For those who provided their arrival details in order to get a transfer from Moscow airport to the hotel please note that upon arrival at the airport you will be met by an IKI representative carrying an RCSGSO sign (meeting point is after the passport control and luggage collection). If you have problems finding this representative please don’t hesitate to call the 24 hour IKI Emergency number +7 (495) 333 3355


Continuing the highly successful series of Symposia on Reducing the Costs of Spacecraft Ground Systems and Operations (RCSGSO), the 7th International Symposium will be hosted by the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) together with the Federal Space Agency of Russia, in Moscow, Russia, from 11 to 15 June 2007. The Symposium is co-organised by IKI and the ESA's Directorate of Operations and Infrastructure, and is supported by the major Space Operations Organisations, including Space Agencies and Industry.

The 7th RCSGSO will be one of the major events in a series of scientific conferences and celebrations to commemorate 50th anniversary of the launch of the Russian Sputnik (October 4th 1957) which marked the beginning of the Space Era and opened new civilisation Frontiers to humankind.

Space Operations are becoming increasingly demanding due to the increased functionality of today's spacecraft and their payloads, the longer and more complex mission profiles requiring long-term maintenance of specific knowledge, the additional requirements relating to once again sending humans beyond low Earth orbit, the evolution of open-source products at the heart of ground-segment infrastructure design, etc. All of this calls for careful rationalisation of Ground Systems exploitation (design, utilisation, maintenance, etc) and Mission Operations as to constrain overall missions costs, whilst still satisfying fundamental missions requirements.