[AstroNet] The 10th Space Generation Congress Opens its Doors for the first time in Africa

[Thembela Mantungwa]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
September 29th, 2011; Cape Town, South Africa 

The 10 th Space Generation Congress Opens its Doors for the first time in Africa 


Between 29 September and 1 October, 2011, South Africa is hosting the first Space Generation Congress on the African continent and the tenth in the history of the Space Generation Advisory Council. High-level leaders and heads of space agencies from around the world will meet with young professionals and university students in the sector to debate on five major themes: Industry, Agency, Society, Exploration and Outreach. 

2011 marks an important milestone in the history of SGC — the tenth anniversary of the global space congress for university students and young professionals interested in today's key space issues. At the same time, it is the first time SGAC organises its annual conference in Africa, offering young African leaders the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge with their peers from around the world. 

“SGAC is extremely happy to be coming to Africa this year. One of our main goals as an organisation is to ensure global cooperation and knowledge transfer between young space professionals from different regions of the globe. SGAC is well represented in Africa with two Regional Coordinators and twelve National Points of Contacts from eight countries, all of which are extremely driven young people, determined to make their voice heard in space matters,” says Catherine Doldirina, SGAC Co-Chair. 

SGC 2011 brings together 130 young space leaders from more than 40 countries and six continents. During the three-day conference organised at the Cape Town Lodge Hotel & Conference Centre, SGC 2011 delegates will address today’s top challenges in the space sector with the view to bring a fresh, innovative perspective from the young space generation. At the end of the Congress, the participants’ input will be used to develop five reports reflecting the youth view on key space themes, which SGAC representatives will share with high-level people throughout 2011 and 2012. 

Among the top professionals who will be addressing the Space Generation are: 

    • Charles F. Bolden, NASA Administrator 
    • Berndt Feuerbacher, President of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) 
    • Steve MacLean, President of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) 
    • Sandile Malinga, CEO of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) 
    • S.O. Mohammed, Director General, Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) 
    • Dumitru Prunariu, Chairman of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) 
    • Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) 
    • Vladimir A. Popovkin, Head of Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) 



“This year´s Space Generation Congress is by far our biggest event since our foundation at UNISPACE III. We are thrilled to be celebrating our tenth Space Generation Congress in South Africa and are excited about the number and quality of our delegates, speakers and supporters. We are looking forward to excellent debates on some of the big issues in space that we as a society are facing,” said Michael Brett, SGAC Chair. 

Among the themes that the SGC delegates will approach this year, Industry – The Political and Technological Challenges of Space Debris and Its Mitigation – will challenge participants to look at ways to keep space clean, safe and useable for future generations. This group will review the key issues surrounding space debris as well as discuss possible steps to debris mitigation with inputs from the Session Spotlight Speaker, Peter Martinez, South African Astronomical Observatory Head of Space Science and Technology Division, and two Industry Subject Matter Experts, Minoo Rathnasabapathy and Chijioke Cj Nwosa, Co-leads of the SGAC Space Safety and Sustainability (SSS) Group. 

In the Agency session – Radio Frequency Spectra and Satellites: The Technological, Logistical and Political Implications of Regulation – delegates will make recommendations on how to further develop the regulation of integral telecommunication technology in space with help from Session Spotlight Speaker, William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, and Agency Subject Matter Expert Stephanie Wan, NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Technology Policy Specialist. 

The focus of the Society session – Integrating Space Technology into Society: Overcoming Societal, Political, Economic, and Logistical Roadblocks – will be to identify the difficulties as well as potential ways to facilitate the integration of space technologies into society. Delegates will be coordinated by Session Spotlight Speaker, Ray Williamson, Executive Director of the Secure World Foundation and Society Subject Matter Expert Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, European Program Manager for the Secure World Foundation. 

During the Exploration session – Robotic Exploration in Today's Evolving Global Space Sector – SGC 2011 delegates will explore the pro’s and con’s of robotic exploration as well as its role in space exploration as a whole under the guidance of Session Spotlight Speaker, Fritz Merkle, Member of the Executive Board of OHB System AG Exploration, and Subject Matter Expert Andreas Hornig, Student, University of Stuttgart. 

In the Outreach session – Space for Developing Regions: The African Case Study – delegates will examine both the benefits from space for developing countries as well as the necessary steps to implement space technologies into the societies of developing countries with help from Session Spotlight Speaker, Kevin Govender, Director at the Global Office of Astronomy, and Outreach Subject Matter Expert Brad Inggs, Managing Director of the African Space Institute. 

The full programme of the conference, which takes place at the Cape Town Lodge Hotel & Conference Centre , is available here . 

For additional information please visit the SGC 2011 website . 
Follow us on Twitter during the congress: http://twitter.com/sgac or by using #SGC2011 

Media representatives who wish to attend the congress should register with: 

Media Contact Person 


Oana Sandu , SGAC PR Lead – oana.sandu at spacegeneration.org, +40 724 024 625 


The Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Program on Space Application (SGAC) is a non-governmental organization, which aims to represent university students and young space professionals to the United Nations, States, space agencies, industry and academia. SGAC has permanent observer status in the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). SGAC has a long history and was conceived at the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Space (UNISPACE-III) in Vienna in 1999. The SGAC Executive Council is made up of representatives from each of the six UN regions, and has a larger body of representatives from nation states. Our focus is on pragmatic space policy advice to policy makers based on the interests of students and young professionals, broadly in the age range 18-35, interested in space, from around the world. SGAC currently has 4,000 members in over 90 countries. 


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