June 21, 2018

CNES at the Paris Air Forum ‘What vision for Europe in Space?’

Created in 2014 by Aéroports de Paris (ADP), La Tribune and Forum Media, the Paris Air Forum proposes a succession of debates, conferences and keynote speeches from personalities making the news, top decision-makers and experts in the aviation, defence and space sectors. Its goal is to make sense of the challenges of the present and the future to prepare us for the challenges of tomorrow. This year’s event will be taking place under the high patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, with the central theme of “Connected aviation and smart territory”, the aim being to highlight the changing relationships and processes of civil and military aviation and space, as well as the new balances emerging in the most dynamic and innovative international industrial sector.

Speaking at the session on ‘What vision for Europe in Space?’, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall detailed the reasons for the success of the French and European space programme to which the agency is contributing. He underlined the importance of a genuine political commitment at national level, at ESA and the European Commission, as shown at the last ESA Council meeting, which endorsed foundational decisions for launchers and space exploration, and by the budget proposed by the European Commission for its next Multiyear Financial Framework (MFF), significantly up on the current budget.

He then pointed to the many contributions being made to the space ecosystem. Among these, he stressed the expertise and modernity of space agencies and industry know-how at big manufacturers, SMEs, mid-tier firms and start-ups. He also mentioned the recently formed CosmiCapital investment fund launched at CNES’s initiative, and world-class universities and research laboratories.

CNES’s President also offered responses to the challenges of globalization like the digital revolution and the greatly reduced cost of getting into space made possible by miniaturization. He explained how in recent years the agency has focused on innovation in technologies, methods and ways of working, on the new ecosystem emerging around climate research, notably through the inception of the Space Climate Observatory (SCO), and on the ability of space exploration missions like Thomas Pesquet’s and the forthcoming landing of MASCOT to put space in the public eye.

In conclusion, Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “I believe Europe has a great future ahead of it in space. With this space ecosystem constantly evolving and transforming itself to meet ever increasing new challenges, we must build on our past efforts and successes while pursuing our international collaborations to pool programmes and budgets in order to stay ahead.”

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CONTACTS
Pascale Bresson    Press Officer    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Raphaël Sart    Press Officer    Tel: +33 (0)1 44 76 74 51    raphael.sart@cnes.fr
Sébastien Martignac    Press Officer    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 35    sebastien.martignac@cnes.fr