One of the world’s most prominent space leaders will be visiting Australia next week, 11-13 April.
Dr Jean-Yves Le Gall has graciously accepted an invitation to be the third Space Industry Association of Australia Distinguished Lecturer. The lecture will take place at the Science Exchange in Stock Exchange Place, Adelaide at 6.00 pm on Wednesday 12th April. The event will be advertised to a wide range of space and science community members, government and commercial players and the media.
Dr Le Gall is President of the French Space Agency (Centre National D’Etudes Spatiale, CNES), President of the International Astronautical Federation and Chair of the Council of the European Space Agency. He is visiting Australia to be briefed on preparations for the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide in September 2017.
His visit also coincides with recent commentary about the opportunity for Australia to become a member of the European Space Agency.
About Dr Le Gall: President of the French Space Agency, CNES
As President of CNES, Dr Le Gall is one of the world’s most prominent space figures. He leads one of the world’s biggest space agencies with centres of excellence in Paris, Toulouse and French Guiana. CNES has 2,450 employees and a budget of more than €2.3 billion (2017). In addition to his role with CNES, Dr Le Gall is President of the International Astronautical Federation and Chair of the Council of the European Space Agency. He takes an active role in international space cooperation. On becoming President of the IAF in 2016, he announced his 3G policy initiative of advocating greater diversity of gender, geography and generations in the space sector.
About the International Astronautical Congress 2017 (IAC2017)
IAC2017 will be used to showcase Australian innovation in and beyond the space sector to a well-informed global audience. The host is the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA), a small not-for-profit entity that exists to promote space activities in Australia notably in the civil, commercial and open research domains. More than 3,000 space professionals, including astronauts, heads of space agencies, engineers, scientists, innovators, legal and policy specialists, interested parliamentarians and students will attend IAC2017 in Adelaide.
Three other international space organisations will hold their annual conferences in association with IAC2017. They are:
- The International Institute for Space Law (IISL)
- The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)
- The Space Generation Advisory Council
2017: A year for space anniversaries
- The 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1.
- The 50th anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty which remains the foundational international instrument regulating human activity in space.
- The 50th anniversary of the launch of Australia’s first satellite, WRESAT, which was designed and built in Adelaide and launched from Woomera.
