The 46th COSPAR Assembly, the global summit on space sciences, is in Florence

“Space research is one of humanity’s greatest collective undertakings and its progress depends on international collaboration“, says Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund, President of COSPAR. “The COSPAR Scientific Assembly embodies this spirit, bringing together scientists from around the world to broaden knowledge, drive innovation and inspire the next generation of discoveries.”

“It is with great pleasure that the National Institute of Astrophysics hosts the 46th Assembly of COSPAR. Scientists from all over the world find themselves once again under the aegis of this international body, over sixty years after the two previous editions, both hosted in the Tuscan capital, in 1961 and 1964“, comments Prof. Roberto Ragazzoni, President of INAF. “In those years we had just revealed the hidden side of the Moon, but our satellite had not yet been reached by man. Today, one step away from returning to the Moon after its conquest at the end of the 1960s, after having reached practically every corner of the solar system with probes launched from Earth and having revealed a profoundly different Universe thanks to an extraordinary generation of space telescopes, we are fully entering the so-called space economy. Access to space, now also open to commercial operators, and the multiplicity of opportunities that derive from it pose new challenges: scientific, technological, political and cultural. Astronomy, with its extraordinary ability to catalyze otherwise unthinkable goals, will continue to be one of the areas in which new generations of researchers will face the great challenges of our time: from understanding the deep Universe to planetary exploration, up to the sustainability of orbital activities, including the study of the Earth’s climate and the protection of our skies.

The organizational details indicate an impressive program, coordinated by the Scientific Program Committee (SPC), which, according to what Pietro Ubertini, Chair of the LOC and Vice President of COSPAR declares: “It includes over 160 scientific events scheduled in 30 parallel sessions per day, with contributions dedicated to innovation driven by the use of AI to manage the enormous quantities of data coming from the new satellites in flight and on the ground“.

The working tables include meetings dedicated to the mitigation of light pollution caused by satellite constellations, direct discussions between the heads of agencies such as ASI, NASA and ESA, and the presentation of the Italian guidelines for astrophysics and the study of the Solar System. The event also includes initiatives for the general public with the COSPAR OFF series of conferences at the Niccolini Theatre, accompanied by orientation and networking sessions aimed at young researchers and university students.