N° 36–2000: Experience space at ILA 2000 in Berlin

The ILA2000 aerospace fair will take place in Berlin, at the Schönefeld airport. Trade days, reserved to professional visitors, are 6 to 8 June. Members of the general public will be welcomed from noon on Friday, 9 June to 12 June.

As in past years, the European Space Agency (ESA), the German space agency (DLR) and the German aerospace industry will share a joint pavilion (Hall 2) under the motto "The Space Experience". ESA and DLR will be presenting their programmes with stands totalling some 1000 square metres. The industry will be premiering the travelling space exhibition "Roadshow", which will embark on a tour of German cities once the ILA is over.

Visitors' eyes will be drawn from afar to the gigantic life-size model of ESA's future Envisat Earth Observation satellite, scheduled for launch next year on an Ariane-5 launcher. Inside the "Space Experience" pavilion, the flight unit of ESA's Atmospheric Re-entry Demonstrator will be exhibited. This is the actual capsule that was carried aloft in 1998 on the second Ariane-5 launch and retrieved after a perfect flight and splash-down. Also on exhibit will be a model of the X-38 rescue vehicle, the 'lifeboat' for astronauts living and working in the international space station, and a 1:20 model of the space station itself. The exhibition will further include models of Cluster II, the four science satellites that will be launched later this year from Baikonur; the X-ray telescope XMM-Newton, which was launched into orbit last December; the Huygens spacecraft, currently on its journey to Saturn's moon Titan; and ERS-2, ESA's radar 'eye in the sky' that will monitor our planet's environment.

A special display will be devoted to the results of last February's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, in which the DLR and ESA's astronaut Gerhard Thiele were heavily involved.

Experts from ESA, the DLR and German industry will be joined by ESA astronauts, and will be available for interviews or just to answer questions on the different programmes.

Don't miss these events, all taking place in the "Space Experience" pavilion (Hall 2), except the opening ceremony which will be in Hall 3.

Tuesday, 6 June:
10:00 - 11:00 Hall 3: Official opening ceremony.
12:55 - 13:05 Hall 2: Visit of Mr Werner Müller, Minister for the Economy.

Wednesday, 7 June:
11:00 - 13:00 The International Space Station:
1.The five partners present their contributions
2.Preview and announcement of ISS Forum 2001
3.Utilisation hardware demonstration by Ulf Merbold.

13:00 - 14:00 The Director General of ESA, Antonio Rodotà, and the Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, Jean-Marie Luton, officially sign the launch contract for the Automated Transfer Vehicle.
14:00-15:00 Visit of Mrs Edelgard Bulmahn, Minister of Education and Research.
Podium discussion: "Space: a view of system Earth", with Minister Bulmahn, Prof Walter Kröll (DLR), Dr Antonio Rodotà (ESA), Dr Klaus Ensslin (Astrium), Dr Manfred Krischke (RapidEye AG).

A series of special events intended for the general public will be held on Monday, 12 June with the participation of experts from ESA, DLR and industry:

Monday, 12 June:
10:00-10:45 Living in space (1). Talk with the astronauts.
11:15-11:45 Let's go to Mars. Presentation.
12:15-12:45 New technologies for space. Presentation
13:00-13:30 "SOS im All / SOS in Space", presentation of book by the author and astronauts.
13:45-14:15 Space transportation today and tomorrow. Presentation.
14:45-15:15 ISS: the new generation. Talk with the astronauts.
15:45-16:15 Telecommunications / Multimedia / Galileo. Presentation.
17:00-17:30 Living in space (2). Talk with the astronauts.

For further information on the ILA, the complete programme, press conference schedules, and obtaining press accreditation, please consult the official ILA2000 website:
http://www.ila-berlin.de

Further information on ESA at: http://www.esa.int

Further information on DLR at: http://www.dlr.de

Further information on the German aerospace industry federation BDLI at: http://www.bdli.de