Debate: International Women's Day
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Samantha Cristoforetti
Language: EN

I’m very grateful for the invitation to participate in the Parliament celebration of International Women’s Day, and I am truly humbled by the opportunity of speaking here today at the centre of our European democracy and decision—making. I am humbled by the opportunity of taking the floor just before Dr Ebadi, a woman who has been a true champion of women’s rights in the face of brutal discrimination and who has suffered terrible personal consequences for her willingness to fight. For that, I thank you, Dr Ebadi. As an astronaut of ESA, the European Space Agency, I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about what I know best, which is the European space activities, the role of ESA and the synergies with the European Union. Space is… out there, but it is also here among us every day. It is an essential element of everyday life. We take it for granted. Sometimes we even don’t notice it. And yet, space is woven into the fabric of every modern society. It is well known that we rely on space assets to provide important services like Earth observation, communication, navigation, services that we need, for example, for environmental monitoring to mitigate the consequences of climate change, for weather forecast, disaster response, internet access, TV broadcasting, even smart traffic. Space assets are even crucial for energy provision or financial transactions and many other vital economic functions. ESA works constantly to ensure that these essential services are secured and that all relevant assets are managed efficiently and remain available to support the policies that you, the political decision—makers, set for us for the benefit of European citizens, be it about climate change, the green transition, the digital transformation, sustainable development or inclusiveness. Let us not forget security. I think that the green political context that we are facing these days has highlighted the importance of security—related space activities. As you know, last Friday, the Commission and the High Representative presented for the first time a joint communication on a European strategy for security and defence, a European space strategy for security and defence. The European Parliament will play a crucial role and ESA will provide its contribution. But space is also a powerful engine of prosperity and economic growth. Today, the global space market is already worth about USD 340 billion, and by the late 2030s, by some estimates, space could generate a revenue of USD 1 trillion. Such tremendous growth potential can be in part ascribed to a profound transformation of our industry, often referred to as the new space revolution. New players are getting involved, often from outside of the traditional space sector. Old and new companies pursue profit and growth through novel business models, risk sharing with public institutions through public—private partnerships and early financing through venture capital. The reduction in the cost of access to space brought about, for example, by the reusability of launchers has made mega constellations a reality. The miniaturisation of electronics has made satellite platforms smaller and cheaper, and yet more capable and versatile. Let me add, however, in all honesty, that many of these ‘new space’ developments are far more advanced in North America than they are here in Europe. Still, the opportunities are there for Europe to take, if we choose to be ambitious in our goals and pursuits. ESA’s Member States have already raised the level of ambition. Our ministerial meeting last November in Paris secured a record budget of EUR 16.9 billion for the coming three years. That is a 17% increase with respect to the preceding Ministerial Meeting back in 2019, a clear sign that our Member States understand space as a strategic component of our industrial and technological sovereignty. ESA brings world—class expertise, unique knowhow in the area of space science, technology and applications, along with its rich experience in space project management. But an ambitious European approach needs partnerships with national institutions, academia, industry and with the European Union. ESA and the European Union each bring their specific mandates, competencies and strengths to the table. ESA’s Agenda 2025, which was published on the very first day in office of ESA’s Director General Josef Aschbacher, lists a renewed and enforced partnership between ESA and the EU as a top priority. ESA and the EU have embarked on major common success stories: Copernicus – the world’s largest and most successful Earth observation program, providing decision—makers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public with information on the state of our planet. Galileo – Europe’s own global navigation satellite system, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control, featuring the world’s most accurate navigation system. The new Secure Connectivity/IRIS2 programme – which will provide a new sovereign and secure, space—based communication infrastructure in Europe to improve strategic autonomy, digital resilience, security, technological non—dependence and commercial competitiveness. Many in the European Parliament may not know, but ESA was at the origin of both flagship programs, Copernicus and Galileo. ESA is grateful that the EU and the European Parliament stepped up to the challenge and enable what have become two of the world’s most successful space programmes. We can all be proud of these achievements and ESA is particularly grateful to implement these programmes together with the EU. At ESA, we have a full agenda this year. Among other things, we are tackling the critical European launcher situation, with the top priority of restoring independent access to space for Europe. In Copernicus, were preparing the next generation Sentinel satellites. And we do need to close a funding gap of EUR 721 million. The European Parliament’s support will be crucial to achieve this. We will also launch two exciting new science missions: JUICE, to explore the icy moons of Jupiter, in April, and EUCLID, with which we will better understand dark matter and dark energy, in July. Ladies and gentlemen, Europe has a rich history of space achievements, including what is possibly dearest to me, in human spaceflight. Through our partnership in the International Space Station, we have secured opportunities for Europeans to fly to space and for European scientists to do research in microgravity. We are a strong partner in the NASA—led Artemis program of lunar exploration, providing the European Service Module for the Orion spacecraft and a significant portion of Gateway, a space station that will fly in lunar orbit. Together with NASA, we intend to retrieve and bring back to earth samples of Martian soil. As a member of the European Astronaut Corps, I myself had twice the privilege of representing Europe in space. Madam President, when we spoke for the first time last September, I was serving as commander of the International Space Station, the first European woman to do so, but certainly not the last. At ESA just last year, we selected a new class of career and reserve astronauts, and over half of them are women. Let me add that we selected these new colleagues of mine out of over 23 000 applicants throughout Europe. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of space to inspire, to spark passions in our youngsters around Europe. As an astronaut, I have witnessed that many times, how space can spark passions and dreams, those passions and dreams that make our youngsters choose studies, education and careers in science and technology so that they acquire those competencies that are so strategically important for Europe, for our research, for our industrial competitiveness, for our entrepreneurship. I have seen how the ability of sending humans into space acts as a confidence—builder in a society. It builds the confidence that a nation or a community of nations like ours can tackle the really difficult, ambitious challenges. If we can send humans into space, there’s nothing we cannot do, right? Let us have that ambition in Europe. I have flown to space twice, once on a Russian Soyuz and once on an American Dragon. Twice I have fulfilled my dream of flying to space. And if I can allow myself at this point in my life one more dream, that dream is that of seeing one day astronauts flying on a European vehicle. Flying our astronauts to space on our own vehicle, welcoming astronauts from other parts of the world on our own European space vehicle – it will be a mighty political, strategic, cultural, psychological, even philosophical symbol. It will be an expression of Europe’s ambition to gain a position in space that matches Europe’s political and economic weight. It will allow us to continue to cooperate in international partnerships, but do that on a more equal level. It will allow us to not miss out on the enormous strategic and economic opportunities that space offers. And it will allow us to develop and retain in Europe vital STEM talent and to develop the capabilities, but also the mindset that is needed to solve the many big challenges that we are facing, for the benefit of the citizens in Europe and all over the world. Let me conclude by recognising the important role that the European Parliament, and the ITRE Committee in particular, has played and continues to play in its consistent support of space activities. You have been a competent and reliable partner for ESA in all of our discussions and negotiations, as well as in the preparation of the legislative basis for our common space projects Galileo, Copernicus and now Iris2. It is therefore an incredible honour to be able to hand over today the European flag that flew with me on the International Space Station.