Information:
As a result of the unprecedented situation in the world with regards to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic ESA has taken the decision to move ESMATS to an on-line symposium for 2021. This will of course mean a whole new way of organising the symposium and its associated training courses but the health and safety of the world’s Mechanisms community is clearly more important. Whilst there are encouraging signs with vaccines becoming available, which are now being formally approved and released for general public use, the organisational effort required to roll out vaccines on a scale significantly greater than anything that has previously been tried in world history have yet to be fully realised. Therefore, the decision has been taken to move the symposium on-line in order that we could guarantee the 19th edition of the ESMATS symposium could be held with certainty.
Since its inception in 1983 ESMATS has come to be recognised as the premier vehicle for Mechanisms Engineers, experienced and new recruits, to come together to discuss and celebrate their successes and failures, with a view to pooling their knowledge for the betterment of this unique community and the European Space industry as a whole.
ESMATS’s reputation as the lead event dedicated to Space Mechanisms Engineering generates an ever growing interest. The number of participants from numerous countries and multiple continents wishing to present their papers during the symposium, companies and institutions interested in presenting their capabilities as exhibitors, as well as attendees who come to observe, learn, and network, has been steadily increasing over the years, reaching over 300 in Munich in 2019.
We hope that moving the symposium on-line and taking advantage of virtual conferencing facilities will enable it to reach engineers old and new, opening untapped new areas of conversation and cooperation by offering a unique chance to bring together the experience and heritage of well-established players with the fresh enthusiasm and potential of Space industry newcomers.
For over 30 years the Symposium has been held as a bi-annual event, alternating with its sister conference in the USA – The Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium. As current organizers we are eager to preserve this tradition by holding the 19th ESMATS in late September 2021. Like in the previous years, there will also be training courses accompanying the symposium.
Because of the change to on-line symposium, the 2021 symposium will only take place in the afternoons from the 20th to the 24th September, 2021, with the training sessions during the week before the symposium and also in the morning before the symposium sessions.
To allow better coordination with working environment and international online participation, the usual 2.5 day event will be held on-line on 5 afternoons each from 14:00 to 18:00 CEST. An online tool “LetsGetDigital” will be used to host the conference and you should experience an event remotely as though you were there in person. It will therefore include check-ins, break times, face2face meetings and also a Virtual Lobby offering the possibility to network with face2face meetings that can bring partners and Exhibitors in contact with participants.
Concerning the Symposium content itself, as a speaker / presenter, you will get a digital stage and participants will be able to interactively engage in sessions.
More info about this on-line tool can be found on https://letsgetdigital.io