December 17, 2020, “the man of Copernicus” Dr. Joseph Aschbacher nominated as head of the European Space Agency (ESA). He will succeed after the end of his term in June 2021, Jan Worner current CEO.

Aschbacher would like to establish as a priority a plan of cooperation between ESA and the EU, to focus on the competitiveness of the European space industry. When he takes over, France and Germany intend to work together to promote EU competitiveness in the space sector.

In general, this sector is in continuous change, especially with the new ambitious American private sector, in this case SpaceX, or BlueOrigin, Europe’s position is under threat.

In this perspective, the EU’s ambition is to be at the forefront of the development of space technologies and innovations, which implies public commitment and

support, also to encourage private financing of space activities.

More concretely, 218 million euros of investments have been allocated for the EU space sector. They will partly finance the Ariane 6 heavy launchers