News Mails - 2012
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ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL SPACE AGENCY FORUM (APRSAF)
News Mail No. 095 Jun/29/2012
http://www.aprsaf.org
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**CONTENTS
1. News on APRSAF
- Climate R3 workshop held in May in Perth
2. South Korea to select joint developers of payload
3. IIST launched India's first sounding rocket, Vyom
4. GISTDA plans to be a disaster management hub for the ASEAN region
5. Dr. Horikawa appointed as a chair of UNCOPUOS
6. Event Calendar
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1. News on APRSAF
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- Climate R3 workshop held in May in Perth
The APRSAF Climate Regional Readiness Review (Climate R3)
workshop was successfully held on May 24 and 25 at the
Novotel Perth Langley Hotel in Perth, Australia, immediately
following the fourth SAFE workshop on May 22 and 23, the
results of which were reported in the previous News Mail.
The Climate R3 workshop had 38 participants, and the
discussions included a number of important topics dealing
with options to improve the coordination of EO data
acquisition and the provision on support of key activities
in the Asia-Pacific region. Key activities discussed
included the GFOI (Global Forest Observations Initiative)
and GEOGLAM (Global Agricultural Monitoring) initiative, as
well as coordination with the APEC Climate Center and the
Mekong River Commission.
Further details of the results of the workshops will be
provided in the forthcoming July issue of the APRSAF News
Letter.
Presentations and the results are available at the following websites:
SAFE
http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/SAFE/TOP/html/events/4th_ws_report.html
Climate R3
http://www.space.gov.au/ClimateR3/Pages/ClimateR3Workshop2012.aspx
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2. South Korea to select joint developers of payloads
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On May 28, 2012, the Ministry of Environment (ME) and the
National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) of South
Korea announced a development plan for an environmental
monitoring satellite to be launched in 2018. The satellite
will be used for monitoring climate change and the
atmosphere over Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula in
response to the increasing climate change effected by the
release of climate change inducing substances and
atmospheric pollutants attributed to rapid industrialization
in Northeast Asia. NIER plans to select overseas partners to
jointly develop on-board payloads in 2012, and to develop a
satellite and a ground station in 2015.
Reference:
ME News via NewsWIRE (in Korean)
http://www.newswire.co.kr/newsRead.php?no=626900&ected=
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3. IIST launched India's first sounding rocket, Vyom
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On May 11, 2012, Indian Institute of Space Science and
Technology (IIST) launched a sounding rocket, Vyom ("Sky" in
Sanskrit), designed and manufactured by students of the
engineering faculty, from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket
Launching Station (TERLS). The rocket reached the planned
altitude and good results were obtained.
Vyom was developed under the direction and supervision of
the experts from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the
faculty members of IIST. Vyom is a solid-propellant rocket
capable of carrying a 10-kg payload to an altitude of 13.6
km, with a mass of 88 kg, length of 2313 mm, and diameter of
207 mm at launch.
Reference:
Vyom website
http://www.iist.ac.in/vyom/
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4. GISTDA plans to be a disaster management hub for the ASEAN region
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The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency
(GISTDA) conducted a press conference, "Thailand Truth
Untold," in Bangkok in late May. GISTDA announced that it
aimed to be a hub not only in the field of disaster survey
and satellite image provision but also in more areas related
to geo-informatics and space technology for the ASEAN region.
It also plans to use images from satellites, including Thai
earth observation satellite, THEOS, for surveying and
mapping the natural resources and environmental management
under a strategic plan entitled "GISTDA: Delivering Values
from Space." In addition, GISTDA is involved in the
development of the Space Krenovation Park (SKP), which would
be a center for training people working with satellite data
in the ASEAN region.
Reference:
GISTDA News
http://www.gistda.or.th/gistda_n/en/index.php?option=com_jevents&task=icalrepeat.detail&evid=696& Itemid=50&
year=2012&month=05&day=29&
uid=6f0f77bad7716bb2bbc344201c23f9c3
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5. Dr. Horikawa appointed as a chair of UNCOPUOS
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On June 6, 2012, Dr. Yasushi Horikawa, JAXA's Technical
Counselor, was appointed as a chair of the United Nations
Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) at
the 55th session of the committee. As the first Japanese on
the position, he will chair the 55th and 56th sessions of
COPUOS (2012-2013).
Established in 1959, COPUOS is a permanent Committee of the
UN; its objectives are to review the scope of international
cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, to devise
programs in this field to be undertaken under UN auspices,
to encourage continued research and development and the
dissemination of information on outer space matters, and to
study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer
space. In the recent years, COPUOS has been working on
developing guidelines for ensuring the long-term
sustainability of outer space activities.
References:
UNOOSA
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/en/COPUOS/copuos.html
JAXA
http://www.jaxa.jp/collabo/int/topics_e.html
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6. Event Calendar
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- "SPACE: From Foray to Habitation"
(9-10 July 2012, Isle of Man)
http://spaceconf.com/
-39th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
(14-22 July 2012, Karnataka, India)
http://www.cospar2012india.org/Default.aspx
-The 5th meeting on Cosmic Dust
(6-10 August 2012, Kobe, Japan)
https://www.cps-jp.org/~dust/Welcome.html
-The XXII Congress of the International Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing
(25 August - 1 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia)
http://www.isprs2012.org/
- Asia Geospatial Forum
(17-19 Sep 2012, Hanoi, Vietnam)
http://www.asiageospatialforum.org/
- 12th Australian Space Science Conference
(24-27 Sep 2012, Melbourne, Australia)
http://www.nssa.com.au/ocs/index.php?cf=14
- TRISMAC 2012
(24-26 Sep 2012, Tokyo, Japan)
http://sma.jaxa.jp/TRISMAC2012/
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Copyright 2012 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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