Jerusalem – The 66th edition of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is currently underway in Jerusalem. The theme for the industry event of the year – which brings together in the Israel Convention Center hundreds of scientists, industry representatives, stakeholders and decision makers of the geopolitical world – has been identified in the claim “Space – The Gateway for Mankind’s Future.” And among the topics of the program there is also Mars, its exploration and the search for common strategies for this purpose. On the issue, NASA insisted on a panel with all key agency heads: in the front row, there are the United States, the European Space Agency and Russia, as well as Japan, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Before the beginning of the Congress – which ends on October 16th – there was the traditional Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony of the Awards for Space. The President of the Italian Space Agency, Roberto Battiston (IAF Vice President, International Federation Austronautica, and ambassador to Italy for the 2015 edition of Delo IAC) was here appointed Full member and Academic of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) – an institution founded in 1960 in Stockholm which gathers academics from 65 different countries – in the section “Basic Sciences”. (9Colonne)