Programme
Wednesday, 25 April
Press briefing
11:00h. Science is everywhere in ESA: Sentinel-3B, Mars Sample Return and GAIA
ESA’s Director General will present Science as the underpinning theme of ESA and ESA’s Director of Earth Observation will talk about the science of the imminent launch of Sentinel-3B in the evening. ESA’s Director of Science will highlight the 2nd Data Release of GAIA, containing an unprecedented number of 1.3 billion stars’ distance and motion as well as the science that is expected from a Mars Exploration.
- Jan Wörner, ESA Director General
- Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation
- Günther Hasinger, ESA’s Director of Science
- Anthony Brown, Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium, University of Leiden
- Antonella Valenari, Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium, University of Padua
18:45–22:00h. Sentinel-3B launch event
Follow the launch live of the European satellite from the Russian Plesetsk cosmodrome. Sentinel-3B will join its twin, Sentinel-3A, to provide the largest environmental monitoring programme in the world. Experts from ESA, Eumetsat and the European Commission will give an insight into the Copernicus programme and the latest achievements of the Sentinel missions.
Thursday, 26 April
09:00–10:00h. Business is everywhere
Press briefing
Space is open for business. ESA boosts the role of private companies in the space sector and focuses on delivering benefits to society as a whole. ESA Director General Jan Wörner will meet the press and introduce Europe's debates on competitiveness, innovation through cooperation, space applications and services, exploration and commercial opportunities.
ILA Space Day:
10:15–10:45h. The World Space Alliance
A new digital market place will be born during ILA. The World Space Alliance will offer space-based data and products from ESA’s Copernicus programmes. The partnership between ESA and the world leader in enterprise software will pave the way to geospatial business applications, closing the gap between traditional Earth observation and the digital business world.
- Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation
- Thomas Reiter, ESA’s Interagency Coordinator
- Bianca Hörsch, ESA Chief Digital Officer
- Carsten Linz, Chief Information Officer, SAP Center for Digital Leadership
ILA Space Day:
14:15–15:00h. Exploring the Red Planet – The next steps
Mars has many similarities to Earth, but evolved very differently into the unique worlds we observe today. Understanding the past of the Red Planet will help us understand our own history. Representatives from the European (ESA), American (NASA), German (DLR) and French (CNES) space agencies will discuss their goals and plans for exploring our neighbouring planet and announce the latest developments. The next exciting step is a round trip to Mars to bring scientific samples to laboratories on Earth.
- David Parker, Director, Human and Robotic Exploration, ESA
- Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA
- Pascale Ehrenfreund, Chair of the Executive Board, DLR
- Lionel Suchet, Vice President, CNES
- Mark McCaughrean, Senior Science Advisor, ESA
Press briefing
15:00–15:45h. Space weather mission
Space weather can affect economically vital infrastructure and activities on our planet. A briefing on Europe’s first space weather monitoring mission will explain how crucial data will help spot Earth-arriving coronal mass ejections, improve forecasts of the arrival time at Earth and provide knowledge of active regions on the Sun.
- Juha-Pekka Luntama, Head of the Space Weather Segment, ESA Space Situational Awareness programme
- Representatives from industry partners and aviation
Friday, 27 April
ILA Space Day:
11:15–12:15h. What’s next in European Space Exploration?
While the International Space Station continues to deliver fascinating science, the new era of global exploration is happening. Moon and Mars are the exciting targets of future missions enabled through partnerships, both with international space agencies and private companies. Recent achievements and perspectives of the European space exploration programme will be discussed.
- David Parker, Director, Human and Robotic Exploration, ESA
- Timo Stuffler, Business Development, OHB System
- Oliver Juckenhöfel, Head of On-Orbit Services & Space Exploration, Airbus Defence & Space
- Alex Brown, UK Manager, European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO)
- Mark McCaughrean, Senior Science Advisor, ESA
14:00–17:00h. Astronauts’ Day
ESA astronauts, Matthias Mauer, Thomas Reiter and Reinhold Ewald will give presentations about astronaut training, the future of human spaceflight, science in microgravity and international cooperation in space.
Follow the ESA website for the latest updates and more detailed information.
Weekend
This is another exciting year for Europe in space.
ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald, will talk at ILA about the present and future of human spaceflight. From the ISS, to the Moon, and beyond.
Jan Wörner, Director General of ESA will be on stage to answer questions from the audience.
BepiColombo will visit the planet Mercury on a joint mission of the Japanese space agency JAXA and ESA. In a conversation with space engineer and amateur astronomer Rainer Kresken, we will learn more about interplanetary space travel and its scientific goals.
ExoMars is Europe's latest mission to the Red Planet. The TGO satellite has already started its work in the Martian orbit. The first European rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2020. ExoMars Mission Director Michel Denis will tell us about the current status of this mission.
Sentinel-3b complements the fleet of European Earth observation satellites. Robert Meisner will explain the growing importance of Earth observation and give an overview of the many new services offered to EU citizens by the Copernicus programme.
These are some of the topics we hope to share with visitors to ILA on Saturday and Sunday morning in Hall 4 at the ILA Space Pavilion as part of the joint exhibition of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI).
All presentations and talks will be in German.
