Space Sustainability for Earth Sustainability in the
5th edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit

The Portuguese Space Agency is organizing the 5th edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit, a conference that has already become a key event for the promotion of space technologies. Under the slogan Making Space for a Sustainable Earth, this year’s edition, which will take place on June 9 at the Universidade of Aveiro (Anfiteatro Carlos Borrego), will focus on trends, and new technologies, new services, and innovative solutions throughout the space sector’s value chain.

“At a time when the urgency of ensuring the sustainability of Space operations is recognized, Portugal wants to take a leading role in one of the biggest challenges ever faced by the sector, the sustainability of space activities,” says the president of the Portuguese Space Agency. Ricardo Conde maintains that “Portugal has been actively contributing in the appropriate forums to debate and raise awareness about the problem of space debris and the need for global coordination in Space Traffic Management, while simultaneously seeking to promote the creation of new scientific and industrial capabilities, based on knowledge and technology, with national base”.

The theme of sustainability will be addressed in its various aspects, specifically the Challenges of Global Space Traffic Management, having as keynote speaker on this theme Moriba Jah, associate Professor at the University of Texas – Austin, space environmentalist and co-founder of Privateer. The panel that will follow brings together Chiara Manfletti, director of operations at Neuraspace, Luc Piguet, president of ClearSpace, Natalia Archinard, deputy director of Education, Science, Transport and Space at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and Stewart Bain, CEO of NorthStar Earth and Space.

The 2022 edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit will also have among the keynote speakers names such as Jean-Yves Le Gall, former president of the French space agency (CNES), Augusto González, from the Innovation and Outreach department of DG DEFIS (European Commission) and Carlos Zorrinho, Member of the European Parliament and effective member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).

Sustainability is also dependent on the ability to develop and innovate new materials and new production processes in orbit. This panel will include Aurora Baptista, CEO of BeeVeryCreative, Eduardo Soares, innovation director of Amorim Cork Composites, Nelson Oliveira, president of SpaceEngineer, and Rui Curado da Silva, a researcher at LIP.

Related to this theme, the perspectives of the so-called new space economy will also be debated, with the presence of Luca Rossettini, president of D-Orbit, Luís Gomes, president of AAC Clyde Space, and Rebecca van Burken, manager of Voyager Space, as well as Francisco Vilhena da Cunha, CEO of GEOSAT. A panel that will be preceded by the intervention of Raphael Roettgen, Managing Partner at E2MC Ventures.

The 5th edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit will also focus on one of the themes that have filled the European stages: Secure Connectivity from land and space infrastructures, addressing the needs and the way in which Space presents innovative solutions, such as the perspective of quantum communications, in particular the distribution of quantum keys. This dialogue includes Jorge Teles, from the National Security Office, Yasser Omar, professor at Técnico Lisboa, Xaviear Bertrán, European vice-president of SES, Ivo Vieira, space segment coordinator at AED, and Armando Nolasco Pinto, professor at Aveiro University.

Finally, and because we are talking about the future when we debate sustainability, the meeting will address the importance of Space Education and dissemination activities. At a time when new Aerospace Engineering courses are being planned in Portuguese universities, the coordinator of the new degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Aveiro, Nuno Borges de Carvalho, sits down with Aline Veloso, from the Brazilian Space Agency, Ana Noronha, director of Ciência Viva, Edson Oliveira, professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and Miguel Gonçalves, Science commentator on RTP, to discuss the future of space science dissemination, the appearance of new courses and the best of the Portuguese Space Agency in activities that promote student participation.

The 5th edition of the New Space Atlantic Summit will take place at the Carlos Borrego Amphitheatre, at Aveiro University. Participation is free, but subject to registration on the conference website, at newspaceatlanticsummit.com.