From October 2 to 6, 2023, the 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, attended by more than five thousand (5,000) experts and scholars from over one hundred (100) countries. This IAC was organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and hosted by Azercosmos, the Space Agency of Azerbaijan.
The International Astronautical Congress is an annual event in the field of international astronautics and is known as the “Olympics of the space world” because of its high level, large scale and wide influence. This year’s IAC was rich in content, with more than three hundred (300) activities, including plenary sessions, highlight reports, network forums, special conferences, exhibitions and displays. Mr. Weng Jingnong, Executive Director of the Centre, with Prof. Huang Hai and Prof. Sun Liang, were invited to participate in the congress.
The micro-satellite team of the Centre exhibited the model (1:1) of APSCO Student Small Satellite-1 (APSCO SSS-1) and the ground prototype of the coiled deployable mast from satellite core-load, which attracted the attention of a large number of participants from home and abroad during the exhibition. Since its launch on October 14, 2021, the APSCO SSS-1, designed and developed independently by a student team, has been successfully operating in orbit for nearly two years. Prof. Huang Hai, Chief engineer of APSCO SSS Project, and Associate Prof. Sun Liang, Executive Deputy Chief Engineer, gave a live introduction of the APSCO SSS-1 from the aspects of project background, development history, and in-orbit achievements. The team members gave professional and detailed explanations to the questions raised by the visitors.
Meanwhile, the team displayed the promotional materials of the Centre, such as “Introduction to the Centre”, “ Overview of the Centre’s Development”, etc., to introduce its development history, education and training, and special activities. Young scholars from Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Poland, Peru, Turkey and other countries showed strong interest in the Centre’s MASTA&DOCSTA programmes on Space Technology Applications and made inquiries.
In addition, representatives of the Centre made a work report to the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and had in-depth exchanges with a number of experts in the field of space technology at home and abroad, as well as alumni of the Centre and other participants. With the help of IAC platform, the Centre has kept abreast of the cutting-edge development trend in the space field and laid a good foundation for future cooperation and development.
