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************************************* T O P I C S ******************************************
1. [[Hot Topic]]
APRSAF-13 successfully closed its 3-day program
(Jakarta, Indonesia, 5-7 December)
2. [[Hot Topic 2]]
APRSAF-13 Side Events: Summary Report
(Jakarta, 5-12 December)
-APRSAF Poster Contest
-APRSAF Water Rocket Event
-APRSAF Space Education Seminar
3. [[Interview]]
LAPAN Current Activities
4. [[Asian Space Update]]
Digital Asia Network Collaboration between Keio University,
Japan,
Geoinformatics Centre of Asian Institute of Technology
(GIC-AIT),
Thailand and ICIMOD
(Nepal)
5. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update- January
2007]]
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1. [[Hot Topic]]
APRSAF-13 successfully closed its 3-day program
(Jakarta, Indonesia, 5-7 December)
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The thirteenth session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space
Agency Forum
(APRSAF-13) was held under the main theme entitled "Work
Together,
Building a Secure and Prosperous Society" so as to
invite participating
entities mainly from the region to join hands and cooperate
in the use
of space activities for a common cause.
Jointly organized by the Ministry of Research and Technology
of
Indonesia (RISTEK), the National Institute of Aeronautics
and Space
(LAPAN), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and
Technology of Japan (MEXT), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency
(JAXA), APRSAF-13 gathered more than 150 participants from
about 55
entities in 18 countries and 8 international organizations.
At the plenary session on Day-1, following the welcome
speech by the
chairman of LAPAN Dr. Adi Sadewo, two keynote speeches
were delivered by
the Deputy for Research on Science and Technology Program
RISTEK Dr.
Bambang Setiadi on behalf of HE Dr. Kusmayanto Kadiman,
State Minister
for RISTEK, and Senior Vice Minister for MEXT Mr. Toshiyuki
Endo.
Throughout the active presentations and discussions at
the Plenary
Session including the status report on the Sentinel-Asia
Project on
Day-1, and the four Working GroupsESessions on Earth Observation,
Communication Satellite Applications, Space Education and
Awareness, and
the International Space Station (ISS) on Day-2, all the
participants of
APRSAF-13 accepted its recommendations explained below
and APRSAF-13
successfully closed its 3-day program on December 7, 2006.
APRSAF-14 will be held in Bangalore, India and co-hosted
by the Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO), MEXT and JAXA in the
fourth quarter
of 2007.
All the presentation materials for the Plenary, four Working
Groups,
Sentinel Asia" Session as well as the closing Plenary are
now
available at the following site:
http://www.aprsaf.org/text/ap13_info.html
*****
[Recommendations of the thirteenth session of the Asia-Pacific
Regional
Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-13) , Jakarta, Indonesia, 7
December 2006]
Recognizing the importance of working together to address
issues of
common concern in the region toward building a secure and
prosperous
society through the use of space technology and its applications,
Recognizing the need to make further efforts to enhance
disaster
management by using space technologies and ensuring the
progressive
development of the Sentinel Asia project, particularly
in view of the
tragic losses and damages caused by recent disasters,
The participants of APRSAF-13 adopted the following recommendations:
1. The Joint Project Team shall strengthen the Sentinel
Asia activities
and improve the operability of the existing systems, taking
into account
the needs such as to enlarge the scope of the project to
cover various
types of disasters, to increase the number of Earth observation
satellites involved and to implement dedicated training
programs,
expressed by the participants of APRSAF-13.
2. Earth Observation Working Group shall study the feasibility
to
establish a similar project in the environment field, based
on the
experience of Sentinel Asia project.
3. Communication Satellite Applications Working Group
shall share the
information relating to digital divide in Asia Pacific
region, recognize
the role of satellite communications and navigation, and
identify
solutions for the region.
4. Communication Satellite Applications Working Group
shall consider
applying the Wideband InterNetworking engineering test
and Demonstration
Satellite (WINDS) experiment program to study:
i) the technical
issues
of Ka-band satellite communications, satellite IP network,
broadband
communications; ii) the application of WINDS to Sentinel
Asia project,
and iii) post WINDS program with cooperation of Asian countries.
5. International Space Station (ISS) Working Group shall
accelerate the
joint research coordination and start the feasibility studies
for
ISS/Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) utilization, and promote
human
resources development to realize the international cooperation
among the
Asia-Pacific countries.
6. Space Education and Awareness Working Group shall promote
space
education activities at all levels, such as the Water Rocket
Event,
Poster Contest, Space Education Forums and Seminars as
well as CanSat
activities, within the framework of APRSAF, and APRSAF
shall encourage
collaborations among Working Groups of APRSAF by creating
synergies
among their efforts toward the enhancement of space education
in the region.
