The director-general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, called Luxembourg a 'pioneer' in the field of space mining on a visit to the Grand Duchy on Tuesday.
The European Space Agency wants to build a lunar station in the next years, and a new research centre in Esch-Belval will aim to contribute to this project.
Luxembourg has made a name for itself for some years in space exploration. The SES is one of the largest satellite operators worldwide, and with the mining of space resources, the country has occupied a sector with great potential, said Aschbacher.
Each year, Luxembourg spends 118 euros per capita on space, compared with a European average of 20 euros. The ESA and Luxembourg have put together a research centre in Belval that specialises in mining space resources.
The European Space Agency has a yearly budget of 7.2 billion euros - a mere sixth of NASA's budget. Still, they are global leader in earth observation. The same can't be said about staffed space flights, which are still dominated by NASA. Europe needs to strengthen the commercial sector in order to drive innovation, according to the ESA director.
The war in Ukraine has recently put the focus on the ISS, a shared project of the American, European and Russian space agencies. Work there continues as normal, said Aschbacher, as the agencies need to be able to rely on each other.
