Leaders from space agencies such as NASA, ESA, astronauts and leading companies in the sector, will be among the participants in the 6th World Space Symposium of COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) to be hosted in Nicosia between 3-7 November.
The Symposium is organised by the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) in collaboration with COSPAR, the international body for the promotion of scientific cooperation in space.
CSEO President George Danos told CNA that this is the most important world space research conference for 2025, a landmark event that brings Cyprus to the center of the global space community.
International participants
The Symposium will feature leaders from all major space agencies, including NASA (USA), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), CNES (France), DLR (Germany), ASI (Italy), ISRO (India), as well as representatives from leading aerospace companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
The COSPAR 2025 Symposium has attracted the interest of the global scientific community, with delegates coming from more than 45 countries.
“This makes Nicosia the global meeting point for space research in 2025,” Danos said.
Participation, he added, extends across the globe, with researchers from countries such as Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, South Africa, Thailand and Singapore, “making the conference a truly global gathering.”
Beyond the geographical diversity, Danos continued, the quality of the participating organisations is impressive, with more than 90 institutions represented. These organisations, he stressed, constitute the elite of global space research and industry. In addition to NASA and ESA, the Japanese agency JAXA, the French space agency CNES and research center CNRS, the German aerospace agency DLR, the Italian space agency ASI, as well as national research institutes from China, Russia, India and many other countries are represented.
In addition, top academic institutions will be represented, such as the University of Michigan, the University of California, Texas A&M University, Imperial College London and University College London (UCL), the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, as well as universities from Singapore, Belgium, Italy etc.
Moreover, there is a strong private sector presence with companies leading the way in innovation, confirming the importance of the Symposium for the commercial exploitation of space.
"This demonstrates that COSPAR 2025 is not just a conference, but a strategic meeting of the entire global space ecosystem, which will take place in Cyprus. So for the first time in its history, Cyprus is hosting a world space conference of such scale and importance, consolidating its place on the global space map," Danos told CNA, adding that with more than 330 scientific papers from dozens of countries, the event confirms its global character.
Announcements of major discoveries
Important scientific discoveries will be announced by the International Space Innovation Center (C-SpaRC), a National Strategic Infrastructure of Cyprus, which in June 2024 was selected to become an international center by COSPAR. The center, which is now a COSPAR Center of Excellence, is coordinated by CSEO, funded by the Research and Innovation Foundation and has multiple prestigious national and international partners, such as NASA and Lockheed Martin. In a special session/presentation C-SpaRC will announce for the first time important scientific discoveries that connect human health on Earth with space phenomena.
The Symposium will also focus on critical issues such as sustainability in space, planetary protection and the use of space technologies to solve problems on Earth.
One of the highlights will be the presentation of COSPAR’s new “Roadmap for Space Exploration”, a strategic document that will set the priorities for global space exploration for the next decade.
In addition, important international agreements are expected to be signed that will further strengthen international cooperation, especially on space weather issues, at a time of heightened solar activity.
Moreover, Cyprus is hosting COSPAR’s first global innovation competition, NovaSpaRC, which actively supports startups in Cyprus and internationally. In addition, CSEO is expected to sign important international agreements that will strengthen the Cypriot space industry and research, bringing tangible benefits to the country.
Public participation
Danos told CNA that CSEO, within the framework of this world conference, is organising specifically for the public of Cyprus, the “Space Science Festival” on Thursday, 6 November, at 7pm, in Nicosia, at the CSEO Outreach Centre.
The event will be open to the public, giving families, young people and all citizens the opportunity to meet astronauts, see space exhibits up close and talk to the scientists who are shaping the future of humanity in space, he went on to say.
Danos noted that the organisation of this conference is the result of "a decade's work and efforts by CSEO that highlight its upgraded international role and its recognition as an International Space Innovation Center (C-SpaRC), which operates in Cyprus under the auspices of COSPAR".
C-SpaRC, he told CNA, is one of only two COSPAR Centers of Excellence worldwide, placing Cyprus at the core of global space innovation.
CNA is the media sponsor of the COSPAR Symposium.
(Source: CNA)