7. Entities participating in APRSAF shall explore possible
funding
sources for the successful implementation of the recommendations.
*****
JAXA International Relations Division Manager, Mr. Hitoshi
Tsuruma,
would like to extend his sincere gratitude on behalf of
the APRSAF
Secretariat to all the participants for their contributions
to the
success of APRSAF-13.
He added, "Most importantly, I would like to express
our special thanks
to all the secretariat members of RISTEK and LAPAN for
their every
effort to make the 3-day conference and the series of educational
events
a resounding success. We are looking forward to working
with all
participating entities to further strengthen our collaborations
within
the framework of APRSAF
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2. [[Hot Topic 2]]
APRSAF-13 Side Events: Summary Report
(Jakarta, 5-12 December)
-APRSAF Poster Contest
-APRSAF Water Rocket Event
-APRSAF Space Education Seminar
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[[ APRSAF-13 Side Events: Summary Report ]]
As the joint educational activities for primary and secondary
school
students and teachers, the series of APRSAF-13 side events
were
successfully held, initiated by APRSAF Space Education
Working Group.
(Jakarta, 5-12 December)
***APRSAF Poster Contest ( 5-7 December) ***
"School children present their posters at APRSAF annual
meeting in
Jakarta."
The school children at the age between 8 and 11 years
old from four
Asian countries had their posters on display at APRSAF-13.
Under the
theme entitled Importance of SpaceE Indonesia, Japan, Sri
Lanka and
Vietnam participated in the first Poster Contest held by
APRSAF. Each
country selected the three best posters through a national
contest for
submission for the final selection during APRSAF-13. Ms.
Kaede Ando of
Japan received APRSAF Best Poster Award. Mr. Tsubasa Fujita
of Japan and
Ms. Do Dieu Linh of Vietnam received APRSAF Special Poster
Awards.
The next APRSAF Poster Contest is planned for the fourteenth
session of
APRSAF to be held in India, 2007. The next Contest will
contribute to
the global celebration of the World Space Week by sharing
the theme of
the poster contest of the latter to be announced.
***APRSAF Water Rocket Event (7-9 December) ***
"Students from Asian and Pacific countries gather to share
the
excitement of water rocket launch."
The junior and senior high school students from thirteen
countries in
Asia and the Pacific were in the limelight in Jakarta as
they competed
in launching their water rockets at Archipelago at Taman
Mini Indah
Indonesia (TMII) on Saturday, 9 December.
29 students at the age between 11 and 18 years old selected
through
national competitions held in Australia, Cambodia, China,
India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Korea,
Singapore,
Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, spent three days together
in Jakarta,
learning about space science and technology and expanding
the friendship
by sharing their knowledge and skills of making and launching
water
rockets during the APRSAF Water Rocket Event. The Event
was held from 7
to 9 December and co-organized by LAPAN, Science and Technology
Center
(PPIPTEK) at TMII, MEXT, and JAXA.
The participating students shot their water rockets toward
the target
line, 56 meters away from the point of launch. Strong wind
on the day
presented challenges to determine the best direction and
angle for
launch as well as the amount of air to be pumped into the
rocket.
The competition enjoyed the attendance by 700 spectators,
and the media
coverage by fourteen local television and radio stations
as well as
newspapers.
During the Water Rocket Event, a seminar was also held
on 8 December for
the accompanying teachers and instructors to share experience
and
exchange information on how they are promoting water rocket
activities
in their countries.
***APRSAF Space Education Seminar (11-12 December) ***
"School teachers in Jakarta encounter space education
and interact with
space experts."
About 50 high school teachers in Jakarta spent two days
at PPIPTEK
encountering space education and participating in interactive
discussions with space experts during the Space Education
Seminar on
"Space Science and Technology and Their Applications." held
from 11 to
12 December.
Hosted by PPIPTEK and co-organized by United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), LAPAN and
JAXA, on behalf
of APRSAF Space Education and Awareness Working Group,
the Space
Education Seminar provided the opportunity for the first
time for the
participating teachers to learn what space education is
all about.
Deputy Minister for Utilization and Dissemination of Science
and
Technology of Indonesia , H.E. Dr. Idwan Suhardi, officially
opened the
Seminar. On the second day, the participants had an opportunity
to meet
State Minister for Research and Technology of Indonesia,
H.E. Dr.
Kusmayanto Kadiman, who visited PPIPTEK.
