Dubai – UAE: The 17th edition of the International Conference on Space Operations (SpaceOps 2023), one of the world’s premier space events, hosted by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and held for the first time ever in the Arab world continued on day 2 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The second day of the conference focused on topics like space traffic management, creating standards for space missions, the need for exploring legal innovations related to space and collaborative opportunities in lunar missions along with presentation of abstracts and papers about space technologies, innovations and experiences from around the world.

The day began with a plenary session on ‘Space Traffic Management – Needs and Solutions’, featuring experts from ESA, Canadian Space Agency, SANSA, EU Space Surveillance and Tracking as well as Planet Labs, ClearSpace and Secure World Foundation. The session emphasised on the need to ensure safe and sustainable access to space with the rapid increase in number of satellites in Earth’s orbit following increased investment in space-based solutions geared towards providing a range of social, scientific, strategic and economic benefits to citizens globally.

Speaking at the session, Michel Doyon, Manager, Flight Operations Canadian Space Agency, said: “It is the responsibility of all agencies to manage and maintain the outer space environment, with more regulations and policies being implemented to ensure that all players follow standard practices.”

The day also witnessed keynote session on the ‘Standards and Interoperability for Space Missions Success’ by Sami W. Asmar, General Secretary of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) and its NASA delegate as well as Liaison to the Interagency Operations Advisory Group as well as another session on ‘DIFC Courts: Courts of Space’ by Amna Al Owais, Chief Registrar, DIFC Courts. A special session on ‘Public-private collaboration opportunities in lunar missions’ was also held during the day, with delegates from ESA, Italian Space Agency, Thales Alenia, Sierra Space, Surrey Space Technologies Limited, Space Copy 3D and Space Lead as the panellists.

In addition to the sessions, attendees also visited the exhibition hall, where companies and organizations showcased their latest innovations and services. The day concluded with a session on Women in Space and speed mentoring, under the ‘Students and Young Professionals (SYP)’ program of SpaceOps.

SpaceOps 2023 will run until 10 March. For more information on the conference, detailed programme schedule and complete list of speakers and exhibitors, please visit: https://spaceops2023.org

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ABOUT MOHAMMED BIN RASHID SPACE CENTRE (MBSRC):

MBRSC is an advanced scientific and technological hub, responsible for making the UAE a world leader in space services and exploration.

Established in 2006, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) started out with five engineers, who took it upon themselves to develop their capabilities and expand their knowledge in the field of space, relying on strong will and solid determination. Since then, the centre has continued its journey to be the incubator of the “UAE National Space Programme”. The MBRSC has undertaken the tasks of building, developing, and operating a number of Earth observation satellites, providing imaging services, analysing and studying them, as well as producing relevant data to scientific communities and research centres around the world. Among the satellites that the centre operates are DubaiSat-1 & DubaiSat-2. The MBRSC is also responsible for KhalifaSat, celebrated as the first satellite that was fully built by Emiratis in 2018. Recently, the centre revealed its plan to develop the new satellite MBZ-SAT, which is expected to be launched at the end of 2023 and to be the latest in the field of high-resolution imaging from outer space.