The year was 1989. It was the year when the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite was brought back to Earth from almost a five-year stay in low Earth orbit (LEO). A number of successful LDEF meetings in USA followed, where the results from exposure of numerous materials to LEO orbit environment were discussed.

The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) materials' scientific team led by Prof. Tennyson, who was one of the principal investigators on the UTIAS LDEF Material's experiment, participated in the LDEF community meetings.

Working closely with the space materials group at the UTIAS, Dr. Kleiman, then a Research Scientist with the R and D Group of 3M Canada and an Adjunct Professor at the UTIAS, soon realized that the North American space environment community, when the LDEF meetings were stopped, is lacking a meeting place where the latest developments in new materials, their behavior in LEO and other space environments, the results from ground based experiments and from flights can be shared and discussed. And that is how the first ICPMSE meeting was initiated in 1991.

With years, the meeting became a focal gathering point in North America for scientists, researchers, managers, students and academicians to discuss the latest developments in the area of interaction of materials and structures with the harsh space environment. Initially, the ICPMSE meetings were focused, mainly, on the effects of the low Earth orbit environment on materials.

But, with time, it became clear that there is an intimate relationship between the various space environment factors and gradually, the scope of the meetings widened, including also the GEO and other space environments. Also, following the worldwide space community plans for the colonization of the Moon and Mars, it was decided to add to the topics of the ICPMSE meetings the planetary and the interplanetary environments.

Very soon, from being a North American event, the ICPMSE meetings became a truly international event, attracting scientists from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. Starting from the year 2000, the ICPMSE meeting was held every six years jointly with the International Symposium on Materials in a Space Environment (ISMSE) that is being organized since 1979 in Europe by CNES, ONERA and ESA every three years.

Starting from the 3rd ICPMSE meeting in 1998, the Proceedings of the meetings were published as peer reviewed hard-cover books with such reputable publishing houses as Kluwer, Springer and the American Institute of Physics.

In addition to such publications, the papers presented at the ICPMSE meetings were repeatedly published in special editions of such peer-reviewed journals as Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and in High Performance Polymers.

With many countries joining the space community and actively contributing to the space environmental studies, it was the next logical step to extend the organizational effort of the ICPMSE meetings to other organizations and countries. With countries like China, Japan, Brazil, India becoming important players in the area of exploration of the effects of the space environment on materials it was logical in 2011 to bring the ICPMSE meeting to Japan.

And in continuation with this tradition, the next meeting is travelling to China where the ICPMSE-11 conference will take place on 19-23 May, 2014 in the beautiful city of Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

The Old Town of Lijiang, which is perfectly adapted to the uneven topography of this key commercial and strategic site, has retained a historic townscape of high quality and authenticity. Its architecture is noteworthy for the blending of elements from several cultures that have come together over many centuries. Lijiang also possesses an ancient water-supply system of great complexity and ingenuity that still functions effectively today.

The ICPMSE-11 meeting is designed to promote the transfer of information between industrial, institutional and government researchers and users. This goal will be accomplished through oral presentations, poster sessions and ample time for free discussions among participants.

In addition to submitted papers, we plan to invite a number of speakers that are leaders in their areas that will highlight the latest achievements in our understanding of effects of LEO, GEO, MEO and planetary and interplanetary environments and ways of better protection of materials and structures from these effects.

You are invited and strongly encouraged to submit a paper (deadline for abstract 30 November 2013) and attend the meting. Please, go to the conference website www.icpmse11.com to find other relevant information on the meeting, the venue it will be held at and to submit the abstract.

An opportunity exists for a number of sponsorship packages. We also plan an exhibition and interested companies should contact the organizers.

We hope to see you in May 2014 in Lijiang.

Jacob Kleiman, Chairman
Integrity Testing Laboratory Inc. Markham, Ontario, Canada
[email protected]