Catalog

Technical programme

IAC-26 — 77th International Astronautical Congress

D4. 24th IAA SYMPOSIUM ON VISIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE FUTURE

This 24th symposium is organized by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). In Space Activities the focus is usually kept on the short term developments, at the expense of future goals. The Symposium will discuss topics with at least 20 to 30 years prospective lead time and identify technologies and strategies that need to be developed. These developments will be examined with the goal to support also short/medium term projects and to identify priorities required for their development. The Sessions in the Symposium will address innovative technologies and Strategies to develop Space Elevator as well as Interstellar Precursor Missions. A session will address also how the Moon Village can contribute to the resolution of World Societal Changes as well as increasing the countries engaged in lunar activities.

Coordinator

Giuseppe Reibaldi
Moon Village Association (MVA) — Austria

Gongling Sun
International Space University — France

D4.1. Innovative Concepts and Technologies

1) In order to realize future, programs of space exploration and resource utilization, a focused suite of transformational new system concepts and enabling technologies must be developed during the coming decades. The technical objectives to be pursued should be drawn from a broad, forward-looking view of the technologies and system needed, but must be sufficiently focused, to allow tangible progression and dramatic improvements over current capabilities. 2) Ideally, the concepts should be presented in three categories: 1. Concepts which represent a significant advance, but require laboratory advancement, and 2. Concepts which have been demonstrated to some level in the laboratory, but require demonstration to validate their utility, and 3. Concepts which identify cross-cutting advances which, when combined can be successfully developed to support transformational new system concept. Papers are solicited in these and related areas, with a priority on concepts that have progressed at least into laboratory experiments.

Co-Chair

Alessandro Bartoloni
National Insitute of Nuclear Physics - INFN — Italy

Ulpia Elena Botezatu
Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) — Romania

Rapporteur: Timothy Cichan
Lockheed Martin Corporation — United States

D4.2. Contribution of Moon Village technologies and activities to Humanity Challenges

Moon Village is a concept that brings together efforts, world-wide, from the private sector, governments, academics and others to explore and use the Moon in a sustainable manner. Moon Village is a community of projects carried out by stakeholders from different fields (for example, technical, scientific, cultural, economic) working together. The implementation of the Moon Village has already started with missions and activities in line with its spirit, It is a major step forward for the peaceful development of humankind. Moon Village can offer a new start to humanity on the Moon and on the Earth by contributing to solve global societal issues. The session will discuss the contributions of the Moon Village to the solution of global challenges (e.g., energy, population, sustainable development, many others). How the Moon Village will support the understanding of the global societal issues and bring benefits to society on a global scale will also be discussed. The session will include also the identification of the related technologies that need to be developed. The definition of a roadmap complementary to the UN Agenda 2030 will be also discussed.

Co-Chair

Giuseppe Reibaldi
Moon Village Association (MVA) — Austria

Xiaowei WANG
China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) — China

Rapporteur: Paivi Jukola
Aalto University — Finland

D4.3. The Modern Day Space Elevator as a Permanent Transportation Infrastructure

Recent research projects have progressed to the point where many segment level concepts should be initiating the engineering development stage. The engineering design process has five phases for such mega-projects: 1) define the problem, 2) expand the major segment concepts through brainstorming, 3) Create an initial solution with segment level designs, 4) Build prototypes of each of the segments for engineering testing, and 5) refine the design resulting in production ready segments. As the space elevator community has come together and conducted many of the functions of the first three steps, the next major activity should be to design, build, and test each of the segments of space elevator infrastructures. That would include the following segments: Earth Port, Tether Climber, Tether, Apex Anchor and Operations Center. Several of these segments have significant research results helping to prepare us for this new phase. Much of the research results are at the Body of Knowledge for Modern Day Space Elevators at www.isec.org. The next few years will result in several testing programs that will help refine the designs of each of these space elevator’s five segments. This Congress session could address research in any of the five phases of development, with emphasis in preparing for testing and refinement of preliminary designs.

