The world’s largest annual space conference begins at Glasgow’s SECC next week.

More than 2,000 scientists, engineers and space experts from around the world will take part in the International Astronautical Congress, a week- long programme of presentations, exhibitions and discussions. The “space exhibition”, with stands and exhibits from major space companies and organisations, will be open to the public. There will also be a series of free space-related lectures taking place throughout the week.

Among those speaking will be Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic. He will outline future public space-flight opportunities.

A week today, Kelvin Long, of the Tau Zero Foundation, in the UK, will be talking about charting a path to the stars and other inhabitable worlds. “Human and robotic exploration of the solar system is under way, but the true vision for space exploration is inter-stellar travel,” he says.

www.iac2008.co.uk.