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The Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) will share many of their advances and everything that is to come in the field of Space research and that will help in different fields such as telecommunications, health, medicine, security or sustainability
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The Cartuja Auditorium in Seville will host from March 17 to 21, 2025 the first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’, a pioneering meeting in which the New Space industry will come together to jointly explain the solutions they provide to citizens
An MRI, the technology to monitor a patient in a hospital, prostheses for humans, cochlear implants, invisible brackets, the solar panels we see on the roofs of our homes, smoke detectors, LEDs for body or muscle treatments, cordless vacuum cleaners, foam for mattresses, ear thermometers and even dried fruit. Who would think that these instruments and products so common in our daily lives come from space research? From mobile telephony to health, security and sustainability, space research has enabled the development of innovations that impact multiple aspects of our society, and this small list is proof of that.
Space research has a profound impact on the daily lives of humans on Earth, although we are often not directly aware of it. What New Space does for citizens will be one of the main themes around which ‘New Space & Solutions’ will revolve, a new and pioneering international event where the space and satellite industry come together to provide solutions to citizens. Seville will become the world capital of Space from March 17 to 21 during two days in the Cartuja Auditorium -managed by Yventu- and three virtual ones in which women, universities, young talent and companies will also have a privileged place.
Space research, a solution for society
The Spanish Space Agency (AEE), together with international space agencies such as NASA, ESA and JAXA, as well as companies, organizations and universities from all over Spain, especially Andalusia, will participate in this first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’. Among them, the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA) or the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), which will develop their work in space research with an approach that will show what the New Space does for citizens in their daily lives. Antxon Alberdi, director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), and Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta, CSIC research professor at the IAA, will share during the fourth day (second virtual day) of this event everything that the Spanish Aerospace Solar Physics Network, known by its acronym S3PC (Spanish Space Solar Physics Consortium), has developed throughout its 23 years of history.
“Space research lies not only in the importance of this deep knowledge of the universe per se, but also in the technological development that often benefits society“, says Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta about this context of space research that makes everyday life easier for citizens, not only in the field of technology and communications, but also in other perhaps less known areas such as health and medicine, the environment, emergencies, security and disaster prevention.
The IAA, a benchmark in space research
“Research into the Solar System, which is our object of study, is fundamental for the development of technologies that are widely used in day-to-day life, such as data processing and compression or obtaining images that have, for example, immediate repercussions in medical imaging or other types of technologies,” said Antxon Alberdi. The director of the IAA will describe the research work in space sciences that has been carried out at the institute since its birth in 1981 and which has led it to currently manage 15% of the total research carried out in Spain in the space field, although it reached 50% before new actors joined the scene. The talk will give an overview of the space missions in which the IAA has participated and will focus on future missions such as PLATO, Comet Interceptor or EnVision. In many of these missions the IAA is leading some instruments at Principal Investigator level.
Among the many projects in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía has worked, including the IMaX magnetograph, the three editions of the Sunrise mission, in 2009, 2013 and 2024, the latter of which has captured unique images of the Sun, or the ESA Solar Orbiter mission, among many other projects, the IAA is working on the Vigil mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). This mission, scheduled for launch in 2031, is designed to monitor the Sun and provide early warnings of space weather events that could affect ground and space infrastructure.
“This mission will provide a service to society because it will be the first of a series of satellites that will allow us to know the space weather”, says Jose Carlos del Toro Iniesta, who says that “thanks to Vigil it will be possible to predict, for example, when the Sun will be able to harm us”, something that is a direct and quick advantage of the research carried out at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. Collaborating in the prediction and monitoring of risk events will allow satellite operators and international agencies to make decisions earlier, reducing risks and costs.
DRAGO: prevention of natural disasters
Risk prevention and monitoring, especially of natural disasters, are some of the specialties in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) works, and will be represented at the New Space & Solutions by some of its members, such as Eva Villaver, deputy director of the IAC, or Álex Oscoz, head of telescopic operations at the IAC, who will present the IACTEC-Space project: a unique system, designed and patented by this Canarian research center, based on DRAGO infrared instruments.
“We are facing a new generation of increasingly frequent and virulent natural disasters,” says Oscoz, who maintains that “space can help us manage critical situations or emergency situations, including forest fires or tragedies like the one in Valencia. The more information we have, the more data we get on these catastrophes, the better they can be dealt with, the better the response and the greater the guarantee of success. Being able to provide people on the ground with real-time information at all levels is crucial in dealing with a natural disaster. This is where the first developments of IACTEC-Space, the IAC’s department for the development of instrumentation for small satellites, have been focused.
DRAGO is a system that “has no comparison with any other current instrument on small satellites”, as it is the only infrared camera that can operate without cooling and consumes only 5 watts, i.e. less than a LED bulb we have at home. “A unique instrument” whose first version was launched into Space in January 2021, while in January 2023 the second one was launched with a resolution six times better than that of its little sister. It was in December 2023 when the IAC launched ALISIO-1, the first satellite of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the first Canary Islands satellite to incorporate this infrared camera.
A nanosatellite the size of a shoebox with two extremely useful, state-of-the-art instruments that have since provided very important images for observing natural disasters. “We are able to see through the smoke of fires and volcanic eruptions,” says Alex Oscoz, who says that the IAC is already working on DRAGO-3, a much improved version of the instrument, and that institutions are beginning to realize the advantages and potential of these observations for the detection and monitoring of natural disasters.
All presentations can be followed through ‘The Observatory’. The digital platform of Medina Media Events, in the style of an on-demand service, where each intervention will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for free.
The first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’ is organized by Medina Media Events with the collaboration of the City of Seville and the Junta de Andalucía and has the support of Rohde & Schwarz, ALTER, Ansys, Arkadia Space, Augusta Abogados, CT Ingenieros, DEKRA, Integrasys, Parsec, Proexca (Government of the Canary Islands), Space-Aero, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, CEU Universidad Fernando III, among others.