COSPAR Scientific Assembly

A number of special lectures and events are planned in Busan, and information will be posted as it becomes available at this page. As a preview, please see the two descriptions below for events already advanced in the planning process.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Lunch Panel: "Leveraging Psychological Safety as an IDEA Principle to Advance Scientific Discovery"

Join leaders from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other global experts on the necessity for creating psychologically safe environments to ensure inclusion and open scientific expression. Often our notions of the creation of science are based on the historic "Eureka" moments of a single brilliant individual, be it Einstein, Marie Curie, or Newton. In reality much of science is conducted in teams. And yet, academia does very little to prepare our scientists for team leadership. To create high functioning, high performing teams, a critical component is psychological safety, a term coined by Professor Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School. Psychological safety occurs when all individuals in the team feel safe to take risks and speak up without fear of shame or reprisal. In space science, some of the biggest "fails" have occurred when there was low psychological safety and team members were afraid to speak up.

The IDEA panel at COSPAR will examine how organizations are working to cultivate psychological safety, how gender, cultural, and social identity differences affect psychological safety, and ways of overcoming those challenges.

COSPAR Committee on Industry Relations Panel Discussion: Space 2050 – Our Future Shaped by Today’s Space Technology Advances

What will the future of space look like in 2050? What technologies will be required to enable future capabilities in space and how close are we to creating them? The leader of Lockheed Martin’s space innovation labs shares a vision for the future of space and showcases key technologies being developing to expand space missions and humanity beyond our home world. The 2050 vision invites discussion about the future of space in five areas: a "smart" world enabled by ubiquitous communications, extraplanetary operations, space logistics, mission operations command utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning, and space defense to strengthen 21st Century Security. These areas dive deeper into dynamic mission environments and the emerging technological advancements necessary to operate productively and safely.

As in past years, a variety of organizations will plan scientific, business, and/or social events around the COSPAR Scientific Assembly. COSPAR encourages organizations planning such events to make them known to the Secretariat before midApril 2024 so that if appropriate they can be referenced on the Scientific Assembly webpage, app, and/or in the program book.

The International Academy of Astronautics will host its regular Academy Day at the COSPAR Scientific Assembly on Saturday, 13 July 2024, 9:30 – 16:00. Updates on current Academy activities will be provided by IAA leaders. The highlight of Academy Day however will be a technical program comprised of four or five invited lectures on the latest results from Earth and space science research. Featured lectures will be presented by renowned scientists in the respective fields of space science including astronomy, Earth science, heliophysics and planetary science. Lectures will be tailored for a scientifically savvy audience most of whom are not experts in the particular field of the specific lectures. Details will be posted in spring 2024.