N° 39–1996: Joint Press Release ESA/DLR
4 September 1996
SpaceOps 96: International Symposium on Mission Control The Fourth International Symposium on Space Mission Operations and Ground Control Systems will be held at the Forum der Technik near the Deutsches Museum in Munich, from 16 to 20 September 1996. The subject will be "Global Space Operations in the next Century".
Some 600 experts from over 30 countries will discuss the latest trends in the satellite sector and ground control systems, with special emphasis on greater cost effectiveness and the increasing internationalisation and standardisation of future space projects.
With nearly 1000 operational satellites already in orbit and some 500 more to come in the next 5 years, there are key questions to be addressed, including the cost of future missions and the implications for top management.
Reports on the latest developments in the space sector will be presented by the two organisers, the German Space Agency (DLR) and the European Space Agency (ESA), and by representatives of the American, Russian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Canadian and Ukrainian space agencies. Space industry representatives from all over the world will contribute to the general exchange of information and experience.
How many people are needed for a specific mission? What stage has been reached in the strategic and tactical planning for the international space station? How can an international mission to Mars be prepared? How can the evaporation over Nasser Lake in Upper Egypt be determined from Meteosat observations? The Russian data relay network and its utilisation in the MIR space programme, as well as future projects like the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moon Titan, using ESA's Huygens probe, or the NEAR mission with a spacecraft landing on asteroid Eros in 1999 - all these topics will be covered during the five-day conference.
Space industry representatives will also present the software used to simulate sophisticated missions such as Galileo. The opening ceremony at the Gasteig in Munich on Monday 16 September will be attended by Professor Walter Kröll, Chairman of the Executive Board of DLR, Jean-Marie Luton, Director General of ESA, Felix Garcia-Castañer, Director of Operations at ESA/ESOC and Franz Schlude, Director of DLR/GSOC. Journalists wishing to attend are invited to contact Gisela Lange at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
(Tel: +49.81.53.28.22.97; Fax: +49.81.53.28.13.42) for accreditation.