On September 30th, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) day took place. The IAA is a non-governmental organisation of experts committed to expanding the frontiers of space. On this occasion, Eberhard Gill, Director of the TU Delft Space Institute and Full Member of the IAA, had the honour to receive the Engineering Sciences Award of the IAA, the highest award in the Section of Engineering Sciences of the IAA.
The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) took place in Bremen from 1-5th October, which attracted about 6500 participants and covered around 2500 presentations. In recognition of the outstanding contribution of Prof. Breakwell to the advancement of Astrodynamics, the Astrodynamics Committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) invites at each IAC an outstanding researcher to provide the John V. Breakwell lecture. This year Eberhard Gill had the honour to present the John V. Breakwell lecture entitled “How to sense gravity?”. He was one of the 13 keynote speakers at the IAC in their technical program.