New Space Atlantic Summit: get to know the program for the 2023 edition

In its sixth edition, the New Space Atlantic Summit highlights international cooperation as an essential tool for the peaceful and sustainable use of space. The 2023 edition of the Portuguese Space Agency’s annual summit will take place on May 10 at the premises of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon.

The theme “A Global Effort for Space Sustainability” will guide the agenda of the New Space Atlantic Summit 2023, which will also feature a handful of sessions covering various space-related topics, from Education to Space Economics.

As keynote speakers, the Portuguese Space Agency has once again secured the participation of representatives from several important national and international organizations. Through these presentations, the summit will be the stage for an intense exchange of ideas and knowledge on current issues in the space sector, especially with regard to the theme that guides this year’s New Space Atlantic Summit.

This will be the case with the intervention of Peter Martinez, whose work as executive director of the Secure World Foundation is based on space diplomacy and regulation, as well as the formulation of space policies. Peter Martinez also chaired, between 2011 and 2018, the Working Group of the United Nations Office for the Peaceful Use of Space (UNOOSA).

Rajeev Suri, CEO of INMARSAT, on the other hand, will share with the conference participants the progress made in the last year with the goal of raising international support for a global approach to finding solutions for the sustainability of space, both on Earth and in orbit.

Being used to these kinds of challenges, Ludwig Moeller will also participate in the New Space Atlantic Summit 2023 as a keynote speaker. The director of the European Space Policy Institute has also worked at ESA and NASA.

The summit will also feature a presentation by Nuno Santos, from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. In 2022, the researcher, a world reference in the study of exoplanets, was awarded an Advanced Research Grant worth 2.5 million euros by the European Research Council (ERC).

Still looking at the stars, this year’s edition of the conference also confirms the presence of Claudio Mello, responsible for Sustainability and Diversity at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and former head of scientific projects at the Portuguese Space Agency.

From Space Education to Space Economy

At the New Space Atlantic Summit 2023, knowledge sharing is not limited to individual presentations. To promote dialogue and encourage the exchange of ideas, the summit has a total of 19 speakers divided into six panels.

After Nuno Santos’ presentation, the summit opens the debate with the panel Space Education: Unlocking Potential. The session will feature André Oliveira, director of technology at Colab +ATLANTIC, Marta Gonçalves, responsible for education projects at the Portuguese Space Agency, Monica Talevi, responsible for the Learning and Inspiration for STEM department at the European Space Agency (ESA), and Rogério Colaço, president of Instituto Superior Técnico.

At the end of the morning, between the presentations by Peter Martinez and Rajeev Suri, the focus will be on international cooperation for the use of Space. The Management and Sustainability of Outer Space Activities panel, moderated by the executive director of the Portuguese Space Agency, Hugo Costa, is composed of Daniel Smith, founder and creative director of the AstroAgency, Kai-Uwe Schrogl, president of the International Institute of Space Law, and Tanya Keusen, member of the UNOOSA Policy and Legal Affairs Committee.

In the afternoon, it looks from Space to Earth. The panel How EO can Contribute to a Common Resource Management brings together experts in the field: Leendert Bal, head of security, safety and surveillance at EMSA; Leonardo Azevedo, SMART project coordinator, from Instituto Superior Técnico; and Maria Michela Corvino, Earth Observation security applications engineer at ESA.

Also with a greener focus, the New Space Atlantic Summit highlights the debate between technological progress and sustainability. The Development and Sustainability: Space in the CPLP panel will bring together Letícia Vilani Morosino, chief of staff of the Brazilian Space Agency, Osvaldo Porto, space project manager of the Angolan National Space Program, and Ricardo Conde, president of the Portuguese Space Agency.

The day closes with two consecutive panels that seek to look at the future of the space sectors at a national and international level: Space Economy & Investments in Space and New Opportunities for the space sector with the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The first is composed of the speakers Fernando Ferreira, investment manager of Portugal Ventures, Raphael Von Roettgen, director of E2MC Ventures, and Rodolfo Condessa, Principal of Armilar Venture Partners.

The last panel, which closes the conference, will bring together in debate Francisco Vilhena da Cunha, CEO of GeoSat, Carlos Cerqueira, business development manager at Neuraspace, Ivo Vieira, CEO of Lusospace, and Pedro Rodrigues, business development manager at TEKEVER.

Registration for the New Space Atlantic Summit is free but mandatory. Make yours at www.newspaceatlanticsummit.com until Sunday, May 7. [Registration is closed]

Download the agenda here.