Greetings from Fukuoka, Japan!
Written by: Kirk Kittell
Online at: http://www.spacealumni.com

Greetings from Fukuoka, Japan!

From 14 to 16 October, 99 students and young professionals from
Nigeria, Argentina, India, Spain, Australia, and other parts of the
world are meeting in Fukuoka at the Space Generation Congress. SGC is
an event where youth can discuss their visions for the peaceful use of
space, construct a network of interested (and interesting) people, and
prepare to act on their visions. It is an intense weekend of working
with inspiring people.

What has been happening at SGC? Some aspects are technical, some are
educational, some are cultural -- there is a niche for any open-minded
young person with the energy to participate. Day 1 of SGC was the
realization of months of effort by a team led by Chris Boshuizen,
Yusuke Muraki, and Ulf Livoff. Thanks to their efforts, the first day
of SGC prepared delegates for not just a weekend of activity, but a
lifetime of activity. The recurring theme was that each of the
delegates will eventually be leaders in the space industry,
government, or other activity. Delegates can build a strong network at
SGC that will follow them throughout life to their positions of
responsibility.

During the weekend, delegates organize projects that represent their
interests in space. Projects include work on Inspire Space, a public
outreach program with incentives for participants; MoonMars Workshop,
a series of working groups that analyze the challenges of lunar and
martian habitation; and developing the Space Generation Network, the
collection of people that started the SGC.

Jim Zimmerman of the International Astronautical Federation and
Shubber Ali of AstroVision Australia shared their experiences with
delegates in the afternoon. Zimmerman is the President of IAF, one of
the chief supporters of SGC. He discussed plans to better integrate
students and young professionals into the annual International
Astronautical Congress. At IAC 2006 in Valencia, young representatives
could see generous incentives to participate in the Congress.

There were more activities on this first day and more to come in the
following days. I will try my best to record the activities at SGC
2005. Delegates, supporters, and visitors: I invite you to add
comments to any of these posts.

You can post and view pictures from SGC 2005 at gallery.seds.org