News Mails - 2011

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ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL SPACE AGENCY FORUM (APRSAF)
News Mail -No. 088 Dec/02/2011
http://www.aprsaf.org
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**CONTENTS
1. APRSAF-18 to start soon

2. News on APRSAF: Space seed handover ceremony, Malaysia

3. News from APRSAF community: Turkish RASAT starts image transmission

4. Japan and Vietnam agrees on earth observation satellite project

5. Event Calendar

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1. APRSAF-18 to start soon
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The eighteenth session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-18) will finally start on December 6, after the SAFE workshop on December 5.

The Final Announcement, which includes information on the final program and other practical information, has been released. All information on APRSAF-18 is now available on the APRSAF
website:
http://www.aprsaf.org/annual_meetings/aprsaf18/meeting_details.php

We look forward to seeing you in Singapore!

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2. News on APRSAF: Space seed handover ceremony, Malaysia
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On October 10, 2011, a handover ceremony of "Space Seeds" was held at the National Space Agency of Malaysia (ANGKASA). "Space Seeds," including Malaysian chili seeds, had been brought to the Japanese Experimental Module, Kibo, and were exposed to space environment for a few months. The ceremony was very elaborated and approximately 400 people actively participated in it.

In connection with the ceremony, some seminars on space environment utilization were held, and microgravity experiments, the current status of ISS plans and international cooperation, and parabolic flight were the topics covered in these seminars.

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3. News from APRSAF community: Turkish RASAT starts image transmission
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Turkey's first earth observation satellite, RASAT, was launched on August 17, 2011, and it has started transmitting images from space. Press Release from TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute is available at the following website: http://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The APRSAF Secretariat welcomes your updates on space-related activities. Please feel free to send your articles to the address<secretariataprsaf.org>

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4. Japan and Vietnam agree on the earth observation satellite project
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On October 31, 2011, the governments of Japan and Vietnam signed a joint statement on further expansion and reinforcement of cooperation between them within the framework of the Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia. In addition, they concluded six loan agreements of up to 92,645 million yen (about 1,200 million US dollars).

The projects for these six loan agreements include Project for Disaster and Climate Change Countermeasures Using Earth Observation Satellite. For this project, two earth observation satellites are planned to be procured and related facilities will be prepared at the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park.

Reference:
Socialist Republic of Vietnam Government News
http://news.gov.vn/Home/VN-Japan-issue-joint-statement/201110/12165.vgp

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5. Event Calendar
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-Global Space & Technology Convention (GSTC) 2012
(9-10 February 2012, Singapore)
http://www.gstcsingapore.com/

-39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
(14-22 July 2012, Karnataka, India)
http://www.cospar2012india.org/Default.aspx

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Copyright 2011 The APRSAF Secretariat

APRSAF News Mails are distributed to update the readers on recent developments in space-related activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

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APRSAF Secretariat
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