Future space engineers excited by astronautical congress in Baku

Under the subtitle "Global Challenges and Opportunities: Give Space a Chance", the 74th Global Space Summit was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, in early October. International Astronautical Congress (IAC). The aim of the annual conference is to create a platform where space industry professionals can share their ideas, research results or new technologies. As part of the official Czech delegation, which consisted of research institutions, companies and students, the event was also attended by representatives of the Brno University of Technology.

Future space engineers from the YSpace student team also took advantage of the unique opportunity to share their research results. It consists of students of the Master's degree in Space Applications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication of the BUT and its aim is to develop space satellites: "Our main motivation for participating in the event was the opportunity to gain new knowledge from teams engaged in similar activities as us and to find potential partners to support our projects," explained Dominik Klement, the team leader.

The congress programme was divided into several parts. The technical programme of the congress focused on the latest advances in the technological field. Here, representatives of space agencies such as NASA, ESA or JAXA, or research and educational institutions or private companies presented their contributions. Panel discussions and plenary sessions were devoted to the future of the space industry from a programmatic and legal perspective. Another part of the programme was the exhibition section, where companies from all over the world presented their products and services. There was also considerable interest in the Czech stand, which presented the results of domestic companies and institutions, including the Brno University of Technology, to a wide audience.

A unique opportunity to share research results was also used by future BUTs at the event to present the development of a thermal switch, which is being implemented within the European Space Agency (ESA) project at The Institute of Aerospace Engineering of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of BUT. Another project presented was the simulation of satellite battery systems being developed at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, BUT.

Interest was also aroused by two Brno companies with which the BUT cooperates. TRL Space Systems is developing a commercial satellite capable of taking hyperspectral images and is preparing the LUGO lunar mission, which it is working on under the auspices of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Another representative of Brno's growing space industry is S.A.B. Aerospace, which presented at the congress the low-cost Slavia mission for asteroid exploration, as well as the IOSLAB project aimed at servicing satellites in orbit.

"We are very happy that we could be at the International Astronautical Congress. It is a very valuable experience and provided us with a lot of motivation to work on further development of space research at the BUT," said Jakub Macejko, who is responsible for mechanical systems at YSpace.

In 2024, the next Congress will be held in Milan, Italy: "We believe that there are many activities at the BUT that are able to compete on an international level. If someone at the university is doing something specific related to space engineering, they should not hesitate to submit their abstract to the congress. The chance is until the end of February." Adam Hláčik, another member of the YSpace team and its technical leader, urges his scientific colleagues at the BUT.

More information about IAC 2024