symposium A7

Title

SYMPOSIUM ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR FUTURE SPACE ASTRONOMY MISSIONS

Description

At a time when further progress in space astronomy requires the development of very ambitious projects increasingly demanding in terms of technology requirements but also requesting more and more international collaboration, it seems appropriate to arrange an international symposium involving the main actors of this field of space research, the scientific community, space industry and space agencies. Capitalising on the on-going activities involving COSPAR and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to establish science and technology driven astronomy road maps at worldwide level for the post 2015 decade, the broad objective of the symposium will be to promote the exchange of information and ideas related to new technologies for the space astronomy missions of the future. The symposium will extend over 2 days and consist of both invited talks and contributed papers. The programme will cover long term scientific priorities in space astronomy worldwide and prospects for future missions including space agency and academia long range plans and will also address associated technology needs for both instruments and platforms. In the initial plenary session the prime scientific motivations and needs in different fields of Space Astronomy will be reviewed with the type of missions required. This will be followed by invited and contributed talks on the space agency long term views with emphasis on their technology plans. This session will also include a talk on the technology developments foreseen for future ground based facilities. The following two sessions will see invited talks focussing on each of the different scientific topics identifying the required technological developments. For each topic, ample time will be devoted to contributed talks on the related technology studies and developments within industry and research laboratories. A full session will follow addressing the lessons learned from past missions and current projects under development. Finally, the symposium will end with a round table discussion on how to improve interaction between industry, the scientific community and agencies in the technology preparation of future missions.

IPC members

• Coordinator: Dr. Sergio Volonte, European Space Agency (ESA), France;