- Boys and girls from CEIP San Ignacio del Viar in Alcalá del Río (Seville) talked live during a connection with Houston with the chief astronaut of Axiom Space, the first astronaut born in Spain to travel into space
- Álvaro Pimentel, Deputy Mayor of Seville: “Yesterday was a milestone in the history of our city. Few people have had the opportunity to talk to an astronaut in the ISS”
- New Space & Solutions demonstrates that Seville and Andalusia have become a reference in the space sector focused on providing solutions for citizens
New Space & Solutions consolidated Seville as the epicenter of the aerospace sector in its second day in person at the Cartuja Auditorium – managed by Yventu. Axiom Space’s chief astronaut, Michael López-Alegría, participated in a live connection from Houston in which he chatted with children from the CEIP San Ignacio del Viar school in Alcalá del Río (Seville). In addition, these schoolchildren watched the short film ‘Estela’, winner of the Carmen Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Michael López-Alegría spoke of his extensive experience in space travel, having visited the International Space Station on up to five occasions, and detailed Axiom Space’s intention to “build a new Space Station to take over from the International Space Station” before it is deorbited around the year 2030. “In 2027 the first module will be launched and will be attached to the ISS to transfer equipment and experiments,” said Michael López-Alegría, who expressed his pride that two Spaniards, Pablo Álvarez and Sara García, will one day have the opportunity to be the next Spanish astronauts to travel outside the Earth. “We will do everything possible so that Pablo and Sara can travel to space,” he said.
The connection had a pedagogical and inspirational sense and was complemented by the participation of two students who spoke about the project ‘A Lunar Constitution for all’ together with Aitor Inazio, manager of AstroEmociones.
Support from the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Seville City Council.
The Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Regional Government of Andalusia was the protagonist through a round table entitled ‘Exploitation of Satellite Services by the Public Sector. Cases of use in Agriculture, Environment and Cartography’. The moderator of this presentation was Antonio Posadas, Secretary General of Research and Innovation of the aforementioned Ministry. The other participants were Juan José Soler, deputy director of Management and Integrated Control of Aid of the Directorate General of Direct Aid and Markets of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Development, who spoke of the binomial satellites-common agricultural policy (CAP) and said that “the satellite images have allowed us to go from 5% of the area monitored to 100% in just five years, which has enabled us to meet the requirement of the regulations when managing CAP aid.
For his part, Juan José Vales, head of Territory Observation at the Andalusian Environmental Information Network of the Andalusian Environment and Water Agency, said that the main function of the team he coordinates is “to detect the problem and design the solution using the data provided by the satellites”.
The space milestone to be remembered in Seville
Álvaro Pimentel, Deputy Mayor of the City of Seville, once again reaffirmed the commitment of the Seville City Council to the aerospace industry and took advantage of his presentation to recall the historic moment that was experienced during the first day of New Space & Solutions with the exclusive connection with the International Space Station: “Yesterday was a milestone in the history of our city. We are fortunate because very few people have had the chance to talk to a person on the ISS,” he said about his talk with astronaut Nichole Ayers.
Luis Pérez, General Manager of the Cartuja Science and Technology Park, took advantage of his participation to show his pride in the Cartuja-International Space Station connection. Luis Perez highlighted again the potential of the PCT to become a technological and innovative hub, in which 600 companies are installed, which generates 29,500 jobs and has 10,000 students, becoming the first technology park in Spain with an economic activity of 4,850 million euros, representing 2.4% of Andalusia’s GDP.
PERTE and Horizonte Europa boost companies
Héctor Guerrero, deputy director general of Aerospace Policy and Strategy of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, developed all aspects related to the Spanish Strategic Aerospace Project, better known as PERTE Aerospace, which in public funds totals nearly 2,800 million euros. “Spain is one of the few countries that can boast of being able to build an airplane or a satellite from scratch going through the whole chain,” Guerrero considered.
Andrea Pérez-Carro, representative and national contact point for the space area of CDTI Innovation’s Horizon Europe Cluster 4, spoke about the possible “opportunities for the space sector in the European Union’s R&D&I framework program” such as Horizon Europe.
Pseudosatellites or HAPS mark the future
The Government of the Canary Islands was represented by its general director of Organic Coordination and Strategic Projects, David Pérez-Dionis. Eduardo Pereira, manager of the Fuerteventura Technology Park, was also present. “We want to turn the Canary Islands into a center for the development, certification and operation of UAS systems and innovative solutions,” said Pereira, who detailed some of the ten projects that have already been approved by the Canary Islands Government.
Miguel Belló, CEO of Orbex, highlighted the enormous impact of space and space-derived services on our society: “Every person uses dozens of satellites every day without even knowing it. “Without satellites, our life would be more miserable,” Belló argued.
Pol Llorca, head of Business Development at Airbus Geotech, spoke about the situation of HAPS at the national level, an area in which “Spain and Andalusia are pioneers.” “We have an important ecosystem at the platform level in Spain,” Llorca pointed out.
Gilles Lebiez, CEO of Ansys Aerospace and Defense, outlined simulation solutions for ‘New Space’: “Understanding how a system is going to behave before it actually goes live is vital to the development of any project.”
Carlos Fernández de la Peña, CEO of Telespazio Ibérica, highlighted in his speech how space influences daily life more than people imagine. He concluded that ‘the industry has to grow with services and products, not only with engineers’.
Jesús Boby, Director of Smart Industry at the Advanced Center for Aerospace Technologies (CATEC): “From Seville we try to help companies and contribute to the shared dream of making space more accessible”.
Alfredo Serrano, vice president of Sales and Business Development at Sceye, highlighted the “strategic value of flying in the stratosphere, something that “offers an Earth observation advantage”.
Training for the aerospace sector
Javier Brey, director of the Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering at Loyola University, spoke about innovation and talent for the future of space, as well as the university’s commitment to designing a program to train the professionals who will lead the new era of ‘New Space’ with the introduction of the new Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering. “The market is going to demand more and more engineers in the aerospace sector in the medium term,” warned Javier Brey.
Betsaida Alexandre, doctoral collaborating professor at the CEU Fernando III University, shared this center’s promotion of comprehensive training through its mentoring program, combining academic excellence with the development of soft skills. She insisted that “if we want talent in our companies, it is essential that we instill in young people from an early age the study of STEM careers”.
The third day, first virtual, of ‘New Space & Solutions’ starts. This day focuses on public-private convergence in the aerospace sector with special attention to the city of Seville and Andalusia. On behalf of the Regional Ministry of University, Research and Innovation will be the Deputy Minister Lorena Garrido, who will moderate a round table entitled ‘Defense and Space: Convergence of Opportunities’ and the General Director of Innovation Promotion, Nieves Valenzuela, who will talk about the ‘Space Innova Andalusia Initiative’. On behalf of the City of Seville will be interviewed Fernando Mañes, vice president delegate of the CVA presidency, and Antonio Villegas, general director of Economic Promotion, Business Parks and Science, who will talk about the recent presidency of the CVA and the ESA-BIC incubator.
All presentations will be available for on-demand viewing through ‘The Observatory’, the digital platform of Medina Media Events, where each intervention will be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, free of charge.
The first edition of ‘New Space & Solutions’ is organized by Medina Media Events with the collaboration of the City of Seville and the Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Andalusian Regional Government and has the support of Rohde & Schwarz, ALTER, Ansys, Augusta Abogados, CT Ingenieros, DEKRA, Integrasys, Kistler, Orbital, Parsec, Government of the Canary Islands -through Proexca-, Space-Aero, Universidad Loyola Andalucía, CEU Universidad Fernando III, among others.