Rocket Science and Sustainability – two concepts you don’t often put together. But they were central to the International Astronautical Federation’s IAC25 event in Sydney Australia, with the theme “Sustainable Space : Resilient Earth”. We were down-under with them, providing our platform to over 1,000 scientists, engineers, educators, policy-makers, and other experts from 88 countries, who created iPosters to present their work. The more than 7,500 delegates met the authors and explored the presentations on 60 interactive touch screens over the 5 day event.

Topics covered the key issues in space science and exploration – from micro gravity to space communications & navigation, extraterrestrial life to earth observation, planetary defense to the law of outer space – but what made this year’s Congress rather unique and particularly inspiring was the inclusion and elevation of Indigenous science, and how structured collaboration between Western and Indigenous science can unlock new insights into space and sustainability.

Quoting from the introduction to one of the Plenary presentations:
“Indigenous Peoples, on the front lines of climate change for generations, have long been architects of climate resilience and complex systems. Through enduring relationships with the land, they have developed sophisticated understandings of complex environments via interaction, observation, experimentation, and stewardship, offering vital insights into what a resilient Earth and sustainable Space future can look like.” Amen to that!

We’re looking forward to working with IAF again in June in Kigali, Rwanda, on their Global Space Conference on Climate Change: GLOC 2026.