MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The 40th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) will open in Russia on August 2 and thousands of scholars from several dozens of states will attend, Russian Academy of Sciences Vice President, Academy Space Research Institute Director Academician Lev Zelyony told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The COSPAR Assembly will meet in Russia for the first time ever. This scientific event is comparable with the Olympics by its scope. Scientists from all over the world will be discussing topical issues of space exploration," Zelyony said.
The Committee on Space Research was founded at the International Council for Science in 1958 to order to assist in the exchange of data collected by satellites and automatic interplanetary stations. The Committee is headquartered in Paris. Its assembly holds biennial meetings.
The former Soviet Union played host to the COSPAR Assembly only once, in Leningrad in 1970. The latest meetings of the Assembly took place in Mysore, India, in 2012, Bremen, Germany, in 2010, Montreal, Canada, in 2008, Beijing, China, in 2006, and Paris, France, in 2004.
The 41st Assembly will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016.
It was reported earlier that the Russian government would discuss on Thursday preparations for the 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, which would be held in Russia for the first time in over 40 years.
More than 3,000 scientists, post-graduates and students from the leading space nations will participate in the Assembly meeting.
A draft government resolution stipulates the formation of an organizing committee of senior officials of the Russian government, the Federal Space Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Moscow government, the executive authorities, the Russian Academy of Sciences, universities and leading enterprises of the national space industry.