On 25 October 2018, the President of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), Dr. Phys. Marius-Ioan Piso, attended the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting (IMM18), at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain.

The Intermediate Ministerial Meeting, chaired by the Spanish Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Pedro Duque, was a milestone on the road to “Space19+”, ESA’s next Council at ministerial level which will be held in November 2019 in Seville, Spain.

Ministers in charge of space matters in the ESA Member States were presented with ESA’s proposal for the future of Europe in space, which will be submitted to them at Space19+.

This proposal contains a roadmap for ESA and EU to continue finance and implement space programmes in Europe in a sustainable and efficient way, it also lays out a vision for the internal functioning of the agency to fit the change of paradigm in the space sector, and last but not least, it contains ESA Director General’s proposal of space programmes to be carried out by the Agency after 2019.

Among other issues to be addressed at Space19+, some of the most important are the restoration of ESA’s science programme as the world leader in the physics of the Universe, and making Europe central to the new era of global space exploration, working with new and existing partners to go to the Moon and on to Mars.

ESA wants to reinforce technical innovation spin-in and spin-offs, and to partner with industry to achieve economic growth and societal benefit in traditional applications fields, as well as in the new emerging domain of space safety and security.

ESA will also build on common developments in a solid ESA/EU partnership, to secure the continuity and evolution of the Copernicus Space Component and to secure activities in navigation to be seen as a precursor for the next generation of European GNSS.

ESA’s industrial policy will be enhanced to allow faster decision-making and leaner processes, with processes tailored to activity and project type, and the Agency will support European competitiveness in the field of access to space by engaging in a fly-European policy for ESA missions.

Image credit: ESA - P. Sebirot