I guess I had to undergo a certain hiatus before publishing this post due to the university exams, that took place in March and the immediate plethora of reports that I was compelled to work on just afterwards. Nevertheless I bring herewith an account of my experience at 64th IAC held in Beijing, China last September following the 12th SGC as promised. However I should contemplate to blog more often retrieving the frequency that I used to have when I was running IYA2009 Sri Lanka blog.
As you are perhaps aware, International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is the grand annual event where the academia, industry and government agencies in the domain of space get together into a single platform to interact with each other, share the frontiers of on-going research on a variety of topics. Each year, the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) together with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), organizes the International Astronautical Congress which is hosted by one of the member countries of the IAF. There are plenary sessions, lectures, technical meetings plus student contests during the congress dedicated to specific topics. For students, it can be very interesting for it can be a great opportunity to present their scientific papers and even discuss about the content and receive feedback from competent veteran academicians. Not to mention the various scholarships offered to the students by IAF, ESA, SGAC, SWF, etc to fund their trip to and fro, sometimes coming along with the registration fee waived off. Additionally it is noteworthy that there are in general, evening reception sessions with a lot of networking possibilities over a casual talk with a great ambiance to get to know well other students as well as professionals in the discipline of space. These receptions are hosted courtesy of participating organizations and institutes at the IAC, such as International Space University (ISU), etc with a focus on connecting its alumni, young professionals and students.
I shall start off with some words of the opening ceremony of 64th IAC that took place at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on 24th September 2013. Since it was the first time I was taking part in an IAC, it was incredulous to see a multitude of ‘space’ individuals seated at a single location. Almost all of us were equipped with headsets and a channel receiver, for some of the proceedings of the opening ceremony were conducted entirely in Chinese, hence simultaneous translation becoming a necessity. Out of entire opening that blended in well with Chinese culture, what took me with most interest was a simultaneous performance of art made by tracing on sand using hands as performed by a Chinese lady. I do not know the English word to explain this. I managed to record some parts of it and I hope the footage below may give you some idea how it has been. Since I was seated quite far from the screen and I only had the iPhone camera to record, the quality is not the best.
Out of the content that was available at 64th IAC, it was difficult to decide which sessions I wanted to attend, for there were many that I found interesting. Then in the end I found myself at technical sessions that focused mainly on astrodynamics. Actually a paper that discussed about Bepi-Colombo and its proposed trajectory corrections was quite a highlight for me. In addition I also liked a paper presented on robotic maneuvers for Martian rovers. These papers were presented by two students from Germany and UK respectively, and both of them were selected and were awarded in the closing ceremony. In fact I managed to grab some time with these authors of the papers and talk a bit during the breaks we had.
There was also an exhibition taking place as a part of the 64th IAC where there were booths of space agencies and other space organizations. It was very educational and informative as one could get to know more about the functionalities and projects run by these organizations, through the direct possibility to talking to their staff. Many of the national space agencies showcased models of their space vehicles and rockets adding it to the vivid experience of the congress. SGAC also had a booth and from time to time and I volunteered there engaging with visitors.
Furthermore it was interesting to meet another Sri Lankan during the congress. I know we’re not a lot around the globe. But this was a lady originally from Sri Lanka, based in UK, working for the Royal Aeronautical Society. I met her by random when I was paying a visit to their booth and she was very friendly and gave me a detailed insight into what their operations were. However later I found it weird that we only spoke in English and she referred to Sri Lanka as ‘Ceylon’, perhaps reflecting the fact that she’s from the British colonial times. Apart from this, there was another Sri Lankan in whose honor a keynote lecture was delivered as a part of the annual colloquium of the IISL at IAC. It was the 5th Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Keynote Lecture on Space Law & 5 th Young Scholars Session (E7.1) which I managed to attend. Dr. Jasenthuliyana is an eminent Sri Lankan who was the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the Deputy to the Director-General, United Nations Office at Vienna. He was also the President, International Institute of Space Law, Executive Secretary of the UN Conference on Nuclear Energy and UN Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
Something that I should not miss mentioning is the winning bidder for the 67th IAC. In fact, Ukraine and Mexico had placed bids as the hosts of the 67th IAC and however finally Mexico was officially accredited as the host of the congress to be held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 2016. It was interesting that both of these countries were trying to become the host by making awareness about their candidacies in various attempts. Ukraine had an interesting campaign by holding a reception with a touch of Ukrainian culture mixed with traditional music, performances, food and beverages whilst Mexico on the other hand, were giving away Mexican souvenirs at their booth. Since their booth was just next to that of SGAC, I was able to frequently visit them and get to know more about Mexican Space Agency (Agencia Espacial Mexicana) and talk about their promising candidate city of Guadalajara.
All in all it was a great experience to be at 64th IAC thus learning more and interacting with a lot of students, young professionals and veterans in the field of space. There were a lot of friendships established with some of them being renewed and I hopefully look forward to taking part in the 65th IAC coming up very soon in Toronto keeping my fingers crossed for the scholarship I’ve applied.
