ESA Ministerial Meeting Leads to European Shift to Launcher Competition

The ESA Inter-Ministerial Conference held earlier this month showed that member states have developed a new focus on resolving Europe’s domestic launcher deficit, as well as using space to address climate change. 

The conference was well attended—ministers from countries from across the European Union attended, as did a number of other non-EU ESA members like Norway and the United Kingdom. Observers from Canada attended and addressed the conference as well, as did speakers from several space-related European organizations, incuding Slovenia, which announced that it’s taking steps to join the ESA.