October 14, 2015

CNES and SGAC encourage French youngsters to pursue careers in space

As part of the Space Generation Congress (SGC) being held in Jerusalem alongside the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Victoria Alonso-Perez, Chair of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), signed an agreement aimed at getting French youngsters interested in space. At CNES, this project is being led by Hubert Diez, in charge of relations with higher education for the agency.

The agreement establishes a framework for cooperation between CNES and SGAC to promote space activities and give youngsters the best chance to pursue studies and research in space exploration and the development and peaceful uses of outer space. This will be achieved through joint space events such as seminars and conferences, and by promoting CNES’s activities within SGAC in order to encourage French youngsters to become members and join young space aficionados around the world. The number of French members of SGAC does not currently match France’s standing among the world’s space powers.

The SGAC is a non-governmental organization founded in 1999 to represent students and young space professionals at the United Nations, space agencies and other bodies. It has observer status at the Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), with a consultative role at the United Nations. The SGAC today has some 4,000 members, aged 18 to 35.

After the signature of the agreement, Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “I am delighted to have signed this agreement between our two organizations to work together to inspire young French citizens to take up space careers, for it is their generation that will write the future of space, an already key domain that is set to keep growing. One of CNES’s missions to which I attach special importance is to give these young French space enthusiasts more learning opportunities, and this agreement serves that ambition.”

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Alain Delrieu    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04    alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    julien.watelet@cnes.fr