The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) will host the 2021 edition of SpaceOps from the 3^rd of May to the 5^th of May, 2021. This is the first time Africa will host the biennial conference. Due to limitations imposed by the need for safety, the 2021 edition will be virtual – SpaceOps 2020 has been transformed to SpaceOps2021 – Virtual Edition.

In 2020, the South African National Space Agency was supposed to host SpaceOps 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference was postponed.

The SpaceOps 2021- Virtual edition Technical Program Committee, comprising experts from major space organisations in the world, will offer a world-class program focusing on today’s achievements in space operations and outlining trends in processes of future missions.
The program will cover an impressive number of presentations on the following topics:

• Mission Design and Management (MDM)
• Operations Concepts (OC)
• Flight Execution (FE)
• Ground Systems Engineering (GSE)
• Data Management (DM)
• Planning and Scheduling (PS)
• Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC)
• Communications Architectures and Networks (CAN)
• Human Spaceflights and Operations (HSO)
• Cross Support, Interoperability, and Standards (CSIS)
• Human Factors, Training and Knowledge Transfer (HFT)
• Space Transportation Operations (STO)
• Artificial Intelligence for operations (AI)
• Cyber Security for Space Operations (CYB)
• Safety and Sustainability of Space Operations (SSU)
• Beyond Borders in Human Endeavour (BBO)

The program will also feature a “Students and Young Professionals” (SYP) program coordinated and organised by SANSA, the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) and SpaceOps. The program will include:

• A workshop on “Space Operations for Constellations of CubeSat/Nanosatellites.”
• A speed mentoring event that will provide opportunities to talk about careers in space business and operations.
• A Space Quiz for the participants to challenge themselves in questions related to the Space Sector.

The SYP program is free of charge and open to students and young professionals. To attend this SYP program, please follow the registration process on the SGAC website.

To register for SpaceOps 2021, please visit this website. You can download the programme overview here.

The International Committee on Technical Interchange for Space Mission Operations and Ground Data Systems (also referred to as the SpaceOps Organization) was formed in realisation of the existence of a need for an organised community, or technical forum, given the large number of people involved in space mission operations.