Held in a different country each year, the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) brings together space agencies, satellite manufacturers, scientists, engineers, universities, governments and customers from across the world.
It is an event SSTL attends every year - and for good reason. Few other conferences bring so much of the international space community together in one place.
This year's 77th IAC is being held from 5–9 October at the NEST Congress and Exhibition Center in Antalya, the first time the event has been hosted in Türkiye. Organisers were expecting more than 10,000 participants, following record levels of interest in the event, including more than 8,300 abstract submissions from 108 countries.
SSTL has an exhibition stand throughout the week, providing a base for conversations with customers, partners and colleagues from across the international space sector.
The exhibition is an important part of IAC, but so too is its extensive technical programme. Sharing engineering knowledge has always been an important part of SSTL's participation, and our engineers and mission specialists have once again had a number of papers accepted for presentation.
Topics include ESA Scout NAIAD, the versatility of our PRECISION satellite for space science and other non-Earth observation missions, and the commercial and scientific opportunities offered by small satellite climate constellations.
They are good examples of the breadth of work currently underway at SSTL - from new approaches to Earth and climate science through to adapting proven small satellite platforms for increasingly ambitious scientific missions.
IAC describes itself as the one time each year when the world's space community comes together. With participants spanning industry, academia, government and research, that is a pretty fair description.
For SSTL, it is also an opportunity to catch up with people we have worked with over many years, meet those we hope to work with next, and hear first-hand where the sector is heading.
And with thousands of people from across the world gathered in Antalya this week, there should be no shortage of conversations.
IAC 2026 continues in Antalya until 9 October.