The head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Bill Nelson, visited Seville this Monday and will later travel to Madrid to ratify the cooperation agreements between this company, the world’s leading aerospace company, and the recently created Spanish space agency (AEE) based in the Andalusian capital. Nelson’s presence is in response to the collaborative agreements between the United States and Spanish governments, which include scientific and technological collaboration, as well as Spanish participation in Artemis, NASA’s international program to resume lunar exploration and return to bring astronauts there to satellites and attempting the jump to Mars in the future.
The Director General of the Spanish Space Agency, Miguel Belló, has confirmed that the aim of the meeting is to “deepen” the cooperation that Spain and the United States will maintain for the next missions to the Moon and Mars. “America returns to the moon, but not alone. “He returns with an international team that Spain is now joining,” Belló said. New meetings are planned for June in Poland and the UK to continue work on new space missions.
Belló has also clarified that ordering satellite concentration due to the “proliferation of mega-constellations” is another goal of the talks. “It would be a big catastrophe if we had problems with the use of space,” he warned. Because of this, one of the areas of work they plan to work on together with NASA is the “arrangement of space transport”.
For his part, Nelson has detailed that Spain already plays an important role in the construction of the rovers (robots) for Mars and that this role will be strengthened by its participation in missions to the moon, where the objective is to reach the part on the Search for water to the south and to Mars. After his visit to Seville, he will hold meetings with Science Minister Diana Morant; the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI. As an anecdote, Nelson recalled his home state of Florida being discovered by Ponce de León.
Artemis brings together private companies at the initiative of NASA – including Space (JAXA) and Canada (CSA). The goal is to get a man and, for the first time, a woman to the lunar soil to continue satellite exploration, advance the possibility of establishing a permanent base at the South Pole of the East, supported by an orbital station, and use this infrastructure as Vanguard for the conquest of Mars.
More information
Two Spaniards are among the astronauts selected by ESA for the program: aeronautical engineer Pablo Álvarez and biotechnologist Sara García, selected by the European agency from 22,500 candidates to be part of the team planning a return to the moon aims to become one of the first Spanish astronauts since 1992.
Four years ago in Seville, ESA set its priorities for this decade, which include European participation in the return to the moon. In this sense, Europe is involved in the construction of an orbital station on the satellite, which will be crucial for the exploration and subsequent arrival on Mars.
The European agency is also involved in the manufacture of the Orion Capsule Service Module, as well as other fundamental elements of the international program, such as the Herakles project, a system that will serve as a bridge between the orbital station and the moon.
ESA has also identified the expansion of the plan for Earth observation satellites as a priority. Because, according to then-Science Minister Pedro Duque, “space has proven essential for providing data that enable scientific understanding of the facts and making informed decisions.”
Belló and Nelson during the meeting. Maria José López (Europa Press)
On May 5th, during the visit of the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, to his American counterpart Joe Biden in the White House, Spain announced its individual involvement in the Artemis program beyond participation as part of the ESA.
Spain’s collaboration with NASA dates back to 1964, when the Spanish facilities at Robledo de Chavela formed an essential part of communications for the space program that took man to the moon.
Spanish Space Agency
Last December, the Council of Ministers chose the city of Seville as the seat of the Spanish space agency. The Andalusian capital has set up a €6.7 million headquarters, which NASA’s Administrator General visited today, and is at the heart of a regional network of companies in the aerospace sector, with 152 entities across the municipality, 64 of which are in the capital itself. There are also four universities, 22 research groups and five public organizations related to space.
The creation of this agency was an old demand of the sector so that Spain would have a unique vision for the space sector and a body that would coordinate the initiatives and give them stability.
In addition to the aeronautical participation, both governments have agreed to increase scientific cooperation in advanced research programs and exchanges of experts in areas such as quantum computing, where three Spaniards head the most important companies in the sector: Sergio Boixo, from Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence (AI) ; Darío Gil, Vice President of IBM and Director of (IBM Research); and Antia Lamas of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Center for Quantum Networking.
you can follow THEME on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.