APRSAF-20
The 20th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum(APRSAF-20), Hanoi, Vietnam, December 3-6, 2013
Day 1 & Day 2: Working Group Sessions
On December 3 and 4, the four working groups have their sessions in parallel. More than 350 participants have participated so far.
Earth Observation Working Group (EO WG)
Communication Satellite Applications Working Group (CSA WG)
Space Education and Awareness Working Group (SEA WG)
Space Environment Utilization Working Group (SEU WG)
Day 3 & Day 4: Plenary Sessions
On December 5 and 6, Plenary Sessions were held.
The sessions started with opening remarks by Prof. Chau Van Minh, President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and Dr. Keisuke Isogai, Deputy Director General, Research and Development Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), followed by Keynote addresses by Prof. Nguyen Khoa Son, Chairman, National Research Program for Space Science and Technology of Vietnam and Mr. Eigo Nomura, Counsellor, Office of National Space Policy, Cabinet Office of Japan
Prof. Chau Van Minh, President, VAST, Vietnam
Dr. Keisuke Isogai, Deputy Director General,
Research and Development Bureau, MEXT, Japan
Prof. Nguyen Khoa Son, Chairman,
National Research Program for Space Science and
Technology, Vietnam
Mr. Eigo Nomura, Counsellor, Office of National Space Policy, Cabinet Office, Japan
A summary report of APRSAF-19 was presented by Dr. Noordin Bin Ahmad, Deputy Director General, National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA).
Dr. Noordin Bin Ahmad, Deputy Director General, ANGKASA, Malaysia
After a group photo session and coffee break, in a special speeches session, Dr. Seitaro Urakawa, Researcher, Japan Spaceguard Association, Japan gave a talk on "Asteroid Oservation Status and Collaboration in Asia-Pacific Region", and then Prof. Setsuko Aoki, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Japan on "The importance of making international rules – to protect space environment-."
Dr. Seitaro Urakawa, Researcher,
Japan Spaceguard Association, Japan
Prof. Setsuko Aoki, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Japan
Following six country reports from Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia, Special Anniversary Session was conducted under the theme of "Values From Space: 20 Years of Asia-Pacific Experiences", as a commemorative session of 20th anniversary of APRSAF. On the stage, there are heads of space agencies and former organizers of APRSAF, and they agreed on a joint statement.
Heads of Space Agencies
and Former Organizers of APRSAF
APRSAF Awards were given to the following three persons to praise their achievements.
Dr. Suvit Vibulsresth, Former Executive Director, GISTDA, Thailand
Mr. F. R. Sarker, General Secretary, Bangladesh Astronomical Society
Prof. Doan Minh Chung, Director, STI/VAST, Vietnam
After country reports from Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Deputy Director, Office of Space and Advanced Technology, U.S. Department of State, Mr. David Turner, provided his brief speech to APRSAF community countries.
Inviting Japanese astronaut Dr. Satoshi Furukawa as a moderator, a special event was held under the theme of "Values from Space". This session focuses on Kibo utilization such as small satellites deployment from Kibo, e.g. PicoDragon of Vietnam, and crystallization of industrial enzymes.
Summary by each working group was reported.
Sentinel Asia
JPTM2013 was reported
Sentinel Asia
Sentinel Asia Evolution plan to STEP3 was presented
SAFE
Report of SAFE workshop on Dec 2 was presented.
SAFE
The venue for the next SAFE workshop was announced to be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Climate R3
Kibo-ABC
Report by APRSSAF Related Projects
UNIFORM
GNSS
On the Day 4, December 6, the plenary begun with speeches by international organizations.
Dr. Barbara Ryan, Secretariat Director,
Group on Earth Observations (GEO)
Ms. Shamika Sirimanne, Director, Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Dr. Yasushi Horikawa, Chairman,
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS)
Dr. Christian FeichtingerExecutive Director, International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
The four working groups reported their summary on their sessions held on December 3 and 4.
Earth Observation Working Group
(EO WG)
Communication Satellite Applications Working Group
(CSA WG)
Space Education & Awareness Working Group
(SEA WG)
Space Environment Utilization Working Group
(SEU WG)
Summary report by APRSAF ExCom (APRSAF Executive Committee) was made.
APRSAF ExCom report
Recommendations of APRSAF-20 were adopted by all participants.
It is announced that the next session, APRSAF-21, will be held in Japan.
APRSAF Activities
Water Rocket Event
Water Rocket Event was held on November 30 and December 1. On the first day, at VAST, students from 15 countries had a session to introduce themselves, learnt space activities, and were given briefing on the water rocket launch competition. On the second day, they made their water rockets at VAST and moved to the Hanoi University of Education for launch competition.
Making water rockets
Launch competition
Water Rocket Event participants
SAFE Initiative Workshop
On December 2, the SAFE workshop was held at Melia Hanoi.
Kibo-ABC Initiative Workshop
On December 2, the Kibo-Initiative workshop was held at VAST.
SSAF2013 program related activities were reported by participating countries.
Simple Free Fall experiment was demonstrated.
Kibo-ABC workshop participants
New Cooperation
After the main session of Day 1, December 3, the New Cooperation Session was held at Melia Hanoi. Six proposals for new cooperation with APRSAF were presented.
