News Mails - 2017

---***------------------------------------------------------------
ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL SPACE AGENCY FORUM (APRSAF)
News Mail No. 151 July 31, 2017
http://www.aprsaf.org/
------------------------------------------------------------***---

- * CONTENTS

• 1. APRSAF-24 Updates
  - The Second Announcement Released and Registration Opened!
• 2. News on APRSAF Activities
  - APRSAF-24: Concept Notes for Four Working Groups are Now Available
  
• 3. News on APRSAF Community
  - Five CubeSats of BIRDS-1 Project Successfully Deployed from "Kibo"
  - J-SSOD and NRCSD Projects Received the ISS Research Awards 2017
  - Vietnam's VNSC Announced New Name: Vietnam National Space Center
  - Myanmar's Plan to Set Up its Own Satellite System
• 4. Event Calendar

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
* 1. APRSAF-24 Updates
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

- The Second Announcement Released and Registration Opened!

The second announcement of APRSAF-24 that will take place at the Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway from November 14-17, 2017, has been released. The announcement contains updated information on programs, concept notes of Working Groups and Initiatives, registration, as well as the exhibition.

We are also pleased to announce that the online registration is finally open! Please complete your registration online no later than October 5, 2017. We are looking forward to your participation.

For further information about APRSAF-24 and to obtain the PDF file of the announcement, please visit the APRSAF website:
http://www.aprsaf.org/annual_meetings/aprsaf24/meeting_details.php

Please visit the following website for online registration for APRSAF-24:
http://www.aprsaf.org/annual_meetings/aprsaf24/registration.php

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
* 2. News on APRSAF Activities
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

- APRSAF-24: Concept Notes for Four Working Groups are Now Available

Prior to the Plenary Session, four working group sessions will be simultaneously held on November 14-15, 2017. The concept notes for each working group, including the Space Applications Working Group (SAWG), Space Technology Working Group (STWG), Space Environment Utilization Working Group (SEUWG), and Space Education Working Group (SEWG), are available at the following website:
https://www.aprsaf.org/annual_meetings/aprsaf24/working_groups.php

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
* 3. News on APRSAF Community
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

- Five CubeSats of BIRDS-1 Project Successfully Deployed from "Kibo"

On July 7, 2017, five CubeSats of the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite Project (BIRDS Project) have been successfully deployed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) using the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo". These five CubeSats are the first round of project, BIRDS-1 constellation, which it is led by Japan's Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) as a cross-border interdisciplinary satellite project with Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, Thailand, and Bangladesh.
BIRDS Project Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/171403156542445/photos/a.212302892452471.1073741829.171403156542445/485067075176050/?type=3&theater
JAXA ISS/Kibo News:
http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/kiboexp/news/170707_cubesat_birds.html

- J-SSOD and NRCSD Projects Received the ISS Research Awards 2017

On July 20, 2017, at the sixth annual International Space Station Research and Development Conference (ISS R&D) in Washington, DC, USA, the ISS Research Awards 2017 ceremony was held. The award in the category of the commercialization and nongovernment utilization went to JAXA's Japanese Experiment Module Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) and NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) projects.

Both projects were acclaimed to have been creating new possibilities for students, businesses, and international cooperation using the International Space Station to deploy small satellites.
ISS/Kibo Topics (in Japanese):
http://iss.jaxa.jp/topics/2017/07/170721_iss_wards.html
NASA Features:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/innovation_awards2016

- Vietnam's VNSC Announced New Name: Vietnam National Space Center

Effective from July 17, 2017, the organization's name, the "Vietnam National Satellite Center," has been renamed to the "Vietnam National Space Center." An abbreviation of the English name is VNSC, which is the same as before. All other details such as address and telephone numbers remain unchanged.
VNSC News:
https://vnsc.org.vn/en/activities/notifying-of-change-of-organization-name/

- Myanmar's Plan to Set Up its Own Satellite System

On April 29, 2017, the President's Office of Myanmar announced that the first coordination of the steering committee to set up a "Myanmar Owned Satellite System" was held at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The committee is responsible for the implementation of its own satellite infrastructure, such as establishing policies and guidelines, acquiring modern space technologies, and to guide the establishment of a Myanmar Space Agency if necessary.
Myanmar President Office News:
http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/?q=briefing-room/news/2017/04/29/id-7512
Myanmar News Agency:
http://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/second-coordination-meeting-on-setting-up-owned-satellite-system-held/

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
* 4. Event Calendar
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

- GNSS Summer School 2017 in Tokyo
(July 31-August 5, 2017, Tokyo, Japan)
http://www.gnss-pnt.org/SummerSchool2017/index.php

- ICAO/UNOOSA Aerospace Symposium [SPACE 2017]
(August 29-31, 2017, Vienna, Austria)
https://www.icao.int/meetings/space2017/Pages/default.aspx

- United Nations/Austria Symposium on "Access to Space: Holistic Capacity-Building for the 21st Century"
(September 3-7, 2017, Graz, Austria)
http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/psa/schedule/2017/un-austria-symposium-access-to-space_-holistic-capacity-building-for-the-21st-century.html

- Myanmar Connect 2017
(September 19-20, 2017, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar)
http://www.capacityconferences.com/Myanmar-Connect.html

- International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2017
(September 25-29, 2017, Adelaide, Australia)
http://www.iac2017.org/

- International Seminar Aerospace and Science Technology 2017 / V
(September 27-29, 2017, Medan, Indonesia)
http://isast.lapan.go.id/

- 9th Multi-GNSS Asia (MGA) Conference
(October 9-11, 2017, Jakarta, Indonesia)
http://www.multignss.asia/index.html

- ISNET/RJGC Workshop on "CUBESAT TECHNOLOGIES: Its Design and Development"
(October 15-19, 2017, Amman, Jordan)
http://isnet.org.pk/pages/activities-2017-02.asp

- 38th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (ACRS-2017)
(October 23-27, 2017, New Delhi, India)
http://www.acrs2017.org/

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Copyright 2017 The APRSAF Secretariat

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

------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe/unsubscribe, or update your contact information,
click here: https://www.aprsaf.org/newsmails_newsletters/form/
(or please e-mail: secretariataprsaf.org)
------------------------------------------------------------------

We welcome your updates on space-related activities and also your
comments and suggestions to the APRSAF secretariat.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
APRSAF Secretariat
c/o Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
ochanomizu sola city, 4-6 Kandasurugadai, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 101-8008 Japan
Tel: +81-50-3362-5880 / Fax: +81-3-5209-3208
E-mail: secretariataprsaf.org
Web: http://www.aprsaf.org
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++