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1. [[Message]]
Message from the Co-Chairperson of APRSAF-13

2. [[Asian Space Update 1]]
New Chairman of Indonesia’s LAPAN

3. [[Asian Space Update 2]]
Two candidates announced for the first Malaysian astronaut

4. [[ Asian Space Update 3 ]]
Demonstration of the gathering of disaster management information through satellite communication systems

5. [[ Event Information - September 2006 ]]

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1. [[Message]]
Message from the Co-Chairperson of APRSAF-13
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As the Co-Chairperson of APRSAF-13, Dr. Hiroki Matsuo, Vice Chairman of Space Activities Committee (SAC), gave the following welcome message to all participants of APRSAF-13:

" It is my great honor to serve as General Chairperson of the 13th session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-13) with Dr. Adi Sadewo Salatun and to announce that APRSAF-13 will be held from December 5 to 7, 2006 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

At APRSAF-12, took place in Japan last year, the participants agreed to start discussions to establish a Disaster Management Support System using space technology jointly with our Asia-Pacific colleagues.

While APRSAF is expected to be even more active in promoting concrete activities to
resolve common problems at regional level, APRSAF-13 will be held under the main theme of "Work Together, Building a Secure and Prosperous Society" with the aim to bring together participating agencies from the Asia-Pacific region to join forces and cooperate in space activities for the common cause.

I look forward to meeting you in Jakarta to exchange lively views toward strengthening regional cooperation in space activities, and hope that APRSAF-13 will contribute to maximize space activities benefits for the society."

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2. [[ Asian Space Update 1 ]]
New Chairman of Indonesia’s LAPAN
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Dr. Ir. Adi Sadewo Salatun took over chairmanship of the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) from Dr. Ir. Mahdi Kartasasmita.

LAPAN held the inauguration ceremony for the new Chairman on August 31 and Dr. Ir. Adi Sadewo Salatun, the former Deputy Chairman of Aerospace Assessment, Science & Information was designated as the new LAPAN Chairman based on the Indonesian President’s decree No. 96/M.

The change of Chairman was because LAPAN’s former director, Dr. Ir. Mahdi Kartasasmita, had reached compulsory retirement age.

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3. [[ Asian Space Update 2 ]]
Two candidates announced for the first Malaysian astronaut
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Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badwi announced two candidates for the first Malaysian astronaut on September 4.

As Malaysia had already chosen four candidates for the astronaut, two candidates were chosen from those.

The two candidates are Dr. Sheikh Muzaphar Shukor, aged 34, of the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM); and Dr. Faiz Khaleed, aged 26, a dentist in Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM), the Malaysian Defence Forces.

They will be professionally trained in Russia for 12 months from the end of September 2006, and one of them will board Russia’s Soyuz 2 on September 2007, bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

The selection committee, headed by Dr. Tun Mohammed Hanif Omar, will make the final decision on who will be the first Malaysian astronaut.

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4. [[ Asian Space Update 3 ]]
Demonstration of the gathering of disaster management information through satellite communication systems
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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology of Japan (NICT) attended the evacuation training on September 3 (Sunday), hosted by Kochi City (Kochi Prefecture) and Owase City (Mie Prefecture). JAXA had attended evacuation-training sessions three times before this training.

Sessions held in the past
1. "Emergency Risk Remote Judgment" in Mt. Usu on Jan. 2002
2. "Wide Area Disaster Prevention Training by The Government
Assumed Tokai Earthquake" in Sizuoka Pref. on Sept. 2002
3. "Earthquake Disaster Preparation Drill" in Nagaoka City, Nigata Pref.
on Nov. 6, 2005

This training demonstrated the gathering of disaster management information through satellite communication systems by sending disaster images and text from portable and mobile terminals. These terminals were developed by JAXA for ETS-VIII (Engineering Teste Satellite-VIII).

These terminals were placed at the venue, and city officials and members of the voluntary disaster control organizations used them and gave feedback. JAXA will use this feedback to develop more efficient terminals for ETS-VIII.

As ETS-VIII has not yet been launched, the demonstration used wireless LAN and commercial satellites in its communication network.

Websites about ETS-VIII:
http://www.jaxa.jp/missions/projects/sat/tsushin/ets8/index_j.html
http://www2.nict.go.jp/w/w122/satcom/index-j.html

Websites about WINDS:
http://www.jaxa.jp/missions/projects/sat/tsushin/winds/index_j.html
http://www2.nict.go.jp/w/w122/winds/index.html

Website about Pilot Experiments:
http://i-space.jaxa.jp/experiments/pilot.html

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5. [[ Event Information - September 2006 ]]
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* September 17-22
" 27th International Congress on High-Speed Ohotography and Photonics"
Xi'an, China
-http://www.27hspp.cn/

* Sptember 18-20
" 6th ARF Inter-Sessional Meeting on Disaster Relief (ISM on DR)"
Qingdao, China
-http://www.aseansec.org/9-2006.htm

* September 18-22
" 17th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (UNRCC-AP) and 12th PCGIAP"
Bangkok, Thailand
-http://www.gsi.go.jp/PCGIAP/

* September 20-22
" 2006 IEEE International Conference on Computer and Information Technology"
Seoul, Korea
-http://cit.korea.ac.kr/cit2006/

* September 20-22
" 8th International Colloquium on Grammatical Inference"
Tokyo, Japan
-http://www.tnlab.ice.uec.ac.jp/icgi06/

* September 24-28
" The 2nd International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC 06)"
" The 3rd International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD 06)"
Xi'an, China
-http://www.icnc-fskd2006.org/

* September 25-29
" ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Resource Simulation Exercise 2006 (ARDEX-06)"
" ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Contingency Planning Workshop"
" 8th ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Meeting Cambodia"
Cambodia
-http://www.aseansec.org/9-2006.htm

* September 25-28
" International Conference on Cryptology in Vietnam 2006"
Hanoi, Vietnam
-http://www.vietcrypt.org

* September 25-28
" UNESCAP Regional Working Group on Meteologic Satellite Applications
and Natural Hazards Monitoring"
" UNESCAP Regional Working Group on Remote Sensing, Geographic Information
Systems and Satellite-base Positioning"
Hong Kong
-http://www.unescap.org/calendar/2006/2006.pdf

* September 26-28
" Earth Observation in Water Management Service"
Bangkok, Thailand
-http://www.a-a-r-s.org/ws-eowm/index.php

* September 26-28
" Special Meeting on ASEAN- China Maritime Transport Agreement"
Beijing, China
-http://www.aseansec.org/9-2006.htm

APRSAF Secretariat

c/o. Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan
Roppongi First Bldg. 12F, 1-9-9 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032,
Japan

Telephone: +(81 3)5572-6708
Fax: +(81 3)5572-6707