EVENT: Latvian space industry delegation to participate at the 73rd International Astronautical Congress!

Several organisations and institutions that contribute to the growth of the Latvian space sector will promote their technological achievements, learn and network with thousands of other participants of the 73rd International Astronautical Congress from all other the world.

 

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is the one place and time of the year where all global space actors come together. The event attracts more than 6,000 participants each year. Covering all space sectors and topics, it offers everyone the latest space information and developments in academia and industry, networking opportunities, contacts and potential partnerships. It is the largest space event of the year.

 

This year, the IAC is happening for already 73rd time. This time, the hosting organisation is the French space agency – Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES). Paris hosted the first IAC ever in 1950, then in 1963 and lastly in 1982 and now will be holding the record of the city with most IACs hosted.

The IAC 2022 theme is Space for @ll to reach beyond the space community and bringing together all communities to offer great opportunities for networking and forging new contacts and potential partnerships.

It will take place from 18 to 22 September in Paris, France.

Latvia’s delegation

It is the first time Latvia is going to participate in the IAC with a stand showcasing national achievements in the space domain. Ten organisations will travel together to Paris as part of the Latvian space industry delegation organised by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.

Meetings with global space sector large system integrators, private sector leaders, governmental agencies have already been arranged and more are still to come.

Participating organisations:

  • LATVIAN SPACE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION: aspires to grow the Latvian space sector through ensuring proactive communication about the space sector developments and opportunities, acting as a central contact point of the Latvian space industry and motivating new international partnerships aimed at global space sector development As of 2021, LAIK has 12 active members.
  • VENTSPILS INTERNATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY CENTRE: an internationally recognised and outstanding space research and education centre. It owns Latvia’s valuable and unique space infrastructure, for instance the Irbene radiotelescope, which is the largest one in the North!
  • CRYOGENIC AND VACUUM SYSTEMS: since 2014, creates space environment simulators for qualification and acceptance testing of small and large space systems. The team is led by Dr.sc. specialists with expertise in aerospace, vacuum and cryogenic engineering as well as in space technology testing,
  • EVENTECH: picosecond precise signal processing, time-tagging and time-of-flight measurements. Eventech is part of the international HERA mission (asteroid deflection). The company has earned a tech-leader position in terrestrial timing applications for Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and represents 70% of the global market of its technology segment. Eventech technology is advocated by NASA, >50% of SLR stations worldwide are equipped with their timers. Furthermore, they have successful terrestrial use cases in gravimetry, time transfer, optical communication and optical reflectometry projects.
  • LASER CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA: experts in magneto-optical effects in atomic vapours and diamonds, specifically, nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond as well as in the development of optically addressed magnetometer systems.
  • RD ALFA MICROELECTRONICS: high reliability and radiation hardened microelectronics. RD ALFA has 50 years of experience in design and production of HiRel, RadHard & ITAR free for EU, analogue integrated circuits (ICs) for aerospace and defence as well as special purpose microcircuits. Originally founded in 1962, the company is a pioneer in electronics and regularly participates in European Space Agency projects since 2015.
  • SMW GROUP: 20 years of experience in designing, developing and producing magnesium parts. In addition to proprietary high-performance magnesium alloys, they are experts in high-strength aluminium materials. In 2015, SMW has developed a proprietary technology for the production of Al-Mg-Sc high-strength materials by ultrarapid cooling method for the aerospace industry.
  • TILDE: a leading language technology company in Europe specialising in innovative machine translation (MT) and terminology solutions. Tilde's MT has been recognised as the best MT for four consecutive years at the World Machine Translation competition also known as the machine translation Olympics.
  • THE MINISTRY OF ECONOMICS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA: alongside with entrepreneurship competitiveness, internal market, innovation, housing, energy and energy efficiency policy, the Ministry of Economics, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science, is responsible for the space economy development and its internationalisation in Latvia. The Ministry of Economics is the co-signatory of the Space Strategy of Latvia for 2021-2027, represents Latvia at the European Space Agency Council, International Relations Committee and Advisory Communication Committee and the European Union Space Programme committees as well as the Copernicus Relay status.
  • INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF LATVIA: an administrative institution subordinated to the Minister of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. It is involved in the implementation of national support programmes for business competitiveness development and investment projects according to the national economic policy, the Smart Specialisation Strategy of Latvia, the Space Strategy for Latvia 2021-2027 as well as Latvia’s participation in the European Space Agency as an Associate Member. The Investment and Development Agency is the organiser of the Latvian space industry delegation to the IAC 2022.