Introduction
12th IAASS Conference
“Making Space Travel Safer”
Osaka (Japan)
22-24 May 2023
Workshops
25 May 2023
The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety is a non-profit organisation dedicated to furthering international cooperation and scientific advancement in the field of space systems safety and sustainability. IAASS is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), and Permanent Observer at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The association exists to help shaping and advancing an international culture of space safety, which would contribute to make space travel, vehicles, stations, extra-terrestrial habitats, equipment and payload safer for the general public, ground personnel, crews and flight participants. The association also promotes terrestrial and planetary environment protection during space missions, and the establishment of a global framework for space traffic management.
The 12th IAASS Conference “Making Space Travel Safer”, organized in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is an invitation to reflect and exchange information on a number of space safety and sustainability topics of national and international interest. The conference is also a forum to nurture mutual understanding, trust, and the widest possible international cooperation in the peaceful and responsible use of space. The once exclusive “club” of nations with autonomous space access capabilities is becoming crowded with a growing and diverse number of organizations. Commercial spaceports are an ever-growing reality. In the human spaceflight arena, a commercial market is becoming reality with government and private use of commercial services for cargo and crew transportation to orbit and beyond. Space bound systems and aviation traffic are more and more sharing a crowded airspace, while aviation is increasingly relying on space-based safety-critical services. Air launches are becoming an important segment of the launch business and require the establishment of ad-hoc safety regulations. Finally, most nations own nowadays space assets, mainly satellites of various kinds and purpose, which are under the constant threat of collision with other spacecraft and with the ever-increasing number of space debris. Awareness is increasing internationally, as solemnly declared since decades in space treaties, that space is a mankind asset and that we all have the duty of caring for it. Without proactive and courageous international initiatives to establish an international regulatory framework for space traffic management we risk negating access and use of space to future generations.
The 12th IAASS Conference will in addition to plenary and splinter sessions dedicate a set of panel sessions to the discussion of four topics which need to get better attention in space programs: International Cooperation on Lunar Search & Rescue, Launch and Re-entry Safety, Space Traffic Management, Safety Regulations, and Safety on Long Duration missions.
Become an IAASS Member