The programme featured lectures by 15 space experts from
7 countries and
international organizations on remote sensing and applications,
space
technologies for disaster management, space science and
astronomy, as
well as educational materials and activities using space
materials.
The teachers and the speakers had interactive discussions
on how to make
it more interesting for the students to learn about remote
sensing
applications and physics. Lively discussions also took
place to examine
opportunities and challenges of using space technologies
to predict
natural disasters and to mitigate their impacts on the
socio-economic
development.
The Co-chair of the Space Education and Awareness WG,
Prof. Koh-ichiro
Oyama gave a comment to APRSAF members:
"The activities of each Working Group have been agreed
upon year by
year, and the system to determine the action items and
implement them
has been established.." He hopes that the members of each
group work more
toward peace among countries of Asian region in the future.
"The main
object of the Space Education and Awareness Working group
is, of course,
to enhance the education. Education is one of the most
interesting and
important issues around the world. The participants from
each country
are eager to take actions relating to this issue, and therefore,
some
events like this water rocket competition have been held."
He looks
forward to results from future activities of this working
group.
"Children and students have curiosities about science potentiality,
and
what is important is how to stimulate such curiosities."
The water rocket event is one of the opportunities to stimulate
their curiosities and, he desires very much that this event would be continued.
Result of the APRSAF-13 Side Events:
http://www.aprsaf.org/text/ap13_event.html
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3. [[Interview]]
LAPAN Current Activities
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The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN)
has been
restructured several times since its establishment, in
order to respond
to the growing needs for research and development in the
field of
aeronautics, space technology, and its applications in
Indonesia.
LAPAN is a government agency directly responsible to the
president of
Indonesia and the Minister of Research and Technology (RISTEK)
coordinates its tasks. Its goal is the advancement of aerospace
science
and technology to promote national development.
We visited LAPAN to interview Mr. Nur HIDAYAT, Head of
Remote Sensing,
Mr. Dedi IRAWADI, Head of Ground Receiving Station and
Mr. Ignatius
ARISDIYO, Head of User Service. Mr. Ignatius ARISDIYO gave
the following
comments:
"We are receiving, and most likely in the future as well,
moderate
resolution satellite data. Currently, we receive such data
like Landsat
7, SPOT 2&4, and MODIS. Our users represent consist
of various sectors
such as forestry, agriculture and urban planning. The forestry
sector
was represented the large group of our users, and recently,
the number
of users from urban and civil planning sector is rapidly
increasing.In
Indonesia, there are 33 provinces and more than 420 municipality
governments that need moderate and high resolution data.
Higher
resolution data are in high demand, as they help the municipal
government board of planners to monitor and plan the urban
growth.
To respond to their needs, we currently utilize high resolution
data
provided by IKONOS, QuickBird, SPOT 5, and EROS. We have
not yet decided
to receive higher resolution data at our ground station,
but we know we
will need a large volume of satellite data to serve our
users."
The full version of these interviews will be uploaded
to the APRSAF website. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. [[Asian Space Update 3]]
Announcement of the Korean Astronaut Candidates
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The MOST and KARI announced last week that 10 astronaut candidates had been selected in the
third selection and that the fourth selection of other 10 astronaut candidates would begin on December 3 and continue
for about four weeks.
The final two candidates who will be trained at the Gagarin
Center in Moscow from April 2007 will be selected by the end of this
year.
Ten Korean astronaut candidates including three women
were selected at
the third selection from among 30 candidates at the second
selection.
The 10 candidates, who passed a complete medical test,
a space
environment adaptation test and a coping ability with various
conditions
test, will enter the competition for the final selection
of two Korean
astronauts.
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5. [[Event Information and APRSAF Website Update- January
2007]]
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* Jan 3-5, 2007
7th International Conference on Urban Planning and Environment
(UPE 7)
Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.arch.ku.ac.th/upe7/
* Jan 3-7, 2007
Planet Earth, 94th Indian Science Congress
Delhi, India
http://www.sciencecongress.org/html/94th_details.html
* Jan 11-12, 2007
GEOSS Symposium on Integrated Observation for Sustainable
Development in
the Asia-Pacific Region
Tokyo, Japan
http://www.prime-intl.co.jp/geoss/
* Jan 17-18, 2007
National Conference on Environment and Community Development
2007
Penang, Malaysia
* Jan 22-25, 2007
Map World Forum
Hyderabad, India
http://www.mapworldforum.org/index.htm
* Jan 23-27, 2007
International Dialogue on Science and Practice in Sustainable
Development
Chiang Mai, Thailan
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Copyright 2006 The APRSAF Secretariat
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 | 
