfreund, Director General of UAE Space Agency Mohammed Nasser Al-Ahbabi, and Director of Malaysian Space Agency Azlikamil Napiah. Multi-GNSS Asia Regional Symposium 2020, with theme Advancing Smart Nation with Satellite Positioning, will be held in tandem with GSTC – satellite communications being a major socioeconomic driver of SEA space enterprise. Looking forward, Lunar Commercial Communications will complement and, in some regards, supplant terrestrial and orbital communication insofar as Moon-Earth communication will expand the physical sphere of human activity 1000-fold when actualized. (Image Credits: SSTA, AIRBUS, Virgin Orbit, CNES, ST Engineering, General Atomics, NUS, Maxar, SWF, UKSA)

MONDAY

Feb 3 — Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Space Research Organization of the Netherlands, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Groningen, Netherlands: Astronomy on Tap: Outreach astronomy talks by Scott Trager and Michael Wilkinson, 20:00-23:00.

UNOOSA Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and Moon Village Association Operate In Vienna

The 57th session of the UNOOSA Scientific and Technical Subcommittee opens February 3-14 at the UN Vienna International Centre. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, presently headed by astrophysicist Simonetta Di Pippo with Program Officer Markus Woltran (L), has been in operation since 1958. Vienna is headquarters of the Moon Village Association, which has a goal of fostering international cooperation in lunar settlement. MVA, with over 150 members from more than 34 countries, partners with non-space organizations to promote international discussions. MVA cooperates with For All Moonkind on efforts to establish a human community on the Moon. For All Moonkind, co-founded by Michelle Hanlon (R), is the only organization in the world dedicated to protecting the historical heritage on the Moon. The organization’s space lawyers and policymakers seek to protect the six human lunar landing and other locations in space. For All Moonkind has been granted the status of Permanent Observer to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, a status that Moon Village Association also holds. Secure World Foundation hosts a Workshop on Responsible Space Behavior and the Democratization of Space in Singapore Feb 5. With headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado and Washington DC, Secure World Foundation is a private organization that promotes cooperative solutions for space sustainability and the peaceful uses of space, hosting events throughout the New Year 2020. (Image Credits: UN Vienna International Centre, ESA, UNOOSA, Univ Mississippi)

Feb 3-5 — ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute, Madrid, Spain: James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Master Class Workshop.

Feb 3-6 — ArianeGroup, ExoLaunch, Maxar, Virgin Orbit, Mountain View CA: Smallsat Symposium; one of the world’s largest smallsat business conferences; at Computer History Museum.

Feb 3-7 — International Astronomical Union (IAU), South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Cape Town, South Africa: Kavli-IAU Workshop: International Coordination of Multi-Messenger Transient Observations in the 2020s and Beyond.

Feb 3-14 — UNOOSA, Vienna, Austria: 57th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Office of Outer Space Affairs.

Feb 3 — Moon: 7.2° SE of Pleiades, 04:00; 3.0° N of Aldebaran, 21:00.

Feb 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2020 BX12: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 2019 – Sep 2020 — New Horizons, Kuiper Belt: Full data collected from 7 instruments during KBO Arrokoth flyby to be transmitted to Earth over this time period.

Nov 2019 – Nov 2020— Hayabusa2, Earth Trajectory: JAXA Hayabusa2 with two samples collected from C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu on trajectory for Earth return.

Jan 13 – Feb 14 — International Space University, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia: Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2020; live-in experience built around an International, Intercultural and Interdisciplinary (3 “I”s) educational philosophy.

Jan 30 – Feb 5 — American Astronautical Society Rocky Mountain Section, Breckenridge CO: 43rd Annual AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.

Feb 2-5 — Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, APEX / ESO, et al, Ringberg Castle, Germany: Workshop: Science with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX).