News from IAC
Controversy Surrounds Le Gall’s Unopposed Election to IAF Post
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) on Oct. 16 elected Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the French space agency, CNES, as IAF president starting in late 2016 in a procedure that generated substantial controversy despite the fact that Le Gall ran unopposed.
China and the Moon Loom Large Yet Distant for Bolden, Woerner
The NASA administrator must confront and explain a U.S. policy he disdains, while ESA's chief pushes an imagined international lunar colony called Moonvillage.
OneWeb Pledges Vigilance on Orbital Debris Issue
OneWeb said will go far beyond what international guidelines recommend to reduce the chance that its 720-satellite constellation will create orbital debris.
Israel Aerospace Industries Sharpens its Satellite Export Focus
Israel Aerospace Industries, in its first satellite export contract, has sold a high-resolution optical imaging spacecraft to an unnamed government and is also introducing an all-electric version of its Amos telecommunications satellite line.
With Naga-L Rocket, China Would Turn Tables on U.S. Export Ban
China’s rocket manufacturer is designing a rocket that would be exported to skirt the ban on U.S. satellite technology exports to China.
China’s Space Station Planners Put out Welcome Mat
China is soliciting international participation in its future manned space station in the form of foreign modules that would attach to the three-module core system, visits by foreign crew-transport vehicles for short stays and the involvement of non-Chinese researchers in placing experiments on the complex.
Security Concerns Evident at IAC
ESA advised its personnel to decide individually whether to attend this year’s IAC conference in Jerusalem based on their sense of the security risk.
