Korea will host the annual meeting of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which brings together experts of space exploration agencies from around the world, for two days starting from Thursday to discuss a future roadmap regarding space exploration, the science ministry said Wednesday. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said the two-day event will be held at a hotel in Songdo, Incheon, saying this is the first time that Korea has hosted an ISECG event. ISECG is an international forum established to promote mutual exchange and cooperation among space agencies regarding space exploration. Experts from 26 countries, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as Korea, Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, the U.K. and Luxembourg will attend the meeting. "As we enter the era of space economy, it is significant that heads of space exploration from various countries gather in Korea to discuss the global direction of space exploration,” an official from the science ministry said. “Based on the launch and operation experience of the Danuri lunar orbiter, we will actively participate in global space exploration projects and explore various strategies for space exploration, aiming for asteroids and Mars." During the annual meeting, participants will present updates on space exploration status and plans, a report on ISECG's activities over the past year, and guidelines for future activities. In particular, the meeting will focus on discussions regarding the revision direction of the Global Exploration Roadmap, a representative publication of ISECG. In 2018, ISECG published the third edition of the roadmap and the organization plans to publish the fourth edition in the second half of next year, which will include plans for crewed lunar missions by the U.S. and China and the emergence of newly joined countries such as Korea which recently launched its own space launch vehicle, Nuri. “At the meeting, Korea will present the development and operational achievements of its first lunar orbiter Danuri and lunar surface images taken by the orbiter,” the ministry said. (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: THE KOREA TIMES