Follow for space content | MEng space engineering student | Science communicator | Aspiring Astronaut
Europe needs to choose its space priorities wisely and work to boost capabilities or face suffering overreach. We have no industry that can put big ambitions into practice. We don’t have the science space to put it into practice. So we have to adjust our visions to our capabilities, increase our capabilities, and vice versa. #spaceexploration #esa #europe
Ronald Harman
11mo
I thought that we would have space colonies soon after the Moon landings, but it just didn’t happen.
Space Sector Strategic Advisor and visiting Professor; FRAS, FBIS
11moFully support this realistic viewpoint. As the UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate will often say “Space is a Team Sport” and it is right that we seek to be a trusted partner with others and share costs and risks across international space enterprises. More specifically however we must also know what we are actually strong at vs others - our “USP” in European Space - and develop leadership in such activities. Do we know these today? I have my own thoughts but how best to get a European consensus? #RevolutionSpace did not really cover this off. Vision and ambition is one thing but cold hard facts are another. Certainly we cannot spread ourselves too thinly across all space domains when Europe has so many calls upon its technological funding (and yes our cultural philosophy on such matters IS different vs others). Indeed we should first find our place with partners INSIDE European terrestrial sectors where technology coincides. For example space robotics, AI and autonomy. We could have such an integrated coherent market vs others. Stronger together. THEN we can punch above our weight across more space domains that we occupy today. The race is often won by the smartest, not the fastest or indeed the first…