President’s addresses

IISL intensifies and expands partnerships at IAC 2024

Next to our IISL Colloquium, the IAC 2024 and its exhibition offered the possibility to intensify and extend international partnerships of our Institute. New contacts into all regions of the world were made, that are going to create new and exciting shared activities with our partners. Below, see some of the impressions of perspectives of our week at IAC 2024: Azercosmos – Space Academy On 15 October, IISL’s Kai-Uwe Schrogl (President), PJ Blount (Executive Secretary), Mahulena Hofmann (Board member), and Scarlet O’Donnell (Board member) met with representatives Narkhanim Orujova and Imran Mukhtarov from Azercosmos as well as Azercosmos’ Space Academy, in order to discuss potential cooperation of the two entities in the future. Ms. Narkhanim Orujova is IISL Member and very effectively supported IISL with the organisation of the Institute’s activities during the IAC in Baku – many thanks again to her on this occasion. Collaboration would especially focus on knowledge transfer and cooperation with regard to jointly organised events. IISL Board member Mahulena Hofmann is the newly appointed Chair of the IISL Directorate of Studies (DoS) and has been appointed as point of contact for Azercosmos on the topic. SIA-India IISL met with SIA-India — An Association for the Space Industry, to discuss potential future collaboration between our two entities. With Anil Prakash and Rajeev Gambhir representing SIA, at the focus of the deliberations were issues such as space sustainability as well as space governance of emerging space faring countries. The meeting was enabled through incoming IISL Vice-President, Ranjana Kaul, from India. China IISL met with delegates from China at IAC, with whom there exists a long-standing relationship based on IISL’s annual participation in the China Space Conference. Every year, the two organisations collaborate to hold a Space Law Symposium. At the IAC in Milan, the collaboration was reiterated and the next Space Law Symposium in 2025 was confirmed. Türkiye – collaboration for IAC 2026 in Antalya IISL President Kai-Uwe Schrogl met with Member of the Turkish Parliament, Ms. Zeynep Yildiz, who shares a strong interest in space law, in the context of the IAF meeting of Ministers and Members of Parliament. It was agreed that with a view to the IAC 2026 in Antalya, IISL and the Turkish IAC hosts will hold a Workshop on Space Law in summer 2025 in the run-up to the Congress. WiA – Women in Aerospace On 14 October 2024, IISL President Kai-Uwe Schrogl took part in the Meet&Greet organised by WiA Europe — a meeting and networking opportunity for young talent in the industry. The meeting was met by a lot of interest and new connections could be formed. European Space Agency – ESOC The European Space Agency’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), serving as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency, took note of IISL’s lunchtime event of Tuesday, 15 October 2024, where the IISL Working Group on AI in Space presented its preliminary findings and entered into dialogue with the audience, to collect feedback for drafting the final report on its study. ESOC expressed interest in holding a special event for ESA employees, where the Working Group would highlight its most important findings. IAF General Assembly During the International Astronautical Federation’s (IAF) General Assembly, IISL President Kai-Uwe Schrogl presented the Institute’s past and current activities, as well as an outlook to the future. Moreover, ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer’s video on the importance of space law was shared with the attendants of the IAF General Assembly. The message of the video, which focuses on space sustainability, were well aligned with the theme of the conference: “Responsible space for sustainability”. Communications – SpaceWatch.Global On Friday, 18 October 2024, IISL President Kai-Uwe Schrogl participated in Space Watch Global’s ‘Space Café’ with Torsten Kriening. The episode was broadcasted live from the IAC in Milan. Schrogl discussed the vibrant atmosphere at IAC 2024 in Milan, highlighting the growing interest in space activities among governments, commercial entities, and the younger generation. He emphasized the importance of democratizing space and the need for effective legal frameworks. Schrogl detailed the IISL’s flagship Moot Court Competition, which saw the team from Singapore win, and underscored the relevance of space law in addressing issues like light pollution and AI regulation. He also noted the challenges of harmonizing national space laws and the urgency of space traffic management. The episode can be watched on SpaceWatch.Global’s site here.