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ESMATS 2009 in Vienna – A Review
This year the European Space Mechanisms and Tribology Symposium ESMATS held in the
Vienna Palais Ferstl was organized by RUAG Space. Taking place in a two years
sequence, the conference is organized by well-known European mechanisms-companies in
co-operation with ESA.
Opening of the conference by Dr. Manfred Falkner (ESTEC)
More than 200 international participants from all over the world (nearly a quarter of them
coming from USA, Canada, Korea, Argentina and Israel) came to Vienna to be informed
about the newest developments in the area of Space Mechanisms and special topics like
e.g. lubrication of moving parts under space conditions during more than 40 sessions over
three days.
Prior to the conference and also organized by RUAG Space, a 2-days training course on
Space-triboloby has been held by the European expert company ESTL of UK.
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More than 200 international participants listening to the expert sessions in the imperial
architecture of the Palais Ferstl in Vienna
Several companies presented their products at an exhibition held in parallel to the
conference. During coffee breaks the participants had the opportunity to get in direct
contact with the experts.
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Culinary delights represented another pleasant element of the conference.
Due to the choice of the conference location in the historical Viennese environment of the
Palais Ferstl and the very atmospheric conference dinner in the Technical Museum amidst
old steam engines and satellite mock-ups and, above all, also due to the successful
organization by the RUAG Space team, this year’s conference has been judged by many
participants as one of the best conferences during the 26-years conference history.
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Conference dinner in the Technical Museum of Vienna
The conference a