The conference will be held on January 30-29 in Herzliya
Heads of agencies, astronauts and senior officials from the Israeli and international space industry will participate in the ninth Ilan Ramon International Space Conference led by the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Science and the Fisher Institute. At the same time as the conference, a comprehensive professional exhibition will be presented where the leaders of the military and civilian industry in Israel will present the latest innovations in their fields.
The conference will open with words of blessing from the Minister of Science, Technology and Space Yaakov Perry, from the head of the Fisher Institute Brigadier General Assaf Agmon, from the mayor of Herzliya Moshe Padlon and from Rona Ramon. At the ceremony, Ilan Ramon Ministry of Science scholarships will be awarded to outstanding researchers and the Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who stayed on the International Space Station, will speak about life on the station.
The first session of the conference will include a discussion by the senior officials of the space agencies in which heads and representatives from space agencies in the world will participate: NASA, the European Space Agency, Russia, China, Italy, Canada, Israel and Norway.
The second session will deal with space and science and will open with a review of the main events of the past year in the field from Prof. Ehud Bacher, head of the Institute for Space Research at the Technion. In addition, Dr. David Dvorkin, from the International Aviation and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution will present the history of solar system research and Prof. Zvi Piren from the Hebrew University will lecture about "gold in space".
The lock-in session will focus on security aspects in the field of space under the guidance of Brigadier General (retd.) Amnon Harari, head of the Space Directorate at MFA. The first speaker at the session will be Yossi Weiss, CEO of the Aerospace Industry, who will present the space industries as force multipliers for the national security of the State of Israel. After him, Major General John Hyten, deputy commander of the US Space Command, will speak about space as a central pillar of US national security. The first day of the conference will close with the annual lecture of the commander of the air and space arm Major General Amir Eshel.
The second day of the conference will open with the session "Space in the world of industry and technology" moderated by Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center at the Fisher Institute. The session will contain reviews about solutions, products and technologies by representatives from the Israeli and global industry in the fields of space with the participation of: Dana Lin-Brent from Rafael; Gil Tadhar, head of the Peace Project at the Aerospace Industry; Ilan Porat, head of space at Alup/Elbit; John Evans, International Vice President of Engineering and Technology at Lockheed Martin; as well as a senior representative from the "Arian Space" company.
The next session will deal with space policy under the guidance of Ambassador Jeremy Issacharoff, Senior Vice President for Strategy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the participation of: Menachem Kidron, Director of the Israel Space Agency; Dr. Daganit Paikovsky from the National R&D Council at the Ministry of Science; Dr. Reinhard Schütla-Brakos, director of the satellite infrastructure sector of the "Copernicus" program of the European delegation; and Dr. Lars Alminda, CEO of the Danish "Gum Spice" company.
The afternoon session will deal with entrepreneurship, innovation and non-traditional applications of space. In the session, reviews will be given by Dr. Gareth Raisman, astronaut and representative of the SpaceX company; Frank Di Bello, President and CEO of "Spice Florida"; Philip Britva, CEO of "Spaceplane"; Dr. Thanasis Postsis, who heads a large delegation of industrialists from Greece; and Lt. Col. (ret.) Ofer Lapid, former chief technology officer in the Space Directorate of Mafat and Marcel Shaton, CEO of ISRED who will present the European 2020 program and the possibilities for Israeli companies to integrate into it.
The last session of the conference will deal with "Man in space - aspects of long-term manned space missions", with the participation of astronauts from NASA and the European Space Agency, and Dr. General Domitrio Dorin Pronario, the first Romanian cosmonaut and founder of the Association of Space Explorers. And finally, concluding remarks by General (res.) Herzl Budinger, chairman of the Fisher Institute.
The Ilan Ramon Conference is the main annual event in memory of the victims of the Space Shuttle Columbia and is held close to the memorial date of the late Ilan Ramon. The event which is a central meeting point for senior officials from the field of science and space from around the world.
