Only 10 days to go before IGARSS 2013 Melbourne Australia kicks off with its famous Summer School on 18 and 19 July! So, come on over and hear the best of the best: http://www.igarss2013.org/SummerSchool.asp or join the experts for the Tutorials on Sunday 21 July: http://www.igarss2013.org/Tutorials.asp. Be spellbound by the musical ability of remote sensing Research Fellow, Dr Ida Jayazeri, at the Welcome Reception on 21 July or dance the night away to the Latin sounds of Reflehos at the Symposium Dinner on Thursday 25 July. We haven’t forgotten the die-hard soccer fans so your time-honoured traditional game has been scheduled for Wednesday 24 July. Then there’s the Technical Program.The conference continues to evolve and expand, and this year we have introduced topical themes on UAV and ground-based SAR systems, the integration of earth observing systems and extra-terrestrial geoscience and remote sensing. In the ascendancy are small satellites, as are big data and the use of GIS for geoscience and remote sensing, and of course this year we have a special focus on remote sensing activity in Australasia and Oceania. In keeping with that theme, the IGARSS 2013 symposium will play host to a special session on “Developing SAR for Australia’s Earth Observation Needs”, and all delegates with an interest in synthetic aperture remote sensing are encouraged to contribute to this important discussion.