News

Our latest news and press releases

The PTScientists Guide to Surviving IAC2018

The International Astronautical Congress is coming to Germany this year and we’re super excited to welcome space professionals from around the world to our home nation! The PTScientists team will be in Bremen for the duration of IAC18 so do make sure you come and find us in the exhibition hall and say hello – and if you’ve got an experiment you’d like to transport to the Moon – we’re here to help!

 

IAC can be a bit overwhelming, so we’ve been sharing some top tips on social media in the countdown to the event to make sure you’re all set. Just in case you’ve missed any, here’s our list of things to remember…

 

Bring your travel adapters

Travelling from afar? Don’t forget to bring the right plug adaptors with you! European plugs look like this… bring an extra one and make friends with the desperate person at the hotel who suddenly realises that they’ve forgotten theirs!

Travel adaptors for #IAC18
 

Check the technical programme

There is so much going on at IAC that you are going to have to get used to the feeling that you want to clone yourself and attend all the talks that overlap. Make sure you check out the technical programme and highlight the things you’re interested in before you get to Bremen. Make yourself a daily programme with session names, times and – importantly – room numbers. Bonus – once you’ve got your schedule sorted, you won’t need to carry the super-heavy programme with you all week!

Calendar

 

You can find the full IAC18 technical programme here or try out the IAC2018 mobile app!
 

Print your business cards

Got enough business cards? Check and print some more if you need to. The IAC is a great place to meet new people, make contacts and develop lasting friendships, so don’t get caught without cards!

PTScientists Business Cards

 

Finalise your presentation

Make sure you’ve created your presentation in good time and uploaded it to the system if you’re presenting a paper this year. Time slots are always short, so try not to have 100s of slides, and do everyone a favour and don’t have slides that are just crammed full of unreadable text! Here’s an extra tip – ensure your contact details are on your final “Thank you/any questions?” slide – that way people can get in touch even if they don’t get chance to ask you a question in the session. (You can thank us later!)
IAC2018 presentation image
 

Check your suit fits

If you’re not an every-day suit-wearer and your outfit only comes out for weddings and interviews, check that it still fits. You don’t want to get to Bremen and find it’s shrunk in the wash!

Alexander Gerst in his space suit

Credit: ESA/NASA


 

Stay comfortable

You’re likely to spend a long time on your feet, getting to the conference venue, walking from room to room, searching for coffee etc. Smart shoes aren’t always comfortable shoes, so if you’re getting new shoes for the conference try to break them in first, or at least come prepared with blister plasters! (Even if you don’t need them yourself, this is again an excellent way to make friends with someone else who is suffering with conference blisters!)
 

Stay energised

Make sure you’ve got an extra battery for your phone, at some point you’re bound to need an extra boost and plug-sockets at conferences tend to be much sought after (as well as scarce!).

Mobile out of battery

 

Bonus tip: Be sure to check out where the coffee is in the exhibition hall so that you can be ready as soon as it is served!
 

Polish your CV

Since there will be people from just about every space agency, space company and space research institute from all around the globe, this is an excellent opportunity to check out the opportunities on offer. Make sure your CV is up-to-date and ready to go in case you meet someone who is interested in finding out more about you. And if you are looking for something new, don’t forget to visit PTScientists in the exhibition hall, or keep checking our careers page for relevant openings.

We're hiring!
 

Get a good night’s sleep

Try to get some rest in the days before the conference so that you are ready for the huge amount of information, activity and networking that is about to take place. You don’t want to be falling asleep in sessions, or too tired to make it to that important dinner, so rest up before it all starts.
Never stop dreaming!
 

Be lucky!

Bremen musiciansYou’ve made it to Bremen, welcome to Germany! Now it’s time to find out about the curious tower of animals that forms part of Bremen’s identity, and with a visit to the famous sculpture, get yourself some luck for the conference. The animals are actually the Bremen town musicians, and are from a fairy-tale by the brothers Grimm. It is said that rubbing the leg of the donkey will bring you some luck – and you can see that plenty of people before you have done the same, since the bronze is shiniest where everyone has touched it for luck! You can find the Bremen musicians to the west of the town hall.
 

Come and say hello!

We hope these tips will help you have an excellent time at IAC18. Do come to say hello to the PTScientists team (we’ll be the ones with the lunar lander and rovers in the exhibition hall, booth 5E 25!) and feel free to invite us to any interesting events you hear of. Ad astra!

 

#Blog 25.09.2018

Get in touch

 

to find out more about PTS and how you can secure a payload slot on one of our missions. You can also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media.

Tell me more
Navigation