Co-Chair

Peter Swan
Space Elevator Development Corporation — United States

Yoji Ishikawa
Obayashi Corporation — Japan

Rapporteur: Daniel Griffin
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) — Sweden

D4.4. Interstellar Exploration - Strategies, Capabilities and Opportunities

Interstellar space exploration – visiting another star—has engaged the intellect and imagination of people across time and the across globe. A sober, serious examination of achieving the scientific, technological, and societal capabilities required for interstellar flight—travel beyond our solar system to another star—reveals one undeniable fact—it is very, very difficult. The extreme challenges exist not only within a single discipline, for example, propulsion; revolutionary advances must be made across the range of human knowledge, skills and experience including biological and human social structures. New integrated systems and technologies must be contemplated. And this is exactly what imbues the interstellar journey with such compelling opportunities to benefit not only current space exploration, but also life here on Earth. Interstellar pushes us to think beyond the commonplace and small increments. This session seeks to define specific strategies, capabilities, technologies, and knowledge systems leading to major advances in areas such as: safe, reliable, propulsion and energy systems; life support, crew habitability and health; creation of viable star-bound space communities; enhanced robotics, automation, intelligent systems and equipment to use extra-terrestrial resources; opportunities for industry in space; navigation and computation; transfer of these advancements to benefit and enrich the quality of life on earth; connection to and improvement of the vitality of capabilities to establish human presence on the moon, Mars, or elsewhere in the solar system that will lead the way to the stars; assess and evolve technologies like solar sails, laser propulsion, fusion engines that are on the horizon. Clearly this is list is incomplete and a key objective of the session is to also find the gaps. Papers presented in this session are expected to provide rigorous grounding, references and justification from existing fields of study from social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences, materials, computer sciences to arts and communication, governance, the marketplace, manufacturing – whether concepts are stepwise or discontinuous.

Co-Chair

Mae Jemison
100 Year Starship — United States

Giancarlo Genta
Politecnico di Torino — Italy

Rapporteur: Les Johnson
— United States

D4.5. Space Resources, the Enabler of the Space Exploration

Space Resources are available on the Moon, Asteroids, Mars and other celestial bodies. Their utilization will have a key role in the future of humanity in general and for space exploration in particular. The first steps in the utilzation of space resources will take placeon the Moon as approximately one hundred missions from aroundthe world are planned to explore and utilize lunar resources. The effective use of space resources will require the establishment of an enabling environment for technologicaland regulatory developments. At the moment a few countries have enacted national laws regarding the use of space resourecs, but these norms are not recognized at the international level. The United Nations COPUOS has set up a working group to create a set of principles that will form the foundation for an agreed legal framework. The development of this framework is of paramount importance in order to attract investors in US, China and the rest of the world to fund space resource activities. This session seeks innovative ideas and concepts regarding the legal and technological issues arising from space resource activities as well as papers describing the state of the art of planned or ongoing resource activities. This session also seeks prospective investors to present concepts regarding the financing of space resource activity.

Co-Chair

Roger X. Lenard
LPS — United States

Mark Sundhal
Cleveland State University — United States

Rapporteur: Güneş Ünüvar
Moon Village Association (MVA) — Luxembourg

D4.IP. Interactive Presentations - 24th IAA SYMPOSIUM ON VISIONS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE FUTURE

This session offers a unique opportunity to deliver your key messages in an interactive presentation on any of the subjects of Visions and Strategies for the Future addressed in the classic Sessions. The presentation will be displayed on a digital screen in a dedicated location and available for view by all Congress attendees for the entire Congress week. In addition, one afternoon is dedicated exclusively for the attendees to view the Interactive Presentations, and the author will be assigned a specific ten minute slot to personally present the topic and interact with the attendees present. The Interactive Presentation may take advantage of all electronic display capabilities, such as: PowerPoint charts, embedded hot links, pictures, audio and video clips etc. An award will also be presented to the author of the best Interactive Presentation in the D Category at a special ceremony. An Abstract that follows the standard format must be submitted by the deadline for standard IAC abstracts.

Co-Chair

Helen Tung
NewSpace2060 — Australia

Gongling Sun
International Space University — France