N° 2–2025: Media invitation: 17th European Space Conference in Brussels

This year's theme for the European Space Conference, organised by Business Bridge Europe, is ‘Consolidating Europe’s Space Ambition: Towards a Competitive, Secure, and Autonomous Future’.  

The two-day conference agenda features keynote addresses and main sessions covering topics such as Earth observation, navigation and secure telecommunications.

EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher will hold a joint press point on the opening day of the conference, highlighting European collaboration on space activities.

Media representatives are invited to register for this two-day event including the joint press point as well as conference panels and keynote speeches.

Accredited journalists will also be able to request on-site interviews.  

Programme highlights (Times subject to change) 

Tuesday 28 January (CET) 

9:10 – 9:20  (Gold Hall)  

Keynote Address by Josef Aschbacher, Director General, ESA. (Streamed on ESA Web TV1). 

9:30 – 9:50 (European Commission stand)  

Joint ESA-European Commission press point with Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space and Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, followed by Q&A. (Streamed on ESA Web TV1). 

9:50 – 10:45  (Gold Hall) 

Panel ‘Solving the Competitiveness Equation for a Sovereign and Secure Europe’ with Josef Aschbacher, Director General, ESA. 

11:00 - 12:00 (ESA stand)  

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Directors available for interviews at the ESA stand. 

9:45 – 10:45 (Silver Hall) 

Panel ‘Unlocking the potential of Copernicus and European Earth Observation capabilities’ with Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation, ESA. 

11:15 – 12:15 (Silver Hall) 

Panel ‘Galileo - The Next Generation: Addressing the Challenges of PNT for a Secure and Reliable Future’, with Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz, Director of Navigation, ESA. 

12:15 – 13:00 (Gold Hall) 

Panel ‘Launching Europe into 2030. Ensuring Europe's autonomous Access to Space’ with Toni Tolker-Nielsen, Acting Director of Space Transportation, ESA. 

12:15 – 13:00 (Silver Hall) 

Panel ‘From Concept to Reality: Implementing IRIS2’ with Laurent Jaffart, Director of Connectivity and Secure Communications, ESA. 

12:45 – 13:10 (The Agora) 

Panel ‘Space and Ocean Dialogue. Copernicus: A unique platform for Space and Ocean experts to collaborate’, with Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation, ESA. 

17:15 – 18:00 (Silver Hall) 

Panel ‘Scenarios for sustainable and autonomous European space exploration to the Moon and beyond’, with ESA Director of Human and Robotic Exploration Daniel Neuenschwander, and ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano.  

Wednesday 29 January (CET)  

9:30 – 10:00 (Gold Hall)  

Panel ‘The future of Space R&D’, with ESA Director General Josef Ascbacher and ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano. 

9:30 – 10:30 (Silver Hall) 

Panel ‘Space Science: Pursuing research & development efforts and cooperation for Europe's competitive edge’ with Carole Mundell, Director of Science, ESA. 

10:15 – 10:45 (ESA stand) 

‘EVAs : From training to mission challenges’, with Luca Parmitano, ESA Astronaut. 

11:00 – 11:15 (The Agora) 

‘A conversation with’... Luca Parmitano, ESA Astronaut. 

11:00 – 11:30 (ESA stand) 

Space Safety, with Quentin Verspieren, Space Safety Programme Coordinator, and Rolf Densing, Director of Operations, ESA.

11:20 – 12:10 (Gold Hall) 

Panel ‘International Cooperation: An exchange of views between Agencies’, with Eric Morel de Westgaver, Director of Strategy, Legal and External Affairs, ESA. 

ESA participants

Director General, Josef Aschbacher  

Director of Connectivity and Secure Communication, Laurent Jaffart  

Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli  

Director of Strategy, Legal and External Affairs, Eric Morel de Westgaver  

Acting Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen  

Director of Science, Carole Mundell 

Director of Navigation, Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz  

Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Daniel Neuenschwander    

Head of Industrial Policy and Auditing Department, Directorate of Commercialisation, Industry and Competitiveness, Christine Klein

Space Safety Programme Coordinator, Quentin Verspieren

Director of Operations, Rolf Densing

ESA Astronaut and former International Space Station Commander, Luca Parmitano  

Media registration

Media representatives can register to attend the European Space Conference via: https://spaceconference.eu/#media 

Full programme: https://spaceconference.eu/programme  

Follow on ESA Web TV: ESA Web TV 

For further information

- Please contact the ESA Media Relations team for interview requests:  

Lucía Riera: lucia.riera@ext.esa.int   

Bernhard von Weyhe: bvw@esa.int  

Media@esa.int  

 - Please contact the media coordination team for the European Space Conference:  

Margaux Demeyer - margaux.demeyer@logos-pa.com | +33749919330 

Sofia Stuart - sofia.stuart@logos-pa.com | +32 (0)471 591 857 

Follow ESA on:

#EuropeanSpaceConf #EuropeanSpaceConference 

X: @esa 
Facebook: @EuropeanSpaceAgency 
Instagram: @europeanspaceagency 
YouTube: ESA 
LinkedIn: European Space Agency - ESA 
Pinterest: European Space Agency - ESA 

Images

ESA's Photo Library for Professionals:

https://www.esa-photolibrary.com/

Terms and conditions for using ESA images

For questions or more information related to ESA images, please contact directly spaceinimages@esa.int.

Videos

ESA's Video Library for Professionals:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos

Terms and conditions for using ESA videos

For questions or more information related to ESA videos, please contact directly spaceinvideos@esa.int.

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.

ESA has established formal cooperation with other four Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int