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Building a Safer Space Together

Rome, Italy, 21st to 23rd October 2008

INTRODUCTION

The International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (www.iaass.org), legally established in the Netherlands, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to furthering international cooperation and scientific advancement in the field of space systems safety. IAASS is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). The association exists to help shape and advance an international culture of space safety (technical, organisational and socio-political) which would contribute to make space missions, vehicles, stations, extraterrestrial habitats, equipment and payload safer for the general public, ground personnel crews and flight participants. The association will also pursue a culture of safeguard of valuable on-orbit assets.

The third IAASS Conference “Building, Together, a Safer Space” is an invitation to reflect and exchange information on a number of topics in space safety of national and international interest. The once exclusive “club” of nations with autonomous sub-orbital and orbital space access capabilities is becoming crowded with fresh and ambitious new entrants. Commercial spaceports are being planned and built, while some of the old ones are changing hands from military to private and commercial management.

In the manned spaceflight arena a commercial market may finally start to emerge with personal spaceflight and (government) demand for private cargo transportation services to orbit. Besides the national ambitions in space, international cooperation both civil and commercial is also gaining momentum. The man who may land on Mars a couple of decades from now will probably carry a single international flag. In the meantime, robotic space exploration will accelerate and with it the need to internationally regulate the unavoidable usage of nuclear power sources. Space-bound systems and aviation traffic will share more and more a crowded airspace, while aviation will increasingly rely on safety-critical services based in near-space. Finally, most nations now own important space assets, mainly satellites of various kinds and purpose, which as for human missions are under the constant threat of an ever increasing number of space debris, including 200 abandoned spacecraft. Without proactive and courageous initiatives we risk to negate the use of space to future generations. Awareness is increasing internationally (as solemnly declared since decades in space treaties) that space is a mankind asset and that we all have the duty of caring for it.

The third IAASS Conference will additionally dedicate a set of specialised sessions to two topics which have always struggled to get due attention in space programs: Human Factors and Performance for Safety, and Probabilistic Risk Assessment. The complexity of space systems demands the use of advanced methods to prevent safety-critical human errors during design as well as to enhance technical judgement and decision-making processes. Furthermore, during operations, a number of psychological and cultural factors which may be detrimental to crew performance and safety need to be understood and mitigated.

These special sessions will provide participants with insight, innovative strategies and open discussion on these essential aspects of space safety

Please find more information and register for attending the conference at: http://www.congrex.nl/08a11/