Latin America has been characterized by its cuisine, music, brilliant athletes, sport man, their natural scenic spots, but few has been said about its Science and Technology. Even though ancient cultures such as Mayans, Tiwanaku and Incas have left their exquisite architecture full of symbolism, mathematical and astronomical sites, less has been showed to the world respect to the development of Science and Technology.
For the past several months our team at the University of Toronto Aerospace Team’s Space Policy Division has been advocating for the utilization of space technologies to enhance the information at the disposal of first responders and environmental researchers to monitor and manage wildfires in Canada.
There is a growing trend towards the privatization and commercialization of space activities, a phenomenon frequently referred to as New Space Economy. With clear democratization of space, more space agencies and most notably non-governmental entities are starting to provide services in space which have a commercial value. Indiscriminately, the population of artificial satellites launched by these new space actors will keep on increasing at much higher rates than the estimated previously.
During the World Space Week, SGAC organized the SG[Colombia], the first SpaceGen event that took place in Medellin and was hosted by the International Congress of Space Science and Technology CICTA 2018, which was organized by the University of Antioquia and the Francisco Jose de Caldas Distrital University.
Following the success from 2017, SG[Greece] 2018 – Space Opportunities in Greece and ESA took place on Friday the 23rd of November at the Ceremony Hall of the National Technical University of Athens and was organized as part of the ESA and SGAC-supported European Space Talks initiative.
Space Generation Forum 2.0 (SGF 2.0) took place over the weekend of June 16th-17th 2018 in Vienna, Austria, in connection with UNISPACE+50. SGF 2.0 was held to celebrate the creation of the Space Generation Advisory Council and the first Space Generation Forum held at UNISPACE III in 1999 as well as to celebrate and support UNISPACE+50.
At SpaceOps 2018 in Marseille, France, (27 May - 1 June) SGAC organised the Students and Young Professionals (SYP) programme, of which the conference theme was ‘Inspiring Humankind’s Future’. The SYP activities have been planned collaboratively among SGAC, SpaceOps, and the French Space Agency (CNES), the host organisation of SpaceOps 2018.
If someone were to talk about outer space exploration—not to mention space law—in Serbia when I was beginning my space law research in 2011, this person would be welcomed with a great deal of disbelief and a demoralising reply, proposing to pursue his or her space career elsewhere, likely a more developed country.
The first SGAC/IAF Seminar took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, in the framework of the Global Space Applications Conference (GLAC 2018). The event was a complete success with the participation of over 80 students and young professionals from 14 countries.
Senior Shimhanda, the Regional Coordinator for the African Region, has passed the entrance examination of Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) to enrol in the Space Engineering International Course (SEIC). SEIC was launched in April of 2013 for aspiring students and engineers with a passion for space or the desire to return skills and technology to their home country.
