International Astronautical Federation
 | |
| Formation | 1951 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Paris, France |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Purpose | Space advocacy |
| Location | |
Membership | 300 members from 66 countries |
Official languages | English, French |
| Website |
www |
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is an international space advocacy organisation based in Paris, and founded in 1951 as a non-governmental organization to establish a dialogue between scientists around the world and to lay the information for international space cooperation. It has over 300 members from 66 countries across the world. They are drawn from space agencies, companies, universities, professional associations, government organizations and learned societies. It is linked with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) with whom the IAF organises the annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC).[1]
Meetings
The largest and most well-known IAF event is the annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which takes place annually in September or October. The IAC features high-level plenaries and highlight lectures, specialised young professionals' students events, Global Networking Forum, and a technical programme presenting latest advances in science and exploration, applications and operations, technology, infrastructure, and space and society.
There are a variety of side events including the annual UN/IAF Workshop , which takes place during the 2 days preceding the IAC.
The IAF also organises the 'Global Conferences' series, with the Global Lunar Exploration Conference (GLUC 2010) in Beijing, the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2012) in Washington DC, Global Space Applications Conference (GLAC 2014) in Paris, Global Space Innovation Conference (GLIC 2015) in Munich, and the upcoming [Global Conference on Space and the Information Society] [GLIS 2016] in Geneva.
Working in close cooperation with the United Nations, the IAF also organises the Space Workshop for Developing Nations. With the Committee on Space Research and the International Institute of Space Law, the IAF also conducts an annual survey of Highlights in Space for the United Nations.
Awards
The IAF runs 2 large-scale awards schemes for young professionals and students - The Emerging Space Leaders (ESL) Grants, and the Young Space Leaders Recognition (YSL) Programme. This allows young people to attend the IAC free of charge, and have their travel, accommodation and costs paid whilst there.
Every year at the International Astronautical Congress, awards are given out: The main awards are the IAF World Space Award, the Allan D. Emil Memorial Award, the IAF Hall of Fame, the IAF Distinguished Service Award, the Franck J. Malina Astronautics Medal and the Luigi G. Napolitano Award.
Publications
The IAF publishes proceedings from its meeting electronically, along with studies undertaken by IAF committees, and other reports.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ "About Us". Iafastro website. Iaf. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ↑ "Iaf".